How to Decrypt, Unpack, and Edit .apk files (Android, Eclipse, APKTOOL) – Easy as Pie

Yes you can view or decrypt the XML files of an Android APK file. There is a tool android-apktool

It is a tool for reengineering 3rd party, closed, binary Android apps

How to do this on your Windows System:

  1. Download apktool-install-windows-* file
  2. Download apktool-* file
  3. Unpack both to your Windows directory

Now copy the APK file also in that directory and run the following command in your command prompt:

apktool d HelloWorld.apk ./HelloWorld

This will create and directory “HelloWorld” in your current directory. Inside it you can find theAndroidManifest.xml file in decrypted form and you can also find other XML files inside the"HelloWorld/res/layout" directory.

Here HelloWorld.apk is your Android APK file.

See the below screen shot for more information: cmd_pic

YAAAAYYYY

Now that you’re finished. You probably want to this folder into Eclipse and Edit. Here’s a guide for that. Click Meh