apktool mit Homebrew, chocolatey, apt, MacPorts, Nix, scoop installieren

Projektlinks

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream-Dokumentation
• Paketmanager-Seite

Befehle und Aliase

• apktool

Projektgeschichte

Apktool's current GitHub repository was created in March 2012, but the official release blog lists releases back to 0.9.0 and 1.0.0 in 2010. The README says the project is for reverse engineering third-party, closed, binary Android apps, especially decoding resources to near-original form and rebuilding after modifications.

The official site preserves a long release line from the 0.9 and 1.x era through 2.x and into 3.x. The 2.x line became the maintenance branch, while main became the 3.x branch. The project also moved its documentation site to Docusaurus-backed pages and keeps release notes on apktool.org.

Version 3.0.0 in 2026 was a major compatibility break. Official release notes describe dropping aapt1 and 32-bit platform support, modernizing resource parsing, changing output format details, replacing some old CLI names, and adopting a new default resource-resolution model. Version 3.0.2 followed as a security and performance patch.

Adoptionsgeschichte

Apktool has broad package-manager adoption: the supplied metadata records Homebrew, Chocolatey, Debian, MacPorts, Nix, Scoop, and Ubuntu packages. The official site also links downloads, Maven artifacts, GitHub discussions, Stack Overflow, and IRC, reflecting a tool with both distro packaging and a long-lived user support footprint.

GitHub metadata showed nearly 25k stars and thousands of forks at research time. That scale is consistent with Apktool's role as a default dependency in mobile-security, app localization, Android modding, and APK compatibility workflows.

Wie es verwendet wird

The basic flow is apktool d file.apk to decode, edit the generated project-like tree, and apktool b folder to rebuild. Official docs explain why simply unzipping an APK leaves binary XML and compiled resource files that are not practical to edit directly.

The CLI exposes decode, build, install-framework, and clean-frameworks command families. Framework files can be stored or read from a user-specified frame path, but the official docs do not present that as a fixed config-file location, so no config-file-location is recorded here.

Warum Paket-Nerds sich dafür interessieren

Apktool is package-nerd significant because it is both a package and a package unpacker: it lets users explode Android's signed ZIP-based application format into resources, smali, framework references, and rebuild metadata. That makes it the bridge between Android binary distribution and editable source-like trees.

Its long packaging history also makes it a compatibility benchmark. When Android resource formats, smali, aapt/aapt2, Java versions, or Linux distro policies change, Apktool's releases often encode the fallout for reverse-engineering workflows.

Zeitleiste

• 2010: Official release blog lists Apktool 0.9.x and 1.0.0 releases.
• 2012: Current GitHub repository was created.
• 2015: Official blog records Apktool 2.0.0 and a Google Code shutdown migration note.
• 2026: Apktool 3.0.0 became the major 3.x branch with CLI and resource-processing changes.
• 2026: Apktool 3.0.2 shipped as a patch release for a security regression and disassembly performance.

Related projects

• Apktool works in the Android reverse-engineering ecosystem alongside smali/baksmali, aapt/aapt2, dex tooling, Android framework files, and APK signing/build tools.

Quellen

• https://api.github.com/repos/iBotPeaches/Apktool
• https://api.github.com/repos/iBotPeaches/Apktool/releases
• https://apktool.org/blog
• https://apktool.org/docs/cli-parameters
• https://apktool.org/wiki/the-basics/intro
• https://github.com/iBotPeaches/Apktool#readme
• source_facts.package-manager