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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Extracting APK from device

Extracting an APK file from your android device is very easy. However if you check the android forums then the method mentioned there will ask you to root the device or install custom apps.

Here I explain a method to extract APK from your un-rooted device directly without the need to download any app. You just need to download the SDK and use adb (android debugger) present in the platform-tools folder.

1. First step is to connect the device and make sure it is recognized. If the device is not recognized then the device driver has to be installed. Run adb or the command adb.exe devices and make sure it is recognized.

2. List the apks present in the device by running the command mentioned below.
"adb.exe shell pm list packages"

3. Get the exact path of the app you are interested in by running the command
"adb.exe shell pm path com.example.someapp"

4. Using the exact path of the app
"adb.exe pull /data/app/com.example.someapp-2.apk C:/Users/.../Desktop/myapp.apk"

This will copy the apk directly to your desktop.