Decoding Android apk file (Reverse Engineering)

Procedure for decoding .apk files, step-by-step method:

Step 1:

Make a new folder and put .apk file in it (which you want to decode). Now rename the extension of this .apk file to .zip (eg.: rename from filename.apk to filename.apk.zip) and save it. Now you get classes.dex files, etc. At this stage you are able to see drawable but not xml and java files, so continue.

Step 2:

Now extract this zip apk file in the same folder (or NEW FOLDER). Now download dex2jar from this link

 http://code.google.com/p/dex2jar/  and extract it to the same folder (or NEW FOLDER). Now open command prompt and change directory to that folder (or NEW FOLDER). Then write dex2jar classes.dex and press enter. Now you get classes.dex.dex2jar file in the same folder. Then download java decompiler from  http://java.decompiler.free.fr/?q=jdgui  or from here and now double click on jd-gui  or AndroChef Java Decompiler 1.0 shortcut created on your desktop and click on open file. Then open classes.dex.dex2jar file from that folder. Now you get class files and save all these class files (click on file then click "save all sources" in jd-gui) by src name. At this stage you get java source but the xml files are still unreadable, so continue.

Step 3:

Now open another new folder and put these files

1.  put .apk file which you want to decode

2.  download apktool v1.x AND apktool install window (both can be downloaded at the same location) and put in the same folder

3.  download framework-res.apk file and put in the same folder (Not all apk file need framework-res.apk file)

4.  Open a command window

5.  Navigate to the root directory of APKtool and type the following command: apktool if framework-res.apk

6.  apktool d "fname".apk ("fname" denotes filename which you want to decode)

now you get a file folder in that folder and now you can easily read xml files also.