How to see apk details using aapt

example of aapt in action showing 1st lines

What is aapt?

AAPT stands for Android Asset Packaging Tool. The Android Asset Packaging Tool (aapt) takes your application resource files, such as the AndroidManifest.xml file and the XML files for your Activities, and compiles them.This is a great tool which help you to view, create, and update your APKs (as well as zip and jar files). It can also compile resources into binary assets. It is the base builder for Android aplications. This tool is a piece of the SDK (and assemble framework) and permits you to see, make, and redesign Zip-perfect chronicles (zip, jolt, apk)

Any scenario where I might use this?

Yes! If you are releasing an app to the playstore and a customer tries to download it, but it does say that the app is not compatible with his device.
This tool will show you what permissions you have enabled or disabled, also which features it is using.

How can I see my app’s permissions and enabled/disabled features?

1. Download aapt: https://androidaapt.com/
2. Copy the apk to the same folder and run cmd
3. Run this command

aapt dump badging app-armeabi-v7a-release.apk

example of aapt in action

I am unable to change the feature from required to not required

Sometimes you might find that you set a feature to be required=false but when you check it using the tool it does not change at all. In this case add tools:replace="required" this will replace the required with the new param.

<uses-feature tools:replace=”required” android:name=”android.hardware.camera.flash” android:required=”false” />

References:

What is AAPT (Android Asset Packaging Tool) and how does it work?

android:required="false" is being ignored in uses-feature tag

Android: How to find which platform version an APK targets?