This essentially creates a command called “jadx-gui” and assigns it the value of where the actual jadx-gui command is located. This can be done by running:Īlias jadx-gui=’~//jadx/build/jadx/bin/jadx-gui’ That can get a bit messy depending on what command you run I suggest creating an “alias” for this. In order to use the graphical version (GUI), you’ll need to call “jadx-gui” from within the “build/jadx/bin/” directory. You’ll need to install git prior, run:įrom here, you’ll have a few directories that house different content. Still within the APKAnalysisTools folder (or whatever you named your directory), follow the three commands listed under the “Build from source” section. JDK should contain JRE as well per online resources, though I didn’t run into issues in running both commands.įinally, run the following command to ensure you have Java 8 or higher JDK is the Java Development Kit and this allows access to Java’s development kit. JRE is the Java Runtime Environment, which allows running Java code. Note that the JADX GitHub mentions “JDK 8 or higher must be installed” but I ran both commands above just in case. For me, I have a directory called “APKAnalysisTools” and this is where I am doing my APK testing. Open the terminal and go into whatever directory you want to use for reverse engineering purposes. JADX is used to convert DEX/Smali code into Java source code.Īt this point, I am assuming you’re in a VM running Ubuntu. This post will specifically cover the JADX tool, which was the most simple to install and use in my experience. I’ll explain how to go about getting set up using an Ubuntu VM. There are varying installation processes with each tool, but the most common installation among all was Java.

In my testing, I used quite a few different tools and frameworks. Remember the code itself is in binary format and cannot be read within a text editor or other development environment. While it’s useful to an extent, it’s not helpful in reading and understanding the programming logic. My last blog post detailed how to unzip an APK archive and what contents are within. In continuation of the Android APK Reverse Engineering series, this post will cover how to actually start digging into an APK’s programming logic.

Jadx gui macos