APK Framework Detector 🔍

A command-line tool that detects the development framework or language used to build any Android APK without needing to manually inspect its contents.

It works by decompiling the APK using apktool and analyzing the resulting files and folder structure to identify the underlying technology.

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Features

• Detects 8 major frameworks: Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Ionic/Cordova, Capacitor, Kotlin, and Java
• Fallback analysis for unrecognized apps - identifies Java (likely), Kotlin (likely), Native C/C++ NDK, or reports Unknown / Undetected honestly instead of guessing
• Hybrid app detection - if multiple frameworks are found, all of them are reported
• Displays evidence for every detection (exactly which files or folders triggered the result)
• Works directly on an already-decompiled folder - no need to run apktool manually every time
• Cross-platform - works on Windows, Linux, and macOS
• Automatically cleans up temporary decompiled files after analysis (can be disabled with --keep)
• No third-party Python libraries required - uses standard library only

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Requirements

System

• Python 3.10+
• apktool installed and available on PATH
  • Windows: download apktool.bat from https://apktool.org
  • Linux: sudo apt install apktool
  • macOS: brew install apktool

Python

No third-party packages required. All dependencies are part of the Python standard library.

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Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/smackerdodi/apk-framework-detector.git
cd apk-framework-detector

2. Make sure apktool is working

apktool --version        # Linux / macOS
apktool.bat --version    # Windows

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How to Run

Mode 1 - Provide an APK file directly

The tool will decompile it automatically using apktool, analyze it, then clean up.

python3 apk_detector.py --apk path/to/app.apk

Mode 2 - Provide an already-decompiled folder

If you already ran apktool manually, point the tool directly to the output folder.

python3 apk_detector.py --folder path/to/decompiled_folder

Optional flags (APK mode only)

Flag	Description
--keep	Keep the decompiled files after analysis instead of deleting them
--output-dir <path>	Use a specific folder for apktool output instead of a temp directory

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Example Output

=======================================================
  APK Framework Detector
=======================================================
  Mode       : apk
  File       : instagram.apk
  Output dir : C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\apk_detector_xyz

[*] Running apktool.bat ...
[+] apktool finished successfully ✓

[*] Scanning decompiled files ...

=======================================================
  Result for: instagram.apk
=======================================================

  ⚛️   Framework: React Native

  Evidence:
    ✓ Found assets/index.android.bundle
    ✓ Found libreactnativejni.so in lib/

=======================================================

[*] Cleaning up temporary files ...
[+] Cleanup done ✓

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Supported Frameworks

Icon	Framework	Detection Method
🟦	Flutter	libflutter.so, libapp.so, flutter_assets/
⚛️	React Native	index.android.bundle, libreactnativejni.so
🎮	Unity	libunity.so, libil2cpp.so, assets/bin/Data/
🔷	Xamarin	libmonodroid.so, assemblies/*.dll
🌐	Ionic / Cordova	assets/www/ + cordova.js or cordova_plugins.js
🦕	Capacitor	assets/public/ + capacitor.config.json
🎯	Kotlin	.kotlin_module files, kotlin/ smali packages
☕	Java	Fallback — smali files with no other framework signals
⚙️	Native C/C++ NDK	.so files present with no smali
❓	Unknown	No recognizable signals found

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Notes

• Timeout: apktool is given up to 600 seconds (10 minutes) to decompile. This is intentional to handle large APKs on slower machines.
• Hybrid apps: Some apps use more than one framework (e.g. a native app with an embedded React Native screen). The tool will report all detected frameworks.
• Obfuscated APKs: Heavily obfuscated apps may hide some signals, leading to a fallback or unknown result. This is expected behavior.

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License

MIT License - free to use, modify, and distribute.