{"id":16572,"date":"2018-02-19T16:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T21:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/?p=16572"},"modified":"2022-04-28T09:40:35","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T13:40:35","slug":"everything-need-know-apk-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/everything-need-know-apk-files\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything You Need to Know About APK Files"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even if you\u2019re an Android phone user, you might not know what people mean when they discuss an APK file. Put simply, an APK file is created by Google exclusively for the Android operating system. Most APK files come pre-installed, or \u201cnative,\u201d to the Android mobile device, whether it be a smart phone or tablet. However, that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re useless like temporary files or cache. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, you likely will not see an APK file because many Android operations happen behind the scenes. However, users are likely to notice them if they examine the files of a downloaded app from the Google Play store.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More: <\/b>What You Should Know About SSL Certificates<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s in an APK File?
\n<\/b>As mentioned, an APK file is designed exclusively by Google for Android\u2019s operating system. The content of some common APK files explain why. The <\/span>META-INF<\/span><\/i> contains what is known as the manifest file. Think of this as the main file, which contains the file\u2019s signature and the resources within the APK file. After that are the <\/span>Lib\/<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Res\/<\/span><\/i> files, which contain the native library and further resources, such as images, within the APK file. An <\/span>AndroidManifest.xml<\/span><\/i> file describes the name, version, and contents of an APK file. Think of this like a more robust version of the <\/span>META-INF<\/span><\/i> file. Lastly, the <\/span>classes.dex<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>resources.arsc<\/span><\/i> files contain compiled Java classes and resources, like strings, to be run on your Android device.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking at an APK File
\n<\/b>Viewing APK files is actually quite easy. In fact, they even have their own folder. Simply locate the APK file you want to see and click it. APK files are stored in a .ZIP file, which compresses all the information within the APK file into a single file. This is used to save storage on your device. By clicking, or unzipping, the file, you\u2019ll be able to view the contents within the file. Note, however, that you may have to rename the file \u201c.zip\u201d before opening. Alternatively, you can also open the file through the Zip application\u2019s \u201copen dialogue\u201d box.<\/span><\/p>\n

Creating an APK File
\n<\/b>Feeling crafty? Actually designing an APK file, which you can use for your own app or for beta testing an app, isn\u2019t that difficult. You can design an APK file using the Android Studio, the official integrated device environment (IDE) available for Android software developers. It\u2019s available for Windows, Mac, and Linux and allows users to design APK apps for the Google Play store.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, you\u2019ve heard the term thrown around but you\u2019re not sure what it means. Find out everything you\u2019ve ever wanted to know about APK files here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[30,252,106,9,349,67],"class_list":["post-16572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-tutoriais","tag-android","tag-app1","tag-google","tag-mobile","tag-phone","tag-smartphone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21251,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16572\/revisions\/21251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}