/convert-apk

Convert .apk files to install them on Android >= 11 (SDK >= 30)

Primary LanguageShell

Convert .apk files

Prepare them for Android >= 11 (SDK >= 30)

This repository is a set of scripts written to solved an error appearing when trying to install an app with adb:
Failure [-124: Failed parse during installPackageLI: Targeting R+ (version 30 and above) requires the resources.arsc of installed APKs to be stored uncompressed and aligned on a 4-byte boundary]

Or within Android:
There was a problem parsing the package

I originally found the solution thanks to this comment by T Aria on StackOverflow.

Full example at the bottom.

Usage

  • In Windows cmd: 
    convert-apk.bat [-t] <impossible_to_install.apk> <converted.apk>
    OR 
    uncompress-resources.bat [-t] <impossible_to_install.apk> <uncompressed.apk>
align-and-sign.bat <uncompressed.apk> <converted.apk>
  • In Bash: 
    chmod +x convert-apk.sh
./convert-apk.sh [-t] <impossible_to_install.apk> <converted.apk>
    OR 
    chmod +x uncompress-resources.sh align-and-sign.sh
./uncompress-resources.sh [-t] <impossible_to_install.apk> <uncompressed.apk>
./align-and-sign.sh <uncompressed.apk> <converted.apk>
  • In Git Bash: 
    ./convert-apk.sh -t <impossible_to_install.apk> <converted.apk>
    OR 
    ./uncompress-resources.sh -t <impossible_to_install.apk> <uncompressed.apk>
./align-and-sign.sh <uncompressed.apk> <converted.apk>

Installation of converted app

You have three ways of doing this:

  • Install directly the app with adb:
    adb install --no-incremental <converted.apk>
  • Transfer the file with adb then install it manually:
    adb push <converted.apk> /sdcard/Download - will put the file in the Download folder of the internal memory
  • Transfer it from the file explorer and install it manually

Note that the last two will probably make Google Play Protect throw a warning during installation.

Tweaking

You can change several things in the scripts to customize them. The lines where things can be changed are marked in the files.

  • In align-and-sign.bat and align-and-sign.sh:
    • the key path and the key password, to use an already existing one
    • the first letter of "yes" in your language could be different from the ones supported
    • the default minimum SDK version for apksigner can be lowered if you encounter problems while signing the apk (at the cost of "security", see the documentation)

Requirements

  • Android Studio command line tools: zipalign and apksigner must be in your PATH
  • Java: keytool must be in your PATH
  • Specifically on Windows:
    • PowerShell 5 (included by default) or PowerShell 7 (faster)
      OR
    • Git Bash (use -t for uncompress-resources.sh)
      OR
    • WSL
  • Specifically on Linux:
    • zip and unzip commands

Full example

Suppose a example-app.apk that is impossible to install:

  • In Windows cmd: 
    git clone https://github.com/mathieures/convert-apk.git
cd convert-apk
copy ..\example-app.apk .
convert-apk.bat example-app.apk new-example-app.apk
  • In Git Bash: 
    git clone https://github.com/mathieures/convert-apk.git
cd convert-apk
cp ../example-app.apk .
./convert-apk.sh -t example-app.apk new-example-app.apk
  • On Linux: 
    git clone https://github.com/mathieures/convert-apk.git
cd convert-apk
cp ../example-app.apk .
chmod +x *.sh
./convert-apk.sh example-app.apk new-example-app.apk