Android Studio: How to find the Package Name from APK

If you've been given an APK file but don't know the ApplicationId/Package name, you can use the 'aapt' (Android Asset Packaging Tool) to obtain this value. What you'll need:

• Your Android SDK install directory path
  • Mac: /Users/yourusername/Library/Android/sdk
  • Win: C:\Program Files\Android\SDK
• Your APK file (example here)

You'll have to navigate beyond the SDK folder to the 'build-tools' and then your version number (see below) to find the 'aapt' tool. From that directory, you can run:

aapt dump badging <path to your apk>

This will dump the details of your app manifest, the first line of which is your package name (a.k.a. the ApplicationId in a build.gradle file).

Additionally, you can get a complete listing of the manifest by using:

aapt list -a <path to your apk>

Why Do I need the the Application ID / Package Name?

For various reasons, this identifier is important. For instance, debugging with the ADB command tools or launching an existing app requires this ID.

In my case, I needed to know what to add to a Perfecto test for the Espresso Execute test step:

I have to add the ".test" suffix to the package name coming from aapt because I need to tell the Perfecto Espresso executor to run tests.