App Protection - Is it possible to decompile a python for Android apk Package?

[Sven Petersen]

Hello,

I'm hardcoding Information within my App, that shouldn't bee seen by anyone.
So I would like to ask if it is possible to decompile an apk Package which has been created with python for android?
Any advice on how to protect an App would be appreciated.

with kind regards,

[Sven Petersen]

I know i can just unzip the APK File, but could the public.mp3 File be decompiled?

[Mathieu Virbel]

Hi,

Ok, let's be more specific. An APK is just a zip file that contain the
application. Our public.mp3 is actually a TAR file, that is decompressed
at the initial startup.

In the tar, you'll have all the pyo, images, and others assets of your
applications and others libraries.

The protection of the .pyo is at the same level as the .class of Java:
both can be decompiled with appropriate tools.

If you want a more complex protection of a portion of the code, you
could compile it as a Python extension, and you will get a .so. This
will be pure C compiled in ARM. It would be harder to decompile, but not
that harder. Then all the matter is how you'll obfuscate the code.
Google for it, it's a mouse&cat game, there is no ideal solution.


Mathieu

[Sven Petersen]

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation, that's exactly what I wanted to know.