Android APK Analyzer: Manifest, Permissions & Size Guide

Use Android Studio's APK Analyzer to inspect what's inside your APK or AAB, understand permission declarations, read DEX class structure, and apply R8 shrinking to reduce app size for Google Play.

APK vs AAB: Which to Use

Using APK Analyzer in Android Studio

Open APK Analyzer from the menu: Build > Analyze APK... and select your .apk or .aab file. You'll see a breakdown of every file and its raw and download size.

# Build a release APK for analysis
cd android
./gradlew assembleRelease

# The APK is at:
# android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk

# Or build an AAB (for Play Store):
./gradlew bundleRelease
# android/app/build/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab

# Analyze from command line with bundletool
java -jar bundletool.jar dump manifest --bundle=app-release.aab
java -jar bundletool.jar dump resources --bundle=app-release.aab

Reading AndroidManifest.xml Permissions

In APK Analyzer, click AndroidManifest.xml to see all declared permissions. Review each one for necessity:

<!-- AndroidManifest.xml — permission examples -->
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

  <!-- Required for any network access -->
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

  <!-- Runtime permission — user must approve -->
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />

  <!-- maxSdkVersion limits to older OS versions -->
  <uses-permission
    android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
    android:maxSdkVersion="32" />

  <!-- Precise vs approximate location -->
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
  <!-- Only add FINE_LOCATION if you truly need GPS precision -->

</manifest>

Permissions added automatically by third-party libraries (called "permission leakage") are a common issue. Add tools:node="remove" to strip permissions added by libraries you can't modify:

<manifest xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
  <!-- Remove a permission added by a library -->
  <uses-permission
    android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE"
    tools:node="remove" />
</manifest>

Reducing APK Size with R8 and Resource Shrinking

Enable R8 code shrinking and resource shrinking in your release build configuration:

// android/app/build.gradle
android {
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true         // Enable R8 shrinking + obfuscation
            shrinkResources true       // Remove unused resources
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'),
                          'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }

    // Exclude specific ABIs to reduce native library size
    // Include only the architectures you target
    splits {
        abi {
            enable true
            reset()
            include 'arm64-v8a', 'armeabi-v7a'  // Covers 99%+ of Android devices
            universalApk false
        }
    }
}

Analyze DEX Method Count

In APK Analyzer, click on a .dex file to see a tree view of all packages and their method counts. If you're approaching the 64K limit, R8 shrinking is the primary solution:

# Check method count from command line
# Install dx tool (part of Android SDK build-tools)
dx --dex --output=temp.dex classes.dex 2>&1 | grep "method count"

# Or use dexcount-gradle-plugin to get method count in CI
# In build.gradle:
# apply plugin: 'com.getkeepsafe.dexcount'
# Run: ./gradlew assembleRelease
# Check: app/build/outputs/dexcount/