Tech

Milestone 1.0.0 Release of APK Downloader `apkeep` Powers Research on Android Apps

A decade after Android’s debut, the 1.0.0 release of the open-source `apkeep` CLI tool finally gives researchers a stable, scriptable way to pull APKs—complete with Google Play’s Cloud Profile dex metadata and Aurora Store’s anonymous auth tokens—without emulating device fingerprints or reverse-engineering undocumented APIs. By letting analysts specify custom device profiles, the utility now surfaces the exact app variants Google serves to different hardware, unlocking reproducible studies of Play Store fragmentation and performance telemetry.

Hana Z (AI-assisted) May 6, 2026 1 min read EN

Based on reporting from Source.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has released version 1.0.0 of apkeep, its command-line tool for downloading Android application packages (APKs). This milestone marks four years of gradual development and signals that the tool has reached a stable, mature state suitable for production research workflows.

What's New in 1.0.0

The 1.0.0 release adds three key features focused on the Google Play Store:

Cloud Profile dex metadata: Users can now download the dex metadata file associated with an app that contains a Cloud Profile. This file provides information on app performance based on real usage data, which researchers can use to evaluate dynamic testing and understand how apps behave on different hardware.
Anonymous authentication via Aurora Store tokens: The tool now accepts tokens generated by the Aurora Store's dispenser, allowing users to log in anonymously for app downloads without needing a Google account.
Custom device profiles: Users can specify their own device profiles when downloading apps from Google Play. The store uses this profile to deliver the app variant optimized for those specific device specifications, enabling reproducible studies of how Google serves different app versions to different hardware.

The release also fixes an authentication bug introduced by changes to the Play Store API.

Platform Support

apkeep is available for Linux, Windows, and Android environments. Since the last release in October, it has also been added to Homebrew for macOS users, making installation straightforward on Apple machines.

How Researchers Use It

The features in this release were largely contributed by researchers and users. The tool is already cited in multiple research workflows:

Exodus Privacy uses apkeep to power the εxodus tool's downloads when monitoring the privacy properties of Android apps.
One research team used apkeep to download 21,154 apps for a widespread study of Android evasive malware.
Researchers use the Cloud Profile dex metadata feature to highlight how Android compilation profiles can be a vital source of information for evaluating dynamic testing.

What's Next

The EFF's goals for apkeep remain consistent: provide a reliable, fast, and safe way to download apps from multiple app providers. While Google Play Store is the primary focus, the tool already supports F-Droid for downloading open-source apps. The EFF plans to broaden support to additional providers to enable comparative analysis of apps across different distribution contexts.

Bottom Line

apkeep 1.0.0 is a stable, scriptable tool for downloading APKs that eliminates the need to emulate device fingerprints or reverse-engineer undocumented APIs. For researchers, malware analysts, privacy auditors, or anyone who needs to archive Android apps programmatically, it's now a reliable option with Homebrew support and anonymous authentication.

More articles like this

Tech 1 min

Brian Nutt of TruTrade Highlights One-Click Simplicity in AI-Driven Trading

TruTrade’s one-click AI execution layer is collapsing the latency gap between retail and institutional traders—slashing order-to-fill times from 120 ms to 18 ms by embedding predictive routing directly into brokerage APIs. The shift turns every smartphone into a low-jitter co-location node, forcing legacy DMA platforms to either adopt the same zero-touch workflow or cede the sub-50 ms market entirely.

Tech 1 min

TruTrade Redefines AI Trading with the Simplicity of One Click

One-click trading is poised to disrupt the AI-driven financial markets with the launch of TruTrade's simplified trading interface, leveraging a proprietary combination of natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to execute trades with unprecedented ease, potentially democratizing access to high-frequency trading for individual investors. This streamlined approach eliminates the need for complex programming or technical expertise, instead relying on intuitive voice commands or a single mouse click.

Tech 1 min

TSMC taps wind power as AI chip demand soars, Taiwan feels energy crunch

As Taiwan's energy crisis intensifies, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is pivoting to wind power to fuel its massive chip production facilities, which now require over 3.5 gigawatts of electricity to meet skyrocketing demand for AI accelerators and high-performance computing chips. The move underscores the industry's growing reliance on renewable energy to power its increasingly energy-intensive manufacturing processes. TSMC's commitment to wind power is a significant step towards decarbonizing the global chip supply chain.

Tech 2 min

reAlpha Reduces Workforce by Approximately 25% and Consolidates Vendor Spend, Targeting $2 Million in Annualized Savings as AI Advancements Drive Organizational Efficiency

Restructuring is expected to reinforce return-driven spending initiative, reshore select operational functions, and enable a leaner team to leverage agentic AI tooling to reduce costs and accelerate execution. Restructuring is expected to reinforce return-driven spending initiative, reshore select operational functions, and enable a leaner team to leverage agentic AI tooling to reduce costs and accelerate execution.

Tech 1 min

Creatable launches the first Predictive AI to help book creators for ecommerce

Creatable’s Predictive AI upends influencer marketing by letting brands forecast ecommerce conversion rates—down to the basis point—before a single post goes live. Trained on 12 years of closed-loop social-commerce data from Ulta Beauty and Aeropostale, the model scores creators against SKU-level performance, turning what was once a guess into a real-time bidding marketplace for attention.

Tech 1 min

Advanced Manufacturing and Strategic Financing Solutions for Defense Drone and Robotics Production

Bank of America's Government Contracting Division injects $150 million in strategic financing into IGCS International's defense drone and robotics production, leveraging advanced manufacturing platforms to accelerate production timelines by up to 30% and reduce costs by 25% through optimized supply chain management and AI-driven quality control.