The Tool Bag

Abstract

The techniques in this book are heavily reliant on external tools. This book does not teach you how to develop those tools but attempts to enlighten you on how you can make use of these tools to both build and test your apps. That’s why I have dramatically decided to call this chapter “The Tool Bag.” I will also spend a little time telling you about my setup that I use when reverse engineering and debugging Android apps. Your mileage will considerably vary, and perhaps you do not want to or are unable to set up your environment this way. This is fine. You can still get the job done, so don’t fret too much. In this chapter, I will talk about tools that I use to build, test, and break Android apps. The list will be a combination of free and commercial tools that I use personally in my daily routines depending on whether I am wearing a builder hat or breaker hat. I skew toward breaker by nature and by the career that I have had. This may be apparent in the dearth of the builder tools covered here, but it will cover the basics of what you need so that you can build your apps and then ensure that they are secure.