Apktool vs Vivisect

Apktool is a command-line tool for reverse engineering Android APK files. It can disassemble an app’s resources into a form close to their original structure, then rebuild an app after changes such as translation or permission edits. Its analysis mode attempts to extract resources and the manifest for inspection without rebuilding. Apktool runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS; its official installation guide describes wrapper-script steps for those systems and requires Java 8 or later. Decode options include choosing resource-resolution behavior, skipping resources or source disassembly, and setting a framework directory. Build options include selecting an aapt2 binary, adding a generic Network Security Configuration file, and disabling APK repacking. The Apache license permits redistribution, modification, and integration into another project. Apktool is free, with no pricing tiers stated. Its FAQ says Android devices are not officially supported, and some OEM-modified “Magic APKs” may not decode or build. Builds are unsigned; copying a signature retains only the original APK signature v1 scheme.

Vivisect is a free, Apache-2.0 static analysis platform for binaries, with the related Vdb tool providing cross-platform debugging. Its pure-Python tools perform static and dynamic analysis, including built-in static and symbolic analysis, in a hybrid workflow. Analysis can run through an extensible UI, scripts, an API, or headlessly; command-line bulk processing can save a .viv workspace. Distributed analysis is available through cobra. Vivisect runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and lists i386, amd64, ARMv7, Thumb16, Thumb, AArch64, MSP430, and H8 architectures. Python 3.6 and newer are supported and installation is available through pip. The gui extra adds PyQt5 dependencies. Workspaces can be shared between instances or served over a network or localhost, with connected updates propagating as events arrive. Vdb can attach by process ID or command-line substring, or start and attach to a process.