where is .apk location for apps that are installed on sdcard?

Question

I know that the location for system apps is '/system/app' and the location for user apps is '/data/app'. But I can't find the location of apk for the ones that I moved to/installed on sdcard.

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered May 10 '12 at 11:45

Apps installed on the SD-Card are stored within the directory ".android_secure".

If I remember correctly you won't find the APK files directly in that folder because the content is encrypted. This is for preventing direct access to the APK file of paid apps.

The encrypted part is mounted somewhere else into the file system.

Eric Nemchik · Answer 2 · 2012-05-10T11:56:53.060

For me at least using cyanogenmod9 on a Samsung galaxy s 2 i777 I found them in /mnt/asec/ This location works differently than /system/app/ and /data/app/ because the system is actually creating a mount for each app rather than just stuffing them in a folder. Make sure you take note of symbolic links.

You will not be able to add to here like you can the other two, but you can extract an apk. A better solution would be MyAppSharer from the market.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 23 '15 at 13:13

2

It will be in mnt -> asec -> -> pkg.apk

answered Mar 23 '15 at 13:13

Senthilkumar

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Could yoi elaborate more your answer? – abarisone Mar 23 '15 at 13:32

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 16 '16 at 18:55

On Android 5.0+ (Lollipop, Marshmallow) almost every installed non-system app will be placed in:

/data/app/

Access to /data requires root.

Use su when you are working with adb shell to gain root access, this of course requires your phone to be rooted in the first place.

The directory contains a sub directory for every app. Each sub directory is named by his package, following Androids app naming convention:

tld.author.appname-N

Where N represents a number greater or equal to 1

e.g. for Firefox it will look something like:

org.mozilla.firefox-1

Inside every app directory you will find a base.apk which is representing the installed app.

So if you want Firefox simply download:

/data/app/org.mozilla.firefox-1/base.apk

using adb pull/scp or copy it to your sdcard and download it using MTP.

Cheers

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 10 '12 at 12:20

0

it is in File Explorer--> mnt/sdcard

answered May 10 '12 at 12:20

Nikhil Lamba

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score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 21 '14 at 14:53

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Install ES file explorer. Go to Home Page there will be link App...under that you will find all the apps installed on sd card or phone memory.. select app and share...enjoy...

edited Jul 21 '14 at 14:53

latonz

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answered Jul 21 '14 at 14:43

Nilesh

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 22 '18 at 14:18

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On lineage 14, Android 7 , all sdcard apps are stored in /mnt/expand/ And apk in folder "app"

answered Feb 22 '18 at 14:18

Mikhail

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where is .apk location for apps that are installed on sdcard?

7 Answers7