Get Android .apk file VersionName or VersionCode WITHOUT installing apk

Question

Following worked for me from the command line:

aapt dump badging myapp.apk

---

NOTE: aapt.exe is found in a build-tools sub-folder of SDK. For example:

<sdk_path>/build-tools/23.0.2/aapt.exe

final PackageManager pm = getPackageManager();
String apkName = "example.apk";
String fullPath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/" + apkName;        
PackageInfo info = pm.getPackageArchiveInfo(fullPath, 0);
Toast.makeText(this, "VersionCode : " + info.versionCode + ", VersionName : " + info.versionName , Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

If you are using version 2.2 and above of Android Studio then in Android Studio use Build → Analyze APK then select AndroidManifest.xml file.

aapt dump badging test.apk | grep "versionName" | sed -e "s/.*versionName='//" -e "s/' .*//"

This answers the question by returning only the version number as a result. However......

The goal as previously stated should be to find out if the apk on the server is newer than the one installed BEFORE attempting to download or install it. The easiest way to do this is include the version number in the filename of the apk hosted on the server eg myapp_1.01.apk

You will need to establish the name and version number of the apps already installed (if it is installed) in order to make the comparison. You will need a rooted device or a means of installing the aapt binary and busybox if they are not already included in the rom.

This script will get the list of apps from your server and compare with any installed apps. The result is a list flagged for upgrade/installation.

#/system/bin/sh
SERVER_LIST=$(wget -qO- "http://demo.server.com/apk/" | grep 'href' | grep '\.apk' | sed 's/.*href="//' | \
              sed 's/".*//' | grep -v '\/' | sed -E "s/%/\\\\x/g" | sed -e "s/x20/ /g" -e "s/\\\\//g")
LOCAL_LIST=$(for APP in $(pm list packages -f | sed -e 's/package://' -e 's/=.*//' | sort -u); do \
              INFO=$(echo -n $(aapt dump badging $APP | grep -e 'package: name=' -e 'application: label=')) 2>/dev/null; \
              PACKAGE=$(echo $INFO | sed "s/.*package: name='//" | sed "s/'.*$//"); \
              LABEL=$(echo $INFO | sed "s/.*application: label='//" | sed "s/'.*$//"); if [ -z "$LABEL" ]; then LABEL="$PACKAGE"; fi; \
              VERSION=$(echo $INFO | sed -e "s/.*versionName='//" -e "s/' .*//"); \
              NAME=$LABEL"_"$VERSION".apk"; echo "$NAME"; \
              done;)
OFS=$IFS; IFS=$'\t\n'
for REMOTE in $SERVER_LIST; do
    INSTALLED=0
    REMOTE_NAME=$(echo $REMOTE | sed 's/_.*//'); REMOTE_VER=$(echo $REMOTE | sed 's/^[^_]*_//g' | sed 's/[^0-9]*//g')
    for LOCAL in $LOCAL_LIST; do
        LOCAL_NAME=$(echo $LOCAL | sed 's/_.*//'); LOCAL_VER=$(echo $LOCAL | sed 's/^[^_]*_//g' | sed 's/[^0-9]*//g')
        if [ "$REMOTE_NAME" == "$LOCAL_NAME" ]; then INSTALLED=1; fi
        if [ "$REMOTE_NAME" == "$LOCAL_NAME" ] && [ ! "$REMOTE_VER" == "$LOCAL_VER" ]; then echo remote=$REMOTE ver=$REMOTE_VER local=$LOCAL ver=$LOCAL_VER; fi
    done
    if [ "$INSTALLED" == "0" ]; then echo "$REMOTE"; fi
done
IFS=$OFS

As somebody asked how to do it without using aapt. It is also possible to extract apk info with apktool and a bit of scripting. This way is slower and not simple in android but will work on windows/mac or linux as long as you have working apktool setup.

#!/bin/sh
APK=/path/to/your.apk
TMPDIR=/tmp/apktool
rm -f -R $TMPDIR
apktool d -q -f -s --force-manifest -o $TMPDIR $APK
APK=$(basename $APK)
VERSION=$(cat $TMPDIR/apktool.yml | grep "versionName" | sed -e "s/versionName: //")
LABEL=$(cat $TMPDIR/res/values/strings.xml | grep 'string name="title"' | sed -e 's/.*">//' -e 's/<.*//')
rm -f -R $TMPDIR
echo ${LABEL}_$(echo $V).apk

Also consider a drop folder on your server. Upload apks to it and a cron task renames and moves them to your update folder.

#!/bin/sh
# Drop Folder script for renaming APKs
# Read apk file from SRC folder and move it to TGT folder while changing filename to APKLABEL_APKVERSION.apk
# If an existing version of the APK exists in the target folder then script will remove it
# Define METHOD as "aapt" or "apktool" depending upon what is available on server 

# Variables
METHOD="aapt"
SRC="/home/user/public_html/dropfolders/apk"
TGT="/home/user/public_html/apk"
if [ -d "$SRC" ];then mkdir -p $SRC
if [ -d "$TGT" ]then mkdir -p $TGT

# Functions
get_apk_filename () {
    if [ "$1" = "" ]; then return 1; fi
    local A="$1"
    case $METHOD in
        "apktool")
            local D=/tmp/apktool
            rm -f -R $D
            apktool d -q -f -s --force-manifest -o $D $A
            local A=$(basename $A)
            local V=$(cat $D/apktool.yml | grep "versionName" | sed -e "s/versionName: //")
            local T=$(cat $D/res/values/strings.xml | grep 'string name="title"' | sed -e 's/.*">//' -e 's/<.*//')
            rm -f -R $D<commands>
            ;;
        "aapt")
            local A=$(aapt dump badging $A | grep -e "application-label:" -e "VersionName")
            local V=$(echo $A | sed -e "s/.*versionName='//" -e "s/' .*//")
            local T=$(echo $A | sed -e "s/.*application-label:'//" -e "s/'.*//")
            ;;
        esac
    echo ${T}_$(echo $V).apk
}

# Begin script
for APK in $(ls "$SRC"/*.apk); do
    APKNAME=$(get_apk_filename "$APK")
    rm -f $TGT/$(echo APKNAME | sed "s/_.*//")_*.apk
    mv "$APK" "$TGT"/$APKNAME
done

At the moment, this can be done as follows

$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/28.0.3/aapt dump badging /<path to>/<app name>.apk

In General, it will be:

$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/<version_of_build_tools>/aapt dump badging /<path to>/<app name>.apk