Generate Apk file from aab file (android app bundle)

Question

Is there any way to generate an apk file from android app Bundle via terminal or using android studio?

Answer 1

So far nobody has provided the solution to get the APK from an AAB.

This solution will generate a universal binary as an apk.

1. Add --mode=universal to your bundletool command (if you need a signed app, use the --ks parameters as required).

   bundletool build-apks --bundle=/MyApp/my_app.aab --output=/MyApp/my_app.apks     --mode=universal 

2. MAIN STEP: Change the output file name from .apks to .zip

3. Unzip and explore

4. The file universal.apk is your app

This universal binary will likely be quite big but is a great solution for sending to the QA department or distributing the App anywhere other than the Google Play store.

Answer 2

By default, the IDE does not use app bundles to deploy your app to a local device for testing

Refer bundletool command

For Debug apk command,

bundletool build-apks --bundle=/MyApp/my_app.aab --output=/MyApp/my_app.apks 

For Release apk command,

bundletool build-apks --bundle=/MyApp/my_app.aab --output=/MyApp/my_app.apks --ks=/MyApp/keystore.jks --ks-pass=file:/MyApp/keystore.pwd --ks-key-alias=MyKeyAlias --key-pass=file:/MyApp/key.pwd 

Edit:

I have been using following commands while testing my release build for aab(I hope it helps others too):

1. Download bundletool jar file from Github Repository (Latest release > Assets > bundletool-all-version.jar file). Rename that file to bundletool.jar

2. Generate your aab file from Android Studio eg: myapp-release.aab

3. Run following command:

   java -jar "path/to/bundletool.jar" build-apks --bundle=myapp-release.aab --output=myapp.apks --ks="/path/to/myapp-release.keystore" --ks-pass=pass:myapp-keystore-pass --ks-key-alias=myapp-alias --key-pass=pass:myapp-alias-pass 

4. myapp.apks file will be generated

5. Make sure your device is connected to your machine

6. Now run following command to install it on your device:

   java -jar "path/to/bundletool.jar" install-apks --apks=myapp.apks 

Edit 2:

If you need to extract a single .apk file from the .aab file, you can add a extra param --mode=universal to the bundletool command:

bundletool build-apks --bundle=/MyApp/my_app.aab --output=/MyApp/my_app.apks \     --mode=universal \     --ks=/MyApp/keystore.jks \     --ks-pass=file:/MyApp/keystore.pwd \     --ks-key-alias=MyKeyAlias \     --key-pass=file:/MyApp/key.pwd 

and execute

unzip -p /MyApp/my_app.apks universal.apk > /MyApp/my_app.apk 

this will generate a single a /MyApp/my_app.apk file that can be shared an installed by any device app installer