Interesting issue

[joeewhite]

I found a brand new game began playing it, a few days ago they updated the app and now it kills a full battery within minutes of using and that's not all... It now puts sucha strain on my Wi-Fi that it actually shuts it off for the entire household... I am an i.t. professional (pc).. Here's my odd question... Is it possible for a dev to create an app that appears as a game but in fact has a more sinister purpose such as accessing your personal information or worse to simply wreck havok with your equipment and if you suspect a dev of doing this is there any way to view the apps code without doing it illegally?

 

[Hadron]

The answer is of course it is possible. Google's tests are supposed to catch such things, but if someone thinks of a clever new way it may get past those (and of course any "antivirus" software). These are not possibilities specific to Android: any curated app store may miss something and new attacks will always beat any AV app. It has been noted that checks on updates are weaker than those on new apps, and malicious developers have taken advantage of that before.

That said, "cock up" should always be considered together with "conspiracy". It may be an error on the developer's part, possibly even an incompatibility with a subset of devices rather than a general problem.

As for checking the source code, unless the app is open source the answer is not really.

 

[puppykickr]

There are apps out there that allow you to look into apps that are not open source.

This can be done legitimately for educational purposes.

But it is definitly not ok to modify the app and then provide it to others in any way, shape, or form.

MTK is an excellent file manager that has such features.

Of course, you would really need to already know what you are looking for, and where to find it within the apk of the app.