What Are AndroidManifest.xml files

[Cody Thompson]

Hi There,

My mom has been thinking that her phone has been hacked. She often says that people are sticking manifests on her phone then forwards files like the attached screenshot to her emails and says certain things mean certain stuff. I'm really not aware of what these things are, so I was hoping a developer could help explain what the manifest shows in the screenshot to me... So I could pass the information along to her.

I know most of the time these manifests are used to run apps and such... but just want to confirm there isn't anything weird going on.

All the Best,
Cody

 

[Deleted User]

Where's she finding these files?
A manifest is part of the build process for an app. It contains things like permissions required by the app, names of activities used in the code. The manifest file is part of the APK file, which is installed on your phone. Normally this file isn't visible to users. It doesn't do anything by itself, it needs to be read by the system, to verify what the app is doing.

 

[Cody Thompson]

She was using some application she downloaded that looked into application file codes on her phone to see what they were made up of. That was my understanding. She was also looking at things like the attached which just seemed to be more of the same junk but in a different format. Anything odd with this view?

 

[Deleted User]

She was using some application she downloaded that looked into application file codes on her phone to see what they were made up of

Can I ask why she was doing that? Any app obtained from the Google Play Store will have had security checks already performed on it, to ensure it's not doing anything nasty.
In terms of app permissions, then they're clearly stated in the app description, and the app will also ask for user confirmation of any permission which is considered 'dangerous'. Things like looking through your contacts.