aabc: Android App Bundle Checker

aabc is a utility that checks whether Android apps on a device were built using Android App Bundles (AAB) or whether they're monolithic APKs. This script calls ADB to gather this information and can output lists of apps built with AAB.

Requirements

Android Debug Bridge (adb) is required to run aabc. ADB is a part of Android SDK Platform-Tools.

Usage

If you find that the usage instructions below are unclear or inaccurate, please open an issue.

Connecting Android Device(s) with adb

1. Enable developer options and USB debugging on your Android device(s).
2. Connect Android device(s) to your computer via USB.
3. Run adb devices and note the serial of the target device (the output in the left column).
   • A pop-up may appear on your device asking you to allow the connection. Allow it.

Running aabc

Specify the devices you want to check by passing their serials (from step 3 above) to aabc:

# Check device with serial "FOBAR1234"
aabc FOOBAR1234

# Check multiple devices by passing multiple serials
aabc FOOBAR1234 HELLOWORLD12

By default, aabc will list apps that are built using Android App Bundles. This preference can be specified explicitly by passing -a (this does the same as the above example):

aabc -a FOOBAR1234

You can do the opposite and output apps that don't use Android App Bundles (monolithic apps) with -m:

aabc -m FOOBAR1234

To filter out system apps that you might not care about checking, pass -3 to look at third-party apps only:

aabc -3 FOOBAR1234

See an overview of available options and usage information:

$ aabc -h

usage: aabc [-h] [-3] [-a | -m] device_serial [device_serial ...]

Output list of Android apps installed on devices that use Android App Bundles
(default) or are monolithic.

positional arguments:
  device_serial         Serial(s) of device(s) to check (from "adb devices"
                        output)

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -3, --third-party-apps-only
                        Only check if third-party apps use Android App Bundles
  -a, --output-aab      Output list of packages that use Android App Bundles
  -m, --output-monolithic
                        Output list of packages that are monolithic (not using
                        Android App Bundles)