Android Basics: ADB, APKs and a Safe Test Setup
How Android is built — Linux, ART, the sandbox — and how to test safely on an emulator or your own phone
One-time payment · lifetime access · lessons, labs, exam and certificate included · no subscription.
About this course
This beginner course explains Android from the inside without assuming any mobile experience. You learn how the Linux kernel, the ART runtime and the per-app sandbox fit together, then unlock Developer Options and USB debugging on a phone you own. You install platform-tools, use adb to list devices, open a shell, install apps, copy files and read logcat, and create a virtual phone with the Android Emulator. Further lessons cover the file system and app data layout, what rooting means and why it is risky, how to open an APK and read its manifest with aapt2 and apktool, and how normal, runtime and special permissions differ. A short introduction to OWASP MASVS and MASTG and a lesson on legal boundaries complete the course. Each lesson ends with a challenge, a worked solution and a quiz question.
Lessons
- How Android Works — Linux, ART and the Sandbox Pro
- Apps, APK and the Play Store Model Pro
- Developer Options and USB Debugging Pro
- Meet ADB — Your Main Tool Pro
- Emulator Setup Pro
- Rooting — What It Is and the Risks Pro
- File System and App Data Layout Pro
- Reading an APK — a First Look Pro
- Ethics and Legal Boundaries Pro
- The Android Permission Model Pro
- OWASP MASVS & MASTG — the Testing Map Pro
- Recap and How to Keep Practising Pro