Is it possible to get Android App category from .apk files?

Question

I have an .apk file. And I want to know that which category the app belongs ( category example: Gaming, Entertainment, Sports, etc ).

FYI: Google Play services to get category of an apk is not required. Some other feasible solution is welcome.

Answer 1

It is not possible to retrieve a Play Store category directly from the .apk file.

However, you can scan the contents of the .apk file programmatically by searching for keywords in AndroidManifest.xml and Strings.xml

In an Android application, you can

exec("cat /sdcard/unzippedapk/res/Strings.xml | grep -i game OR sports OR social media")

and measure the output to see if there are matches.

Your other option is to grab the package name, and query play.google.com and parse the HTML:

HTTP Get: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.XXXX.XXXXX&hl=en

Relevant HTML segment:

<span itemprop="genre">Productivity</span>

Hope this helps