One of Android’s main features is that it’s a very open system that lets you do almost anything, like extracting APK files from applications.
Well Xiaomi doesn’t like that, so the company wants people to stop mining these APK files.
If you don’t know what APK files are, you’ve probably never installed an app other than from an app store like the Play Store. APK stands for Android Package Kit and it contains all the files your phone needs to extract and install so you can start playing or using your app.
When you download an app from the Google Play Store, that file is downloaded and installed for you, so you don’t have access to the APK file.
Although, if you are an advanced user, you can extract the app’s apk file. That way, you can copy that file and install it on another device without going through the Play Store.
Xiaomi doesn’t like people extracting APK files
There is a huge market for APK files on the internet. Xiaomi, one of the leading Chinese smartphone manufacturers, wants to put an end to this.
According 9To5Google, the company added a proposal in the Android OSP (Open-Source Project) to prevent users from extracting APKs. The Prohibited He says.
Don’t allow shell to get apk data
The apk may include some private features, so we shouldn’t allow others to take it away.
it would mean that people would not be able to extract apk files from apps.
Although, this proposal does not go ahead. A Google employee rejected this post and explained why. Xiaomi’s method would prevent people from extracting the APK file using a normal version of Android. However, if the user is able to get an Android debug build, they can still extract the APK file.