The mobile toolkit — what to install, when to reach for it.
| Tool |
Platform |
Purpose |
| apktool |
Android |
Decompile APK to smali + resources |
| jadx |
Android |
Decompile APK to Java source |
| dex2jar |
Android |
DEX → JAR for JD-GUI |
| MobSF |
Both |
Automated static analysis (IPA + APK) |
| class-dump |
iOS |
Extract Objective-C headers |
| otool |
iOS |
Binary analysis (built-in on macOS) |
| strings |
Both |
Extract strings from binary |
| plutil |
iOS |
Parse plist files (built-in on macOS) |
| exiftool |
Both |
Metadata injection / analysis |
| Tool |
Platform |
Purpose |
| Frida |
Both |
Runtime instrumentation |
| Objection |
Both |
Runtime mobile exploration toolkit |
| adb |
Android |
Device control, shell, file transfer |
| libimobiledevice |
iOS |
Device control without Xcode |
| idevicesyslog |
iOS |
View device logs |
| iproxy |
iOS |
USB port forwarding |
| frida-ios-dump |
iOS |
Extract decrypted IPA |
| Tool |
Purpose |
| Burp Suite Professional |
Proxy, intercept, repeater |
| mitmproxy |
Scriptable CLI proxy |
| tcpdump |
Packet capture |
| rvictl (macOS) |
iOS virtual interface for packet capture |
| Tool |
Purpose |
| drozer |
Android security assessment framework |
| aapt |
APK info extraction |
| Android Studio |
Emulator, logcat, debugging |
| Tool |
Purpose |
| Xcode |
Simulator, device management |
| Hopper Disassembler |
GUI disassembler |
| Ghidra |
Free decompiler / reverse engineering |
| Cydia |
Jailbreak package manager |
# Android
apt-get install android-tools-adb apktool jadx
pip3 install frida-tools objection
# iOS (macOS)
brew install libimobiledevice ideviceinstaller frida
pip3 install frida-tools objection frida-ios-dump
- QARK / AndroBugs — superseded by MobSF.
- Needle — deprecated; use Objection instead.
- Any commercial scanner you don't run daily. If it sits unused, it doesn't make the list.