https://aliveoutside.github.io/tags/python/Recent content in Python on Blog.Hugoen-USFri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://aliveoutside.github.io/posts/beating-678-byte-apk-on-modern-android/Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://aliveoutside.github.io/posts/beating-678-byte-apk-on-modern-android/<p>There&rsquo;s an old repo called <a href="https://github.com/fractalwrench/ApkGolf">fractalwrench/ApkGolf</a> with a <code>678</code>-byte APK in it. For a while that was the smallest known valid Android package. The problem is that it skips <code>targetSdkVersion</code>, which defaults to <code>0</code>, and Android 14+ rejects that with <code>INSTALL_FAILED_DEPRECATED_SDK_VERSION</code>. So the record holder doesn&rsquo;t really install anymore unless you pass a bypass flag.</p> <p>I wanted to see if I could beat it anyway. I ended up writing the whole thing from scratch in Python (manifest builder, ZIP assembler, certificate generator, v2 signer) and eventually got a plain-<code>adb install</code> build down to <strong>656 bytes</strong> on my test device.</p>