A Survey of Obfuscation and Deobfuscation Techniques in Android Code Protection

Obfuscation is a necessary means to protect Android code. First, we analyze the structure and installation process of the Android application, thus clarifying the role of the Android obfuscation technology. Second, we introduce the obfuscation and deobfuscation technology of different resource objects in the Android Java layer and the native layer, then analyzed the latest research results to focus on and improve points. Afterwards, we analyzed the current reverse analysis software for Android applications. The characteristics of these software have a great impact on the formulation of obfuscation strategies. Finally we discussed what we can do next to develop obfuscation and deobfuscation techniques in Android code protection.