Android - Pulling SQlite database android device

Question

I've looked everywhere and i can't find a real precise answer or a tutorial on how, if it is possible, to do this.

is it possible to pull in any way a database of an Android device without having to root it? i just need to extract that data in any way in order to gather it on my pc, so how can i perform this? do i have to reprogram the app or whatever method you guys know about, but remember without rooting the device. thanks

Answer 1

If your device is running Android v4 or above, you can pull app data, including it's database, without root by using adb backup command, then extract the backup file and access the sqlite database.

First backup app data to your PC via USB cable with the following command, replace app.package.name with the actual package name of the application.

adb backup -f ~/data.ab -noapk app.package.name

This will prompt you to "unlock your device and confirm the backup operation". Do not provide a password for backup encryption, so you can extract it later. Click on the "Back up my data" button on your device. The screen will display the name of the package you're backing up, then close by itself upon successful completion.

The resulting data.ab file in your home folder contains application data in android backup format. To extract it use the following command:

dd if=data.ab bs=1 skip=24 | openssl zlib -d | tar -xvf -

If the above ended with openssl:Error: 'zlib' is an invalid command. error, try the below.

dd if=data.ab bs=1 skip=24 | python -c "import zlib,sys;sys.stdout.write(zlib.decompress(sys.stdin.read()))" | tar -xvf -

The result is the apps/app.package.name/ folder containing application data, including sqlite database.

For more details you can check the original blog post.