Android Internals::A Confectioner's Cookbook TOC Online Index ChangeLog Device Database Tool Downloads

August 14th (2024) UPDATE:

Android 15 is close to finalizing, which will necessitate an update to Vol 1 and possibly 2 (ART format changed YET AGAIN with some new section). Expect 10 or so more pages in Vol I and a yet unknown number of pages in Vol II. And then I'll push for III & IV. Yes, I know I've been saying that for a long time. But you seriously have no idea what a Sisyphean task Android Internals is. And I have a real life, and an actual job here.

June 10th (2024) UPDATE:

Still very much here. Alive and well. Not on Twitter, so don't be upset if I don't reply to you. Updated imjtool. Vols III & IV to hopefully come out in '24, and be updated for Android 15.
Though I admit to have been sidetracked by This..

Dec 20th (2023) UPDATE:

Happy Holidays to all! I'm still alive, still working on the books. Vols I & II updated for 14.0, and both III & IV will come out in '24. Hopefully soon.

Aug 7th (2023) UPDATE:

III will finish before IV. ETA by 14. Oh. And (due to reader request) we have SSL/TLS now.

Oct 25th (2022) UPDATE:

Volume I now in v2.2 - cover reflects COVID being behind us (and updates for Android 13). Volume IV indeed nearing completion, III will take more time (but I'm on both).

Jun 16th (2022) UPDATE:

Working in parallel on Vols III and IV. At this rate IV (spun off from II) is nearer to completion.

Mar 30th (2022) UPDATE:

Going live April 1st - no joke! If you buy the book on Amazon Please use this link so I can get back commissions!

Feb 16th (2022) UPDATE:

Vol II is ready, and first copies ship by end of this month mid/early March to the dozens who preordered! Thank you SO MUCH for believing in me. Sorry for delay, but upside is I'll be up to date with Android 13 DP :-) Details here. Amazon orders will open up shortly thereafter!

Nov 10th (2021) UPDATE:

Volume I is now in v2.1 - fully in sync with Android 12 (per the Pixel 6). Meanwhile, work on Volume II is nearing the finish line, but the finish line has moved a bit further with more features to cover...


Jan 18th (2021) UPDATE:

Happy New Year!

The second edition of Android Internals is now officially live! The new and improved volume I is now on sale (just six years later ;-) Added well over 240 pages from previous edition (effectively, double size), with expansive coverage for filesystems/storage, slots/update_engine/apex, logging, power mgmt, and a hardware primer noting BSP/vendor differences


If you email me, note that GMail classifies my replies as spam. I do answer - so check your spam foldr every now and then..
THERE IS NO eBOOK available. To understand why, read here. Sorry. At least I print on recycled and eco-friendly paper.
To order: email - confectioners@(this domain) and choose method:
  • Amazon: Domestic only, $99.99, please use this link so AMZN pays me back a little of their exorbitant commissions..
  • Int'l: $140 over Paypal (commissions and shipping :(
  • Int'l BTC: 0.005 BTC (subject to fluctuations, right now it's ~$125 so fair)

Volume 2 to follow soon is done, done, DONE (really, this time). Also far greater than the original (and forever delayed) plan, with a strong focus on hardware (HAL implementations) and Android 10, 11 and 12 and some 13 features.

Volume 3 (yep!) dealing exclusively with security to arrive sometime around mid-year. Jury's still out if I follow the model of MOXiI 3 and show I will be discussing actual (but naturallly patched) exploits. If you have any good Android malware samples, though, that's a shoe-in for inclusion, so please share!

Meanwhile, you might want to check out the Table of Contents, as well as updates I've made to jtrace, imjtool, and the slowly expanding Android Device Database. I've also started a changelog.



Please do not send money for the older edition anymore - It is effectively out of print (click here to read the sad story of #Vault7). The revised edition is, in effect, be an entirely new "second edition", so I am suspending the first edition sale (and it's free in PDF anyway, right here).



"Android Internals: A Confectioner's Cookbook" is a new book by Jonathan Levin, author of "Mac OS X and iOS Internals: To The Apple's Core". It is the first book to deal exclusively with the internals of the world's most popular mobile operating system. Like the OSX/iOS book, it provides an unprecedented level of detail on previously undocumented subjects, illuminating the darkest corners of the Android frameworks, native libraries and kernel.

If you are a power user, developer, kernel hacker or Android implementor - this is the book for you. An odyssey in three volumes, each focuses on a different perspective of the system. The architecture is explained through the use of detailed diagrams, examples and interactive experiments. Input, Audio and Video architectures are covered in dedicated chapters, as well as security. The necessary Linux foundations, especially in kernel mode, are also detailed.

This site is its companion web site, providing additional resources, downloads and updates.



View the Frequently Asked Questions
2014/5/15 - An article detailing the HTC One M8 WeakSauce Exploit
2014/5/15 - Chapter 21 - Security - Free download L update included in book!
2014/6/28 - Dexter - DEX/OAT dumping tool for chapter 10 - Free download
2014/8/3 - Chapter 3 (Boot) Extra: Reversing Android's Aboot
2014/8/15 - Chapter 4 Excerpt - healthd and lmkd
2014/9/12 - Chapter 2 Excerpt - /data, detailed (including forensics)
2014/10/03 - Android Power Management, detailed

2014/11/19 - Andevcon talk - Security
2015/01/01 - Android application backup & Recovery
... - Notes from a Nexus 9 (Boot loader, etc)
2015/07/29 - Bin Dump (view Android IPC enpoints via /sys/kernel/debug)
2015/07/31 - Android Input Architecture (AnDevCon Presentation, from Volume II)
2015/12/01 - ART/Dalvik talk from Andevcon Santa Clara 2015
2015/12/01 - DexTRA
2015/12/02 - In A Bind - Binder/IPC Internals - the painful detail (excerpt from Volume II, Chapter 11)
2016/04/01 - JTrace - Augmented, Android Aware, Modular strace(1) utility
2018/03/04 - Reconstructing the Kindle (FireOS) /system image
2020/04/04 - ImjTool - A tool for unpacking/creating Android boot partition images - Four years later, revamped and improved!

Requests? Comments? Send J an email, to info@this domain

Other sponsored links (I get a commission from Amazon on these, but if you buy these from my book website it's helping offset their 23% fees on me...)

Pixel 9 Wysong Print Cartridges