Android & iOS Application Security Testing: Identifying App Types and Tailoring Your VAPT Strategy

February 18, 2026 · khukuririmal · Blog
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Mobile application security testing is no longer limited to just “Android vs iOS.” Modern applications span native, hybrid, WebView-based, and cross-platform architectures, each introducing unique attack surfaces, tooling requirements, and testing techniques. During Mobile Application VAPT, the first critical step is identifying what kind of app you’re dealing with. This directly influences:

  • Reverse engineering approach
  • Dynamic analysis strategy
  • Tool selection
  • Vulnerabilities you can realistically test

Misidentifying an app can lead to Ineffective dynamic analysis, Incorrect assumptions about encryption, storage, or runtime behavior. For example:

  • Treating a Flutter app like a native Android app can waste hours of analysis
  • Assuming a WebView-heavy app is fully native may hide client-side logic flaws

Correct classification = Efficient, Accurate Testing

This blog provides a practical, tester-oriented guide to differentiating Android and iOS application types, identifying them reliably, and performing security testing on each.

Android Application Types

1. Native Android Applications (Java / Kotlin):
Fully native Android apps built using Java or Kotlin, compiled into DEX bytecode and packaged as APKs.

APK Indicators:

  • classes.dex present
  • AndroidManifest.xml contains multiple activities
  • Minimal or no assets/www/

Decompiler Indicators:

Clear Java/Kotlin class names. Packages like:

com.example.app.ui
com.example.app.network

Runtime Behavior:

  • Heavy use of Android APIs
  • No embedded browser UI except for occasional WebView

Testing Focus Areas:

  • Insecure data storage (SharedPreferences, SQLite)
  • Hardcoded secrets & API keys
  • Weak encryption implementations
  • Root / emulator detection bypass
  • Insecure IPC (Intents, Content Providers)
  • Improper certificate pinning

Key Tools:

  • Reverse Engineering: JADX, APKTool
  • Dynamic Analysis: Frida, Objection
  • Traffic Interception: Burp Suite, mitmproxy
  • Static Analysis: MobSF

2. WebView-Based Android Applications:
Native Android apps that embed WebViews to render web content while still leveraging Android APIs.

Code Indicators:

  • android.webkit.WebView
  • Methods like: addJavascriptInterface(), loadUrl()

Runtime Indicators:

  • App UI behaves like a website
  • URLs load inside the app, not external browsers

APK Structure:
HTML/JS files inside assets/, res/raw/

High-Risk Vulnerabilities:

  • JavaScript interface abuse
  • XSS leading to native code execution
  • Insecure URL handling
  • Open redirects within WebView
  • Lack of origin validation

Testing Tools:

  • Burp Suite (WebView traffic)
  • Drozer (WebView interfaces)
  • Frida (hook JS bridges)
  • Chrome DevTools (WebView debugging)

3. Hybrid Android Apps (Cordova / Ionic):
Apps built using web technologies (HTML, CSS, JS) and wrapped inside a native Android container.

APK Structure:
assets/www/
├── index.html
├── js/
├── css/

Framework Indicators:
cordova.js
ionic.bundle.js
plugins/ directory

Security Implications:

  • Client-side logic fully exposed
  • Authentication often implemented in JS
  • Local storage misuse
  • API endpoints easily enumerated
  • Plugin misconfigurations

Testing Techniques:

  • JS code review for auth & business logic
  • Local storage and IndexedDB analysis
  • API abuse & parameter tampering
  • Plugin permission abuse

4. Cross-Platform Android Apps (Flutter / React Native)
Apps written once and deployed across platforms using a shared codebase.

Flutter Applications:

Identifiers:

  • libflutter.so
  • flutter_assets/

Security Challenges:

  • Dart code compiled to native
  • Limited static analysis
  • Heavy reliance on runtime hooking

Testing Tools:

  • Frida (native hooks)
  • Flutter Inspector
  • Network interception

React Applications:

Identifiers:

  • index.android.bundle
  • assets/index.android.bundle
  • JavaScriptCore usage

Security Focus:

  • Exposed JS logic
  • Insecure API handling
  • Debug flags left enabled

iOS Application Types

1. Native iOS Applications (Objective-C / Swift):
Fully native apps compiled into Mach-O binaries, built using Apple’s native frameworks.

How to Identify:

  • Binary Indicators
  • Mach-O executable
  • Objective-C selectors or Swift symbols

Testing Focus:

  • Keychain misuse
  • Insecure plist storage
  • Weak encryption
  • Jailbreak detection bypass
  • Certificate pinning
  • Deep link abuse

Tools:

  • Hopper / Ghidra
  • class-dump / class-dump-swift
  • Frida / Objection
  • Keychain Dumper

2. WebView-Based iOS Apps:
Native apps using WKWebView / UIWebView to display web content.

Code Indicators:

  • WKWebView usage
  • Embedded URLs
  • Web-like navigation flow

Common Issues:

  • JavaScript bridge abuse
  • Origin bypass
  • Token leakage
  • Cookie mishandling

Tools:

  • Safari Web Inspector
  • Burp Suite
  • Frida (WebView hooks)

3. Hybrid iOS Apps (Cordova / Ionic):

Identification:

  • www/ directory inside app bundle
  • cordova.js
  • Web-based UI

Testing Focus:

  • Client-side auth bypass
  • Local storage manipulation
  • API abuse
  • Plugin vulnerabilities

Modern mobile applications blur the lines between web, native, and cross-platform technologies. A strong Mobile VAPT methodology begins with accurate app type identification, followed by tailored tooling and testing strategies.

Security Professionals who understand how an app is built will always outperform those who treat all Mobile Applications the same.