How to Remove Splash Ads from Android Apps by Editing AndroidManifest

Preface

Hi everyone, I’m a developer sharing a reverse‑engineering tutorial on how to eliminate an app’s splash ad.

The target app is 火柴人突击格斗.apk. After installing, the game shows an ad on launch.

Tools Used

AndroidKiller, LeiDian Emulator

Knowledge Supplement

In Android development, the AndroidManifest.xml file configures components such as activities, broadcasts, services, and permissions. The main launch activity is uniquely defined; an APK can have only one.

Cracking Approach

1. Decompile the APK with AndroidKiller

2. Modify AndroidManifest.xml

By inspecting the manifest we locate the main activity. In this app it is com.mosads.adslib.Splash.MosSplashActivity. We can verify the current activity with the command: adb shell dumpsys window | findstr mCurrentFocus Because the splash ad appears too quickly, we instead identify the activity that follows the ad, which is org.cocos2dx.lua.AppActivity, and set it as the main activity.

We edit AndroidManifest.xml, replace the original main activity with the new one, and save.

3. Recompile the APK

Uninstall the original app, install the rebuilt APK, and the splash ad disappears.

Reality Check

For most Android apps, modifying AndroidManifest.xml is enough to remove splash ads, though some apps may be protected by packing or other techniques, causing decompilation to fail.

Summary

If you can successfully decompile and recompile an APK, about 80% of apps can have their splash ads removed by editing the manifest, and the process is relatively straightforward.