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In my quest to gain a better understanding of the Android app development ecosystem, I have spent some time scraping and analysing APKs from various sources en masse.


Some insights I’ve gained from this are things like real life numbers of how many types of frameworks for graphics/analytics are used in games and other apps (see end of post for libraries used in a sampling of 3000 “trending” games)


I have saved only the metadata from APKs that I have scraped (package name, filenames within, review stats etc.) but no actual content of assets/images/bytecode. My question is, can I then make this giant repository of metadata available if I were to publish results of my findings? I know there are other online websites that give things like percentages only, but I’ve not seen any which provide their metadata.


Additionally, websites that rehost APK files for download, is that even legal? Obviously might breach Google ToS, but are they not protected by copyright?

I want to hire a developer for android game like this one.

In your exploration of the Android app development ecosystem through scraping and analyzing APKs, you've gathered valuable metadata, such as package names and review statistics, from a sample of 3,000 trending games. Regarding the legality of sharing this metadata, it generally falls into a gray area; while you might be able to publish aggregate findings, distributing the raw metadata could potentially raise copyright or privacy concerns, especially if it includes identifiable information about developers or users. As for websites that rehost APK files, they often face legal challenges, as redistributing APKs can infringe on copyright laws and violate Google’s Terms of Service. Therefore, it's essential to approach the publication of your findings cautiously and consider seeking legal advice to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

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