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Mobile AppApps4 min read

App Manager on Android

Browse every installed package on your phone from a Material 3 list. Filter by system or user apps, search, view manifest and install metadata, and export APKs without a PC.

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The Apps screen is PlainApp's on-device package manager. It lists every package installed on the phone — system and user — with its icon, version, package id, size, and last-updated timestamp, all rendered in the same Material 3 list style as the rest of the app.

The list is read straight from Android's PackageManager. Nothing is uploaded or indexed remotely; the screen works fully offline. Three tabs across the top scope the view to All, System, or User apps, and each tab shows a live count so you can see at a glance how many packages fall into each bucket.

Screenshot: Apps
Apps

Screenshot: App View
App View

Key capabilities

  • Three scoped tabs with live counts — All, System, and User apps are separated into swipeable tabs, each labeled with the current package count. Switching tabs re-queries PackageManager and scrolls back to the top.
  • Search and sort — the search icon in the top app bar filters packages by name or id; the sort dialog reorders the list by name, size, or modified date. Sort preference is persisted across sessions.
  • Per-app detail page — tapping a row opens a detail screen with the app icon, selectable package id, version name plus version code, a User/System type chip, and a large-heap chip where applicable. Below that: source directory, data directory, app size, target and min SDK, and installed/updated timestamps.
  • Launch, uninstall, and system settings — the detail page exposes Launch, Uninstall, and Settings shortcuts that map directly to the Android system intents, plus a Manifest button that decodes and displays the app's AndroidManifest.xml.
  • APK export via share — the share button in the detail page's top app bar extracts the installed APK from its source path and hands it to Android's share sheet, renamed to <AppName>-<packageId>.apk.
  • Pull-to-refresh and infinite scroll — pull the list down to re-query packages; the list loads in pages of 50 and appends more as you scroll, with a fast-scroll scrollbar for jumping through long lists.

Walkthrough

  1. Open the Apps tab from the bottom navigation. The three tabs at the top show the current count for All, System, and User apps.
  2. Tap the User tab to filter out system packages. The list refreshes and the count in the tab title updates.
  3. Tap the search icon in the top app bar and type part of an app name or package id. Results filter as you type; clear the query to return to the full list.
  4. Tap an app to open its detail page. The header shows the icon, package id, version, and type chip; the cards below show source/data directories, size, SDK targets, and install/update dates.
  5. Export the APK by tapping the share icon in the top app bar. Android's share sheet opens with the APK file already attached.
  6. Open the Manifest by tapping the Manifest action under the header. The decoded AndroidManifest.xml opens in a text viewer for inspection.

Tips & tricks

  • Double-tap the top app bar to scroll the list back to the top — useful when you've paged deep into a long list.
  • The sort dialog remembers your choice, so a name-based sort sticks across app restarts.
  • The Manifest viewer is plain text with no syntax highlighting, but the content is selectable so you can copy permissions, activities, or service declarations into a note.
  • If an app is uninstalled from outside PlainApp while its detail page is open, the page navigates back automatically on resume — no stale screens.

Privacy & security notes

  • PlainApp only requests QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES on Android 11+ to enumerate installed apps. On older Android versions the package list is read with the default visibility rules.
  • APK contents are never uploaded. Exporting an APK only hands the file to the local Android share sheet; what happens next depends on the target you pick.
  • The Apps screen works fully offline. No network connection is required to list, search, or inspect packages.