The most widely used smartphone operating system in the world, Android 13, just like other new software releases, has a few sporadic frauds being spread around it. Adrod 13, marketed as an installer for Android 13, has been popular on TikTok over the past few months.
The Adrod 13 installer: What is it?
Adrod 13 is an APK that is presented as a shoddy Android 13 installer, and its origins can be traced back to a few well-liked TikTok movies from July and August of this year. When you open the app, the Android 13 easter egg icon and install button are displayed.
When you click the install button, toast messages saying that your phone has been bricked and that the system has been ruined appear on the screen.
Is there actually any harm being done here despite the fact that Videos playing off of this app have accrued millions of views ?
This is the largely positive news.
In these videos, people aren’t literally shredding their phones. One of the APKs was examined by our own Dylan Roussel, who discovered that it was a fairly straightforward build that only displayed the toast message and the warning graphic. Nothing particularly alarming was observed, at least not in the version we located. In fact, taking a closer look at the app’s internal workings demonstrates how straightforward it is, with the source obviously being built on Google’s App Inventor tool.
It is fairly clear that nothing else was intended for this; it was only made for the memes.
However, this does not imply that you should download the app.
Although the version we investigated seemed secure, you never know what you’re going to receive when you download an unidentified APK like this, and there are undoubtedly several variants out there. There is no obvious single source, and the files generally appear to be housed on a variety of file-sharing services. Pocoguy.exe created this version on TikTok, however we’re not sure if it’s the original (its definitely an early version, though).
Do not download arbitrary APKs that you find on social media. The danger is not worthwhile.
The author of this article is Dylan Roussel .
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