Pulling Files from /data/data Without Root

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Android Studio’s Device File Explorer accesses /data/data via run-as for debuggable apps or root, unlike standard adb shell commands.

Why /data/data Access Differs

• For debuggable apps: Android Studio uses run-as to switch to the app’s UID.
• For other apps: Requires root or engineering builds.

Accessing App Data with run-as

For a debuggable app (e.g., com.example.app), run:

adb shell run-as com.example.app
cd /data/data/com.example.app
ls

Pull a single file:

adb exec-out run-as com.example.app cat databases/my.db > my.db

Full Access Without Root

Standard adb shell ls /data/data fails with “Permission denied” unless rooted:

adb root  # Only on emulators/engineering builds
adb shell ls /data/data

Summary of Access Methods

Pulling Entire Directories

Export a folder (e.g., files/) as tar:

adb exec-out run-as com.example.app tar -cf - files/ > files.tar

Extract locally:

tar -xf files.tar

Export entire app data:

adb exec-out run-as com.example.app tar -cf - . > appdata.tar

Pushing Files Back

Push a file into app data:

adb push mydb.db /data/local/tmp/
adb shell run-as com.example.app cp /data/local/tmp/mydb.db databases/

Troubleshooting run-as

If it fails with “package not debuggable”, ensure your build is debuggable:

buildTypes {
    debug {
        debuggable true
    }
}

Interactive Shell as App User

Spawn a shell under the app’s UID:

adb shell run-as com.example.app sh

Command Summary