Proguard and DexGuard

Proguard

The open source optimizer for Java byte-code. It is the most popular optimizer for Java byte-code. It makes your Java and Android applications up to 90% smaller and up to 20% faster. It renames the remaining classes, fields, and methods using short meaningless names.

ProGuard can be used free of charge to process your applications. The ProGuard code is copyrighted and is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2.

Proguard does following

• Shrinking – Detects and removes unused classes, fields, methods, and attributes.
• Optimization – Analyzes and optimizes the byte-code of the methods.
• Obfuscation – Renames the remaining classes, fields, and methods using short meaningless names.

Key Points

1. ProGuard is a command-line tool with an optional graphical user interface.
2. ProGuard is easy to configure. A few intuitive command line options or a simple configuration file is all it takes.
3. ProGuard is fast. It processes small Android applications and entire runtime libraries in seconds.
4. ProGuard is the default tool in development environments like Oracle’s Wireless Toolkit, NetBeans, EclipseME, Intel’s TXE SDK and Google’s Android SDK.

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• Proguard

DexGuard

Android applications and SDKs are easy to de-compile using readily available tools. This opens the way for various forms of abuse, including intellectual property theft, credential harvesting, tampering and cloning.

DexGuard protects Android (Java, Kotlin) and cross-platform (Cordova, Ionic, React Native) apps and SDKs against reverse engineering and hacking. It hardens their code and enables them to defend themselves at runtime.

DexGuard protects Android (Java, Kotlin) and cross-platform (Cordova, Ionic, React Native) apps and SDKs against reverse engineering and hacking.

Basically, ProGuard is a generic optimizer for Java byte-code, while DexGuard provides advanced protection for Android applications.

DexGuard integrates transparently in the Android build process: it doesn’t require any changes to your source code.

DexGuard is fully compatible with all common build tools and development environments (Gradle, Android Studio, Ant, Eclipse, Maven and custom builds).

DexGuard is built on ProGuard. This makes it easy to upgrade: you can reuse your ProGuard configuration and implement DexGuard’s additional layers of protection.

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• Updated FAQ DexGuard vs ProGuard

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