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I have published an android app long time ago.Now i want to update it, but the problem is i have forgotten the password required for signing the app. Is there anything that can be done to recover the password?Please help me.

nandeesh
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Yash Jain
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  • Consider trying harder to remember your password. Where were you when you set it? What were you doing? Did you reuse an existing password? What did you generate it from? – Wug Aug 16 '12 at 18:08
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    Does this answer your question? [How to handle a lost KeyStore password in Android?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6089813/how-to-handle-a-lost-keystore-password-in-android) – Amir Dora. Apr 17 '20 at 20:11

2 Answers2

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No. You can't. You lost the password, that means you have to unpublish your current app, change the package name and publish a new one with a different key and package. I just had the same problem myself and after contacting Google those were they instructions!

Their reply:

If you've lost or changed your keystore, you'll have to publish the app with a new package name and a new key. You should also update the description of the original app and unpublish it. Please note that we do not support the deletion of apps or the re-use of package names.

caiocpricci2
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    This is correct. Google had to republish one of their own apps recently for this reason. – Zambotron Aug 16 '12 at 19:24
  • @Zambotron which app was that? – Display name Sep 12 '12 at 11:37
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    It isn't confirmed for sure, but it's what I suspect happened for: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.authenticator2&hl=en Note the "authenticator2" in the package name. Package names on Android play really are unique, even for google :) – Zambotron Sep 12 '12 at 14:03
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There are 2 passwords to a certificate, first one is just for integrity-checking and isn't secured, the second one is encrypted for security.

You can brute force the 2nd password via this tool (might take days, weeks or even months): https://code.google.com/p/android-keystore-password-recover/

The first password isn't secured, so you can reset it via this code: https://gist.github.com/zach-klippenstein/4631307

Happy hacking!

marmor
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