Frequently Asked Questions - Raccon

You have likely set your account to use Google's 2 step verification. If you want to log in via non-browser applications (such as Raccoon), you need to create an application specific password.

Please note: unless you intent to download payed apps, it is recommended to not use your primary account with Raccoon.

You can change Raccoon's data directory if you are using the java version by specifying the raccoon.homedir property, e.g.:

java -Draccoon.homedir=/tmp -jar raccoon.jar

In most cases, you should use a throw away account with Raccoon. However, if you need to use your main account (e.g. to download apps you previously bought), you can use Droidentify to obtain your GSF ID.

Did you enable two-step verification for your account? If so, you need to generate an app password for Raccoon.

Raccoon automatically uses the system's locale for searching apps. You can change that in your java system settings or by passing the user.locale property, e.g. by starting Raccoon as:

  java -Duser.locale=de -jar raccoon.jar

Google Play does not allow anonymous downloading. You must always supply a valid account. However, you are free to use a throw away account with Raccoon. In fact, this is even recommended.

Your account data (username, password, android id) is kept in your archive in a plain text file. Everyone with access to computer can gain access to your credentials.

It is a common request that credentials.cfg should be encrypted, but since Raccoon would need to be able to decrypt the file at runtime, this would not offer any serious protection. Therefore it is strongly recommended not to use Raccoon on any computer that is not under your total control. You should also use a dedicated account with Raccoon.

Raccoon stores your credentials in a file called "credentials.cfg" in the root folder of your archive. Simply edit or delete that file.

Conceptually, or at least as far as Google Play is concerned, an archive represents a phone (or a tablet for that matter). You can create as many archives as you like (e.g. one per device you own).

Functionwise, an archive acts as a download folder that can contain multiple versions of downloaded apps and that is able to automatically update all contained apps.

In other words: think of an archive as the place on your harddisk, where you keep a backup of the apps on your phone (or tablet).

Yes! Downloading of paid apps is supported since v2.3, however:

• You are only able to download those apps that are bound to the account, you set your archive up with.
• You cannot buy apps from within Raccoon. You have to make your purchase either through the web interface or the official Google Play app.
• When you buy apps, you are licensed to use the app on your devices on a per account basis. You are not permitted to pass the APK file to anyone else. Please do not use Raccoon as a tool for piracy.
• Paid apps commonly perform license checks through the official Google Play app. Don't buy apps that request the com.android.vending.CHECK_LICENSE permission unless you are willing and able to allow this.

Certainly! Raccoon has a command line mode that is suitable for scripting. The parameters you need are -a and -u. Example:

java -jar raccoon.jar -u -a /path/of/my/archive

You will find the apps that got updated in your session log.

Raccoon is a Java program. That means you need a Java Runtime Environment to run it. You can get it from java.com Once you install the JRE, your system should automatically recognize .JAR as an executeable format.

NOTE: On Windows, JAR is often misinterpreted as ZIP and the system tries to open it as an archive. If you don't know how to fix bindings, re-installing Java is the easiest solution.

Out of the box, Android does not allow installing apps through any means other then the market that comes bundled with it. You first have to allow the system to accept APK files from "unknown sources". To do this, simply open your Settings and check "Unknown sources" under "Security".

Once you have done that, you need to transfer the APK file to your phone. How to do this depends on your particular model. One way is to simply copy the APK to the Downloads folder on your SD card and "run" it from there through a filemanager.

In App Purchases are handled by the apps in question themselves, not through Raccoon. More precisely, IAP is handled through the Google Play Services framework. So in order to buy anything, you need to have the Google Play client installed and configured on your device.

Anti Virus software is snake oil and generally a total waste of time and money. The raccoon binary has never been near a windows system on which it could have gotten infected.

The reason why your AV software gave alarm is likely because the .exe file is actually a wrapper around a Java program which got misinterpreted as "has something to hide".

If you want to avoid further false positives, simply use the .jar instead of the .exe version of Raccoon.

The GSF ID is a (pseudo) unique identifier for your device. Every device creates one randomly when first set up and upon factory reset. Without this ID, Google Play refuses services. Therefore, if you do not provide an existing ID, Raccoon will have to create one of it's own and upload it along with the device specs of a Samsung phone.

For this reason, you are strongly advised not to mix and match. If you use your regular Google Account, also provide your real device ID. Otherwise you will find a new phone bound to your account, which you can't get rid of (Google only allows you to add devices to your account, not to remove them).

Raccoon doesn't, Google Play does. Among other things, your device ID serves as a hashkey for your device's configuration which is needed to search for compatible apps. If you don't provide the device ID of an already registered device, Raccoon will simply create one itself and hook it up with the configuration of a Samsung phone.

NOTE: Google does not provide means for deregistering a device. If you force Raccoon to generate an ID of it's own, you will be stuck with the according phone in your account.

The badges provide a quick overview for which (sensitive) permissions the app requests. Hover the mouse over a badge to get it's textual description in a tooltip.

Note: just because you don't see badges does not mean that an app does not declare permissions. The badges only alert you to the potentially sensitive ones. You should still check the whole list.

OBB stands for Opaque Binary Blob. Google Play mandates that APK files may not exceed 50 MB in size. If an app is larger than that, then it must use expansion files.

To install an OBB on your device, use a filemanager to copy it to:

[shared-storage]/Android/obb/[package-name]/

[shared-storage] is the path to the shared storage space. [package-name] is your application's app id.

Raccoon is written in Java and uses whatever theme is set by the Java runtime as the system theme. Unfortunately, this often defaults to "Metal". If you want Raccoon to look like a native app, open your filebrowser and search for a file called "swing.properties" (in your Java installation).

Linux users should append the following line:

swing.defaultlaf=com.sun.java.swing.plaf.gtk.GTKLookAndFeel

Windows users should append the following line:

swing.defaultlaf=com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel

Afterwards restart Raccoon.

This is a server side issue. There is no explanation from Google what exactly went wrong, but for practical purposes it means your Android ID went sour and you need create a new one (simply delete credentials.cfg from your archive and restart Raccoon to reinitialize it).

No. However, if you want to prevent apps from being updated automatically, you can simply transfer them to a designated "storage" archive.

No. However, if you want to prevent apps from being updated automatically, you can simply transfer them to a designated "storage" archive.

No, Raccoon is only able to download apps.

There are no plans to add movie download capabilities as your usage agreement for Google Movies states that you may only rent digital content, not buy it. Enforcing such restrictions is impossible and undesirable as well.