How to Detect Frida and Frida Methods in Android & iOS Apps

Last updated November 27, 2023 by Appdome

Learn to Detect Frida and Frida Methods in Mobile apps, in mobile CI/CD with a Data-Driven DevSecOps™ build system.

What is Frida?

Frida is a dynamic/binary instrumentation toolkit intended for developers, pen-testers, and security researchers. Frida has official builds made by the Frida.re website, while a custom Frida toolkit is a non-official Frida typically used by malicious actors to compromise mobile apps, inject malicious code, or change a mobile app’s logic or behavior in unintended and malicious ways, such as creating an update to existing malware, disabling SSL/TLS Pinning, and intercepting the network traffic via a middleman proxy. In addition, Custom Frida can be used to reverse engineer how apps work and obtain knowledge on an undocumented API used in an app.

Why Detect Frida and Its Methods in Mobile Apps?

By opting to detect Frida and Frida methods, developers can thwart cybercriminals who might employ custom Frida toolkits to exploit mobile apps, inject malicious code, or modify an app’s logic in hazardous ways. Detecting Frida methods is also crucial since a custom Frida toolkit can be used to reverse-engineer application functionalities and extract insights from undocumented APIs used by Android apps. By implementing detection mechanisms for Frida and its methods, mobile applications are protected from potential threats.

Prerequisites for Using Detect Frida and Frida Methods:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Frida and Frida Methods , you’ll need:

Detect Frida and Frida Methods on Mobile apps using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Detect Frida and Frida Methods without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Upload the Mobile App to Appdome.

    1. Upload an app to Appdome’s Mobile App Security Build System

    2. Upload Method: Appdome Console or DEV-API
    3. Mobile App Formats: .ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android
    4. Detect Frida and Frida Methods Compatible With: Obj-C, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more
  2. Build the feature: Detect Frida and Frida Methods.

    1. Building Detect Frida and Frida Methods by using Appdome’s DEV-API:

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Detect Frida and Frida Methods feature as shown below:
      2. fusion set that contains Detect Frida and Frida Methods

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect Frida and Frida Methods feature
        Note: Naming the Fusion Set to correspond to the protection(s) selected is for illustration purposes only (not required).

      3. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the Detect Frida and Frida Methods feature via Appdome Console, to add the Detect Frida and Frida Methods feature to this Fusion Set.

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 2: Fusion Set Detail Summary
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, App Center, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Build an API for the app – for instructions, see the tasks under Appdome API Reference Guide
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository
    2. Building the Detect Frida and Frida Methods feature via Appdome Console

      To build the Detect Frida and Frida Methods protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.

      1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Anti Fraud Tab > Mobile Malware Prevention section.
      2. How: Check whether Block Frida is toggled On (enabled), otherwise enable it . The feature Detect Frida and Frida Methods is enabled by default, as shown below. Toggle (turn ON) Detect Frida and Frida Methods, as shown below. Detect Frida and Frida Methods option

        Figure 3: Detect Frida and Frida Methods option

      3. When you enable Block Frida you'll notice that your Fusion Set you created in step 2.1.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Detect Frida and Frida Methods

        Fusion Set applied Detect Frida and Frida Methods

        Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect Frida and Frida Methods protection

      4. Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).
    Congratulations!  The Detect Frida and Frida Methods protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Detect Frida and Frida Methods feature in Mobile Apps

    After building Detect Frida and Frida Methods, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Detect Frida and Frida Methods protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Detect Frida and Frida Methods protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Detect Frida and Frida Methods shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 5: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Detect Frida and Frida Methods has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect Frida and Frida Methods and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app

Using Threat-Events™ for Frida and Frida Methods Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Frida and Frida Methods is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Frida and Frida Methods in Mobile Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Frida and Frida Methods shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Frida and Frida Methods are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect Frida and Frida Methods Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Detect Frida and Frida Methods
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Detecting Frida and Frida Methods Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Mobile developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Mobile applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Frida and Frida Methods is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Mobile apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Detect Frida and Frida Methods:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Mobile Apps by using Detect Frida and Frida Methods. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Detect Frida and Frida Methods

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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