DexGuard is used for obfuscation and code hardening. It's a product that protects your Android applications that go to the Play Store. DexGuard does more than obfuscation as it also has code hardening and encapsulation features. The tool protects your applications from being re-engineered and taken out.
Has code hardening and obfuscation features, and adds a security layer; user-friendly and easy to integrate
Pros
"DexGuard is one of the best products I've seen regarding the code hardening and obfuscation layers it can implement. It's a well-known product in the market, and it also has an open-source version called ProGuard which I also find valuable because it's more of an application optimizer for making your code sites smaller.
What I like best about DexGuard is that it takes all the features of ProGuard and adds a security layer.
DexGuard is also popular as a command line product that can be easily integrated with my company's system. I also like that it's not very difficult to understand as a product and is user-friendly."
Cons
"What needs improvement in DexGuard is its maturity level in terms of Flutter support. DexGuard doesn't cover every aspect of SDK protection, particularly for Flutter-based applications. The product just started supporting Flutter-based applications, so it's not yet on a mature level. Flutter is a platform widely used for mobile application development, and DexGuard still needs many improvements in supporting Flutter for obfuscation purposes.
Compared to other products, onboarding DexGuard can be more challenging because it lacks evaluation. The DexGuard team gives a very technical demonstration. Still, there's no evaluation for this product, which means people have to judge it based on the demonstration only, which can be challenging.
If you compare DexGuard with Alluvial or New Relic APM based on technical aspects, there's no problem with DexGuard because it's pretty stable. I've not heard anyone saying that it's a low-end product or that it doesn't meet requirements. However, other products can sometimes be a bit more economical when compared with DexGuard because the DexGuard team still has some low-hanging scenarios that need to be taken care of.
As DexGuard is a sophisticated product, for example, it can give thirteen layers of obfuscation and a very high level of code hardening. It can catch particular issues and run time through ThreatCast. Hence, it has features that other products don't have, so you might have to pay a small premium based on specific scenarios, which makes other products more economical than DexGuard. This could be another area for improvement."
