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Is it possible to edit values in memory used by an app? I would assume this requires root.

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what do you need to do this for? I would assume that trying to do this would be very difficult due to android's sandboxing structure. – user15294 May 22 '12 at 20:21
Which type of values you are talking about? – Sachin Shekhar May 23 '12 at 4:48
@SachinShekhar like counters? for example a button press counter or something. – Eshwar Jun 24 '12 at 21:07

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In Android the system memory is just another file, so with the appropriate rights it's just as simple as vi -b /dev/mem (device node may vary for your system). The result of changing a running system's memory could be one of a nop, a touch of an electric fence, a system crash or a simple nuke resulting in an unusable device.

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how can you get an unusable device? I'd imagine the running apps would be in a different device from the actual ROM stuff? – Eshwar Jun 24 '12 at 21:06
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That may be possible without root if the app you want to manipulate allows debugging via Android Debug Bridge (ADB). If an app can be connected to an debugger is specified in it's AndroidManifest.xml in the android:debuggable entry.

If the app is enabled for debugging you can enable the USB debugging mode on your device and connect to it via adb. Then you can connect an standard Java debugger to the app and inspect/modify variables.

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Should try it with a dummy app to see! – Eshwar Jun 24 '12 at 21:06

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