How to Capture Network Logs in an Android Application?

If your Android application is not capturing network logs or is showing invalid certificate errors, it may be due to missing proxy certificates or security configurations. As per Android’s official documentation, apps do not trust user/admin added CAs by default. Certificates issued by these authorities are rejected, which prevents the app from capturing network traffic and can cause errors when using self-signed certificates. This article discusses steps to enable network logging on Android devices correctly.

Troubleshooting Steps

Step 1: Create a network security configuration XML file

1. Create the res/xml directory in your project if it does not exist.
2. Create a new XML file named networksecurityconfig.xml.

3. Add the following content:

   <network-security-config>
      <base-config>
          <trust-anchors>
              <!-- Trust preinstalled CAs -->
              <certificates src="system" />
              <!-- Trust user-added CAs (needed for proxies) -->
              <certificates src="user" />
          </trust-anchors>
      </base-config>
   </network-security-config>

This configuration allows your app to trust user-installed certificates, enabling proxy tools to capture network logs.

Step 2: Update the Application Manifest File

1. Open AndroidManifest.xml.
2. Locate the tag.

3. Add the android:networkSecurityConfig attribute:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <manifest ... >
      <application android:networkSecurityConfig="@xml/network_security_config">
          ...
      </application>
   </manifest>

Now, your app will use the specified network security configuration and allow network logs to be captured.