Android Forensics: A Literature Review of Methodologies and Tool Efficacy

The rapid growth of Android smartphone usage has significantly increased the importance of Android mobile forensics in cybersecurity. This paper presents a comprehensive review and a novel comparative performance analysis of methodologies, tools and challenges in Android applications forensics, synthesizing 25 peer reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2025. This review details current practices in data acquisition and provides an in depth, interpretative evaluation of the performance of widely used forensic tools (Magnet Axiom, Belkasoft X, Andriller, AFLogical, Autopsy, etc.) based on key recovery metrics. Our findings quantitatively demonstrate that no single tool provides complete coverage across all acquisition and analysis scenarios. The review also explores critical limitations, including device fragmentation, encrypted cloud storage, anti-forensic tactics and legal admissibility concerns. Furthermore, we discuss emerging trends such as emulator driven dynamic analysis, AI assisted examination and blockchain enhanced evidence integrity. The novelty of this research lies in its synthesis of a performance benchmark from fragmented literature and its critical analysis of tool efficacy, providing a clear, actionable guide for practitioners. This study serves as a comprehensive reference for practitioners and researchers, highlights established best practices and proposes future directions to improve investigative technology for Android forensics.