Dynamic instrumentation is one of the most powerful techniques in mobile app reversing, but modern apps are no longer passive targets. Through RASP, anti-tamper checks, environmental detection, integrity monitoring, and runtime self-defence, apps are increasingly aware of when they are being observed.

This talk explores the cat-and-mouse game between mobile analysts and applications that actively resist inspection. We will look at the broad categories of anti-instrumentation techniques used in real-world iOS and Android apps, how they affect the reversing workflow, and how analysts can adapt without relying on brittle one-off bypasses.

We will also discuss the role of newer tooling, lower-level visibility, custom instrumentation strategies, and LLMs in helping triage noisy traces, explain unfamiliar code paths, identify suspicious patterns, and accelerate the loop between observation and hypothesis.