GameGuardian Tutorial for Beginners: Find and Edit Values (2026)

Updated November 2026 for GameGuardian 101.4. Part of our GameGuardian guide.

GameGuardian lets you find a number in a running Android game (gold, coins, health) and change it. You search for the value you can see, change it in the game, search again, and repeat until only one or two memory addresses are left. Then you edit them. This beginner tutorial walks through that loop step by step. It’s the first part of our GameGuardian tutorial series.

Use it only in single-player or offline games. Changing values in online or PvP games is against their terms, gets accounts banned, and spoils the game for other players.

What you need

• Android 5.0 or newer, on a phone or an emulator. There is no iPhone version.
• A device or emulator. GameGuardian runs on ARM, x86 and x64, so it works on phones and on PC emulators. On PC we recommend LDPlayer, which has a root switch built in: see BlueStacks vs LDPlayer root for GameGuardian.
• Root access, or a virtual space. GameGuardian works best on a rooted device. Without root you can run it together with the game inside a virtual space app; see how to use GameGuardian without root.
• GameGuardian from the official site only. Download it from gameguardian.net. Copies on other sites are often bundled with malware.

Step 1: Install GameGuardian

1. Download the APK from gameguardian.net/download.
2. Open it. Android will ask you to allow installs from this source (on Android 8 and newer this is a per-app setting, not the old “Unknown sources” switch). Allow it for your file manager or browser.
3. Start GameGuardian and grant root (or open it inside your virtual space). A small floating icon appears on screen. You can drag it anywhere.

On a PC, we use LDPlayer with root switched on. BlueStacks no longer works well; see BlueStacks root in 2026.

Tip: GameGuardian can reinstall itself under a random name, which stops some games from spotting it. You’ll be offered this the first time you open it.

Step 2: Attach GameGuardian to the game

1. Start the game you want to change.
2. Tap the GameGuardian floating icon. Tap the process selector at the top and choose the game from the list.
3. Note the value you want to change, for example 1,250 gold.

Step 3: Choose the right value type

Games store numbers in different formats. GameGuardian asks which one to search for:

If you’re not sure, choose Auto. It searches every type, but it’s slower and returns more results.

Step 4: Search for the value

The screenshots below use Tap Counter, GameGuardian’s free practice app from the test applications section. Each tap adds 1, which makes it ideal for learning. The steps are the same in any offline game.

1. Open GameGuardian and tap the search (magnifier) button.
2. Type your current amount, e.g. 1250, pick Dword, and start a new search.
3. You’ll get hundreds or thousands of results. That’s normal: many addresses happen to hold the same number. Our search for 18 found 366.
4. Go back to the game and change the amount: spend or earn some gold. Say you now have 1,310.
5. Open GameGuardian, enter 1310 and Refine (search only within the previous results).
6. Repeat: change the value in the game, refine with the new value. Stop when one to three results are left.

Pausing the game from GameGuardian’s toolbar while you search stops the value from changing mid-scan.

Search operators

Before the value box you’ll see an equals sign. You can change it:

• = the value in memory equals your number (default)
• ≠ the value is not your number
• < / > the value is smaller / bigger than your number

Step 5: Edit or freeze the value

1. Tap a result, type the new value (for example 999999) and confirm.
2. If there are two or three results, select them all and edit them together.
3. To keep a value from changing (useful for health or energy), save it to the list and tick Freeze.
4. Return to the game. The new amount often shows only after the game redraws the screen, so open a shop or switch screens.

If it doesn’t work

• No results after a few refines: the value is probably another type. Start again with Float, Double or Auto.
• Several results left, and you don’t know which is real: edit one, then change the value in the game once more and look at the list. In our test with GameGuardian’s Tap Counter app, a search for 18 found 366 addresses and one refine (21) left 6. We edited the first to 999,999 and tapped once: that address read 1,000,000 and the counter showed 1000000. The other five just went to 22, because they were display copies.
  

  

• The value changes back: you edited a display copy, not the real value. Try the other results, or edit all of them at once.
• Nothing matches at all: the game encrypts the value. Use an unknown (fuzzy) search or the XOR method.
• The game closes or detects GameGuardian: use the random-name reinstall and hide options, or run the game in an emulator.
• “Failed to load daemon” or “Unable to obtain root access”: GameGuardian has no root. On BlueStacks this is expected; see what works instead.
• Online games: values are checked on the server, so local edits won’t stick and can get you banned.

Next steps

• GameGuardian group search: find values that can’t be changed in-game, like shop prices.
• GameGuardian fuzzy search: find hidden values such as health bars.
• Bypassing XOR encryption: deal with simply encrypted values.

FAQ

Is GameGuardian safe? The app from gameguardian.net is the original. Most “GameGuardian” downloads on other sites are repackaged, sometimes with malware. Don’t run scripts from strangers either: scripts can read and delete files.

Does GameGuardian need root? It works best with root. Without root it runs inside a virtual space app, with some limits.

Does it work on iPhone? No. GameGuardian is Android-only. On a PC, use Cheat Engine instead.

Can I get banned? In online games, yes. Use it in offline and single-player games only.

Prefer video? Here’s the original walkthrough of this method: