Android Debug Bridge

The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a command-line tool that can be used to install, uninstall and debug apps, transfer files and access the device's shell.

Installation

ADB is part of the Platform-Tools SDK package and the android-tools package.

Usage

Connect device
Tip:
  • For some devices, you may have to enable MTP on the device, before ADB will work. Some other devices require enable PTP mode to work.
  • Many devices' udev rules are included in libmtp, so if you have this installed, the following steps may not be necessary.
  • Make sure your USB cable is capable of both charge and data. Many USB cables bundled with mobile devices do not include the USB data pin.

To connect to a real device or phone via ADB under Arch, you must:

  1. You might want to install android-udev if you wish to connect the device to the proper /dev/ entries.
  2. plug in your android device via USB.
  3. Enable USB Debugging on your phone or device:
    • Jelly Bean (4.2) and newer: Go to Settings > About Phone tap Build Number 7 times until you get a popup that you have become a developer. Build number may be under a menu called Software info on newer Android OS versions. Then go to Settings > Developer > USB debugging and enable it. The device will ask to allow the computer with its fingerprint to connect. Check allowing it permanently option will copy ~/.android/adbkey.pub to the target phone's /data/misc/adb/adb_keys location.
    • Older versions: This is usually done from Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging. Reboot the phone after checking this option to make sure USB debugging is enabled.

If ADB recognizes your device (adb devices shows it as "device" and not as "unauthorized", or it is visible and accessible in IDE), you are done. Otherwise see the instructions below.

Figure out device IDs

Each Android device has a USB vendor/product ID. An example for HTC Evo is:

vendor id: 0bb4
product id: 0c8d

Plug in your device and execute:

$ lsusb
...
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 0bb4:0c8d High Tech Computer Corp.
...

Adding udev rules

If your device is not included in android-udev (or android-udev-gitAUR), use the following template to create a custom udev rule by replacing [VENDOR ID] and with the IDs of your device.

Then reload the udev rules.

Detect the device

After you have setup the udev rules, unplug your device and replug it.

After running:

If adb still does not detect the device after plugging your device back in, kill and restart the adb server as root and check devices again:

# adb kill-server
# adb start-server
$ adb devices

If adb devices still shows unauthorized next to your device, make sure that that device has debugging permission allowed on the device itself. A Allow USB Debugging? dialog should be presented when you physically connect the device. Select Always Allow..., then tap OK. If the dialog was never presented, try Settings > Developer Options > Revoke USB Debugging Authorizations, then tap OK, and repeat the steps in this section. If you still do not see the Allow USB Debugging? dialog, and the device is listed as unauthorized, then enter the Developer Options on the device and first uncheck USB Debugging and then check it again.

Transferring files

You can now use adb to transfer files between the device and your computer. To transfer files to the device, use:

$ adb push what-to-copy where-to-place

To transfer files from the device, use:

$ adb pull what-to-pull where-to-place

Also see #Tools building on ADB.

Backup and restore

You can also backup and restore your device with adb. Moreover, no root is required to follow the process. The commands below led to backup your device to a single file which can also be successively restored.

The command to create a backup is:

$ adb backup -apk -shared -all -f backupFileName.ab

The command parameters list is:

adb backup [-f <file>] [-apk|-noapk] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|nosystem] [<packages...>]

Then confirm the process on your device's display and provide a password whether a backup password has been set before.

The command to restore a previous backup is:

$ adb restore backupFileName.ab

Tools building on ADB
  • adbfs-rootless-gitAUR – mount an Android device connected via USB.
  • adb-sync-gitAUR – a tool to synchronize files between a PC and an Android device using the ADB protocol.
  • – view and control your Android device via ADB from a PC.
  • – a colorful and highly configurable alternative to the standard command.
  • – display and control your Android device.
  • – audio forwarding tools based on scrcpy.
  • – Android real-time display control software.

Troubleshooting

Empty device list

A possible cause for your device not showing up is not having enabled USB debugging on your device. See enable USB debugging.

No permissions error

If the device shows up with a "no permissions" label, it probably has a different vendor/product ID with respect to the ones collected by android-udev.

This can happen for instance when the device uses a custom ROM, or when it is switched from MTP to USB tethering mode, sideload and/or fastboot mode. Verify the actual device's ID with lsusb and #Adding udev rules.

gollark: Event bus I/O has been assimilated into the graphs.
gollark: That is NOT how it works.
gollark: Yep, here we go.
gollark: ++tel link apionet #e
gollark: Anyway, it's VERY cool. You basically establish point to point links, which it then aggregates into a fancy graphoid.
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