ADB, Android Debug Bridge, is a command-line debugging tool for Android. It can complete a variety of functions, such as tracking system logs, uploading and downloading files, and installing applications.
ADB tools can be used on Windows, Ubuntu, and macOS to debug Android.
Hardware connection
When using ADB, the hardware connection needs to follow the steps below.
Prepare ADB connection
- Use a USB-A to USB-C cable to connect the PC and Edge 2.
- Open the settings in the Edge 2 system -> About Tablet -> click 7 times consecutively on Build Number.
- Open Settings -> System -> Advanced -> Developer Options.
- Check the “USB debugging (USB debugging)” option (checked by default).
- Install the ADB drivers and commands based on operating system (Windows, Ubuntu, macOS).
View ADB status
After Edge 2 ADB connects successfully, USB debugging connected will display in Notifications
Connection status can be viewed through the following ADB commands:
$ adb devices
List of devices attached
IOO2TDRJNA device
$ adb shell
mixtile_edge2:/ $
mixtile_edge2:/ $
mixtile_edge2:/ $
Install ADB
Install ADB on Windows
To debug Android on Windows, you need to install the ADB tool.
Download ADB tool
Install ADB tools
- Download the file and unzip it to a custom installation directory, such as C:\adb\platform-tools.
- Press Windows + R to open Run, enter sysdm.cpl, and press Enter. Click in order Advanced -> Environment Variables -> System Variables -> Path.
- Create a new C:\adb\platform-tools under Path.
Verify ADB connection status
Use the following ADB command to verify whether ADB is successfully connected.
C:\Users\user> adb devices
List of devices attached
IOO2TDRJNA device
C:\Users\user> adb shell
mixtile_edge2:/ $
mixtile_edge2:/ $
mixtile_edge2:/ $
Common ADB commands
Managing connection
Display related equipment and serial numbers:
adb devices
If there are multiple connected devices, you need to use the serial number to distinguish:
export ANDROID_SERIAL=<SerialNumber>
adb shell ls
Connect to specified devices under multiple devices:
adb -s SerialNumber shell
The ADB tool can be connected through the network：
# Restart ADB on the device side and listen at TCP port 5555.
adb tcpip 5555
# Now, the Type-C cable can be disconnected.
# Connect to the device, whose IP is 192.168.1.100 here.
adb connect 192.168.1.100:5555
# Disconnect the device
adb disconnect 192.168.1.100:5555
Debugging
Through the ADB tool, you can obtain the Android runtime debugging information.
Get system log via ADB logcat
adb logcat [Options] [Label]
Example
# View all logs.
adb logcat
# Show only part of the logs.
adb logcat -s WifiStateMachine StateMachine
Run command adb shell
Get detailed operation information
adb bugreport is used for bug reports, which contain a lot of useful information.
Example
adb bugreport
# Save to host, then open it with text editor to view ADB
adb bugreport >bugreport.txt
Root permission
If TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT is in user debug mode, you need to run it to get root permission:
adb root
Switch ADB’s device side to root mode for commands that require root access, such as ADB remount.
Application management
Through the ADB tool, you can install and uninstall applications.
Install application
adb install [option] apllication_name.apk
Options include：
-l forward-lock
-r Reinstall the app and keep the original data
-s Install on SD card instead of internal storage
For instance：
# install facebook.apk
adb install facebook.apk
# upgrade twitter.apk
adb install -r twitter.apk
If the installation is successful, the tool will return a success prompt Success；In case of failure, there are generally the following situations:
- INSTALL_FAILED_ALREADY_EXISTS: at this time, you need to reinstall with the
-rparameter. - INSTALL_FAILED_SIGNATURE_ERROR: The signatures of the application are inconsistent, which may be caused by the different signatures of the release version and the debug version. If you confirm that the APK file signature is normal, you can uninstall the old application with the
adb uninstallcommand before installing it. - INSTALL_FAILED_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE: The storage space is insufficient. It is necessary to check the storage condition of the device.
Uninstall application
adb uninstall Application Pakage Name
For instance：
adb uninstall com.android.chrome
The application package name can be listed with the following command:
adb shell pm list packages -f
The operation result is:
package:/system/app/Bluetooth.apk=com.android.bluetooth
The front is the apk file, and the back is the corresponding package name.
ADB help
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.31
-a - directs adb to listen on all interfaces for a connection
-d - directs command to the only connected USB device
returns an error if more than one USB device is present.
-e - directs command to the only running emulator.
returns an error if more than one emulator is running.
-s <specific device> - directs command to the device or emulator with the given
serial number or qualifier. Overrides ANDROID_SERIAL
environment variable.
-p <product name or path> - simple product name like 'sooner', or
a relative/absolute path to a product
out directory like 'out/target/product/sooner'.
If -p is not specified, the ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT
environment variable is used, which must
be an absolute path.
-H - Name of adb server host (default: localhost)
-P - Port of adb server (default: 5037)
devices [-l] - list all connected devices
('-l' will also list device qualifiers)
connect <host>[:<port>] - connect to a device via TCP/IP
Port 5555 is used by default if no port number is specified.
disconnect [<host>[:<port>]] - disconnect from a TCP/IP device.
Port 5555 is used by default if no port number is specified.
Using this command with no additional arguments
will disconnect from all connected TCP/IP devices.
device commands:
adb push [-p] <local> <remote>
- copy file/dir to device
('-p' to display the transfer progress)
adb pull [-p] [-a] <remote> [<local>]
- copy file/dir from device
('-p' to display the transfer progress)
('-a' means copy timestamp and mode)
adb sync [ <directory> ] - copy host->device only if changed
(-l means list but don't copy)
(see 'adb help all')
adb shell - run remote shell interactively
adb shell <command> - run remote shell command
adb emu <command> - run emulator console command
adb logcat [ <filter-spec> ] - View device log
adb forward --list - list all forward socket connections.
the format is a list of lines with the following format:
<serial> " " <local> " " <remote> "\n"
adb forward <local> <remote> - forward socket connections
forward specs are one of:
tcp:<port>
localabstract:<unix domain socket name>
localreserved:<unix domain socket name>
localfilesystem:<unix domain socket name>
dev:<character device name>
jdwp:<process pid> (remote only)
adb forward --no-rebind <local> <remote>
- same as 'adb forward <local> <remote>' but fails
if <local> is already forwarded
adb forward --remove <local> - remove a specific forward socket connection
adb forward --remove-all - remove all forward socket connections
adb jdwp - list PIDs of processes hosting a JDWP transport
adb install [-l] [-r] [-d] [-s] [--algo <algorithm name> --key <hex-encoded key> --iv <hex-encoded iv>] <file>
- push this package file to the device and install it
('-l' means forward-lock the app)
('-r' means reinstall the app, keeping its data)
('-d' means allow version code downgrade)
('-s' means install on SD card instead of internal storage)
('--algo', '--key', and '--iv' mean the file is encrypted already)
adb uninstall [-k] <package> - remove this app package from the device
('-k' means keep the data and cache directories)
adb bugreport - return all information from the device
that should be included in a bug report.
adb backup [-f <file>] [-apk|-noapk] [-obb|-noobb] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|-nosystem] [<packages...>]
- write an archive of the device's data to <file>.
If no -f option is supplied then the data is written
to "backup.ab" in the current directory.
(-apk|-noapk enable/disable backup of the .apks themselves
in the archive; the default is noapk.)
(-obb|-noobb enable/disable backup of any installed apk expansion
(aka .obb) files associated with each application; the default
is noobb.)
(-shared|-noshared enable/disable backup of the device's
shared storage / SD card contents; the default is noshared.)
(-all means to back up all installed applications)
(-system|-nosystem toggles whether -all automatically includes
system applications; the default is to include system apps)
(<packages...> is the list of applications to be backed up. If
the -all or -shared flags are passed, then the package
list is optional. Applications explicitly given on the
command line will be included even if -nosystem would
ordinarily cause them to be omitted.)
adb restore <file> - restore device contents from the <file> backup archive
adb help - show this help message
adb version - show version num
scripting:
adb wait-for-device - block until device is online
adb start-server - ensure that there is a server running
adb kill-server - kill the server if it is running
adb get-state - prints: offline | bootloader | device
adb get-serialno - prints: <serial-number>
adb get-devpath - prints: <device-path>
adb status-window - continuously print device status for a specified device
adb remount - remounts the /system partition on the device read-write
adb reboot [bootloader|recovery] - reboots the device, optionally into the bootloader or recovery program
adb reboot-bootloader - reboots the device into the bootloader
adb root - restarts the adbd daemon with root permissions
adb usb - restarts the adbd daemon listening on USB
adb tcpip <port> - restarts the adbd daemon listening on TCP on the specified port
networking:
adb ppp <tty> [parameters] - Run PPP over USB.
Note: you should not automatically start a PPP connection.
<tty> refers to the tty for PPP stream. Eg. dev:/dev/omap_csmi_tty1
[parameters] - Eg. defaultroute debug dump local notty usepeerdns
adb sync notes: adb sync [ <directory> ]
<localdir> can be interpreted in several ways:
- If <directory> is not specified, both /system and /data partitions will be updated.
- If it is "system" or "data", only the corresponding partition
is updated.
environmental variables:
ADB_TRACE - Print debug information. A comma separated list of the following
values 1 or all, adb, sockets, packets, rwx, usb, sync, sysdeps, transport, jdwp
ANDROID_SERIAL - The serial number to connect to. -s takes priority over this if given.
ANDROID_LOG_TAGS - When used with the logcat option, only these debug tags are printed.