Android Debugging Bridge (ADB) Guide

Author: Noah Vogt (19.04.2021)

Note: # in the beginning of a line means you need to run this command as root user. $ means a normal user should be able to execute the command

Note: /sdcard/ is usually the ‘home folder’ on your android phone. This is useful when you use adb commands that require to give a path on the android file system.

Installing adb

On Debian-based package managers just run

# apt install adb

On Arch-based distributions install the following package

# pacman -S android-tools

Activating Developer Options on your Android

Go to the setting app, and scroll down to a menu entry that is called similar to ‘About Device’. Now spam the ‘Build Number’ button. Now There should appear a Message showing that the developer options have been successfully activted. When you click again on the Build Number it should look something like this:

Now go back a settings menu and the Developer Options should now appear. If not, restart the settings app and navigate there.

Now click on ‘USB Debugging’ and validate your decision when a pop-up window comesup. The box should be checked like on this picture:

Handling of packages when an .apk file is available on the computer

Installation

• connect the android phone (don’t forget to unlock the phone and look you for pop ups on the phone you may need to accept) with a USB cable
• run $ adb devices
• If there is only one android device connected, run $ adb install APPNAME.apk.
  • when there is more than one device, use the additional -s SERIALNUMBER or -p PRODUCTNAME flags.

Also note these handy addional flags for installing:

• -r update / upgrade an already on the device installed package
• -s tries to install this app on the sdcard, as this is not supported for every phone

Uninstalling

$ adb uninstall APPNAME.apk

Transfering Files

Though the prefered way to transfer files to and from Android devices is using MTPFS (Media Transfer Protocol FileSystem), you could still do this using adb. For MTPFS, I would recommend using simple-mtfs. There is also an AUR package available.

Anyway, to copy a file from your phone to your pc use this command. Be careful to use the right android path.

$ adb pull ANDROIDPATH PATH

To send a file from your phone to pc use this.

$ adb push PATH ANDROIDPATH

Easy File Backup

This may be one of the few times you would choose adb’s file transfering tools. This command will create a full backup from your phone’s storage.

$ adb backup //

With this you can restore a previously made backup.

$ adb restore //

More General Android Package Management

Listing Installed Packages on your Phone

This basic command will list all packages.

$ adb shell pm list packages

However, you can use some useful additional flags on the end of the above listed commands.

• -s list system packages
• -3 list third-party packages
• -d list disabled packages
• -e list enabled packages
• -u list uninstalled packages

Uninstalling every (yes, also system packages) without root access

$ adb shell pm uninstall -k –user 0 PACKAGE

Generel useful stuff

Remote Shell

When running adb shell you enter a basic shell. Some basic UNIX commands will work, but it’s not that interesting.

Screenshot

To store your screenshot on the phone use this command

$ adb shell screencap -p ANDROIDPATH[.png]

and for storing the screenshot directly on your PC use

$ adb exec-out screencap -p > PATH.png

Screen Recording

$ adb shell screenrecord ANDROIDPATH[.mp4]

You can even specify extra option like --size 1920x1080 (to set the recording resolution), --bit-rate 4000000 (set the bitrate to 4 Mbit/s) or --time-limit 120. The latest options is very neet, as the default recording duration is 180 seconds ( 3 minutes).

To stop recording, just press Ctrl + C if you don’t want to wait for the time limit.