ADB
Android Debug Bridge
Android Debug Bridge or adb, is a command line tool that lets you communicate with a device (an emulator or a connected Android device). This tool is included in the Android SDK package and consists of both client and server-side programs that communicate with one another. This is not a guide on how to setup Android Debug Bridge rather a useful resource for the essential commands and functions that power users should know. The client-server program includes three main components:
- Client, which runs on your local machine and sends commands to the daemon. You can envoke a client on a machine by using the adb command. The client checks if an adb server process is already running, if not it binds to local TCP port 5037 and listens for commands from the adb client. All adb clients use port 5037 to communicate with the adb server.
- Daemon (adbd), runs as a background process on each device and issues commands sent to that device from a client application.
- Server, runs as a background process on your local machine listening on port 5555 to 5585 on odd-numbered ports with a range of 16 emulator which handle client application communication to a adbd daemon.
Device Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| adb devices | List connected devices |
| adb devices -l | List devcies and model |
| adb start-server | Starts the adbd server |
| adb kill-server | Kills the adb server |
| adb remount | Remounts filesystem r/w access |
| adb reboot | Reboots the device |
| adb shell | Gain user level shell access |
| adb root | Restarts adbd with root permissions |
| adb reboot bootloader | Reboots device into fastboot |
| adb connect device_ip | Connect over TCP to device |
wait-for-device can be used after adb to ensure the command will run once the device is connected.
-s flag can be used to send commands to a specific device when multiple are connected.
disable-verity is related to device-mapper-verity (dm-verity) kernel feature, which provides transparent integrity checks of block devices. This helps prevent persistent rootkits that can hold root priviledge. If trying to mount the system folder but receiving the error dm_verity is enabled on the system and vendor partitions you can issue the adb shell su mount -o remount /system or just reboot the bootloader with verity disabled adb disable-verity
Example
$ adb wait-for-device reboot bootloader
$ adb -s foodevice root
File Management
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| adb push local_file remote | Copy file to device |
| adb pull remote_file local | Pull file from device |
Note: If you need a file from a system application you can use
adb shell su (if su binary is present) and cp file to you sdcard
to later pull from the device.
$ adb shell su
$ cp /system/somefile /sdcard/somefile
$ exit
$ adb pull /sdcard/somefile file-from-device
$ adb push file-from-device /sdcard/somefile
Logcat
Every sysadmins favorite passtime
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| adb logcat --help | Display logcat help dialog |
| adb logcat | Start printing log message to stdout |
adb logcat -e expr |
Prints logs that match regular expressions |
| adb logcat -g | Display current log buffer sizes |
| adb logcat -G size | Sets the buffer size (K or M) |
adb logcat --pid=pid |
Print logs from given PID |
| adb logcat -c | Clears the log buffers |
adb logcat *:V* |
Enables all log messages verbose |
| adb logcat -f foofile | Dumps specified file |
Remote Shell Commands
The flags you choose to pass with adb must come before the command.
adb -flag device command
$ adb -s android123 shell . . .
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| adb -d | Direct command to the only running connected device |
| adb -e | Direct command to the only running emultor |
| adb -s | Direct command to specific serial number of device |
adb shell command |
Most Unix commands work here |
adb shell monkey -p app.package.name |
Starts the specific package |
| adb shell pm list packages | Lists all installed packages |
| adb shell pm list packages -3 | List 3rd-party packages |
| adb install app.package.name | Install package |
| adb install -r app.package.name | Re-install app and keep its data on device |
| adb uninstall app.package.name | Uninstall package and user data |
| adb uninstall -k app.package.name | Uninstall package but leave data |
| adb shell pm uninstall app.package.name | Uninstall package but leaves data |
| adb shell pm clear app.package.name | Deletes all data associated with package |
Example: Uninstall app from all connected devices:
adb devices | tail -n +2 | cut -sf 1 | xargs -IX adb -s X uninstall app.package.name
Extras
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
adb shell input text foo!, text to screen |
Print text to screen |
| adb shell screencap -p /sdcard/foo.png | Screenshot device |
| adb shell screenrecord /sdcard/foocreep.mp4 | Record screen of device |