ADB Commands Reference

Queries the ADB server and displays all detected Android devices and emulators along with their connection state.

Outputs all connected devices including their hardware product code, device codename, marketing model, and transport ID.

Establishes a wireless ADB connection to an Android device over TCP/IP using its IP address and listening port (default 5555).

Terminates an active TCP/IP wireless ADB connection to a specific device, or disconnects all TCP devices if no address is supplied.

Pairs a computer with an Android 11+ device using TLS authentication and a 6-digit one-time pairing code from Developer Options.

Blocks command execution until the connected device is fully booted and accepted by the ADB daemon. Essential for automation and CI/CD pipelines.

Returns the current low-level ADB transport status of the connected device: offline, bootloader, or device.

Outputs the unique hardware serial number assigned to the connected Android device.

Launches the local ADB host background server on localhost port 5037 if it is not already running.

Kills the local ADB background daemon process. Resolves hung connections, unresponsive states, and stuck USB ports.

Pushes an APK file to the device and invokes the package manager to install it.

Installs multi-split APK packages (base.apk plus config and density splits) in a single atomic atomic session.

Removes the installed application package and deletes its private data directories from /data/data.

Queries the Package Manager service and prints the complete list of package names installed on the system.

Prints the physical filesystem path where the base APK and splits for the specified package are stored on the Android filesystem.

Clears all user data, database records, shared preferences, and cache files associated with a package, resetting it to factory fresh install state.

Disables a pre-installed carrier or OEM bloatware app for the primary user without requiring root privileges.

Re-activates a frozen or disabled application package, restoring its launcher icon and background services.

Transfers a file or folder from the host development machine to a specified path on the Android filesystem.

Downloads a file or directory tree from the Android device to the specified local directory on the host computer.

Lists all files, hidden items, owner permissions, SELinux contexts, and timestamps inside an Android directory.

Deletes a file or directory tree from the Android storage volume.

Displays storage statistics, free space, and mount points across all mounted Android filesystem partitions in human-readable units.

Launches an interactive pseudo-terminal shell session directly on the target Android operating system.

Reads Android runtime properties from the system property store, or dumps all system properties if no key is provided.

Sets a runtime system property in the Android init environment. Useful for testing debug flags, mock sensors, and developer parameters.

Displays the user ID name running the current ADB shell process (e.g. shell, root, or u0_a...).

Uses Activity Manager to launch an explicit Android activity by its full package and component name.

Dispatches an implicit VIEW intent to test deep links, universal links, or open a web page in the default web browser.

Terminates all processes, background services, alarms, and notifications associated with the specified package immediately.

Sends a simulated hardware key code event to the device window manager (e.g. Home, Back, Power, Volume).

Types a sequence of characters into whichever text input or edit field currently has focus on the Android screen.

Simulates a finger tap event at the specified pixel coordinates (X, Y) on the display.

Simulates a finger drag or swipe motion from starting coordinates (x1, y1) to ending coordinates (x2, y2). Useful for scrolling and drag-and-drop.

Captures a complete snapshot of system diagnostics, dumpsys logs, battery history, ANR traces, and radio states into a ZIP archive.

Streams continuous real-time diagnostic output from the Android log ring buffer.

Flushes and empties the entire Android log ring buffer history so subsequent logcat commands show only fresh events.

Filters the system log stream to isolate critical system and application exceptions and errors (log level Error & Fatal).

Dumps the current contents of the circular log buffer to a local text file on the development computer and exits.

Captures the active Android screen framebuffer and pipes the PNG stream directly to a file on your local machine without needing intermediate device storage.

Captures a screenshot and saves it as an image file on the internal SD card storage.

Records high-definition screen video of device activity to an MP4 video file on the device. Press Ctrl+C to terminate recording.

Restarts the Android operating system into normal user mode.

Reboots the device into the bootloader interface where low-level Fastboot flashing commands can be executed.

Reboots the device into Android recovery console (Stock Recovery or custom TWRP/OrangeFox) for OTAs and wipes.

Reboots Android 10+ devices into fastbootd (userspace fastboot), allowing partition resizing and flashing dynamic logical partitions (system, vendor, product).

Reboots Qualcomm-based Snapdragon devices directly into Emergency Download (EDL / 9008) mode for low-level unbricking.

Sends and installs a full OTA package or custom ROM ZIP archive to a device booted into Recovery Mode with "Apply update from ADB" active.

Grants a declared runtime permission (e.g. WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) to an app without user prompt.

Revokes a previously granted runtime permission from the specified application.

Resets all granted runtime permissions for all installed applications back to default factory states.

Instructs the connected device to listen for ADB connections on network TCP port 5555, allowing USB cable removal for wireless debugging.

Sets up socket forwarding from a port on the host computer to a port or socket on the Android device.

Allows network requests originating on the Android device to route back into a server running on your computer localhost (e.g. dev server on port 3000).

Displays all currently established local-to-remote socket forwarding tunnels.

Prints current battery charge level, voltage, battery temperature, health status, and charging source (AC/USB/Wireless).

Overrides Android OS battery percentage reporter for testing low-battery notifications and power-saving modes.

Dumps deep RAM allocation statistics including Native Heap, Dalvik Heap, Graphics buffers, and PSS memory for an app or the whole system.

Outputs CPU workload percentages consumed by individual apps, system services, and kernel threads over the recent sampling window.

Reads the physical display resolution or overrides it to test responsive UI layouts across various screen resolutions.

Adjusts the software DPI (density-independent dots per inch) scale factor of the Android display.

Restarts the on-device adbd daemon with root privileges (available on userdebug, eng, or rooted custom firmware builds).

Restarts the on-device adbd daemon back into unprivileged standard shell user context.

Remounts /system, /vendor, and /product partitions as read-write, enabling manual modification of system binaries and APKs.

Disables Device Mapper Verity (dm-verity) cryptographic block integrity enforcement on userdebug builds to allow system partition modifications.