How to use ADB command on android

ADB (Android Debug Bridge) is a special feature of android which allows us to communicate with android device that connected to computer through USB cable.

Basically we can do a lot of cool stuff with ADB command, such as install apk from computer to the device or get apk from installed apps on the device to computer.

Learning ADB command is a must, not only for developer but also normal users like us which enjoy doing cool stuff and maximizing our android device.

Before you can use/run/execute ADB command on your android device, you must have the ADB program itself on the computer.

To get ADB program, normally you can install android SDK, so if you have android SDK inside your computer then you already have the program.

There's another way to get ADB program inside your computer, you can download the program from here, or try the installer like this one.

To use run ADB command, you must first enable USB debugging mode on your device and then plug it to the computer and make sure the computer could recognize the device.

After that you can go ahead run ADB command from command prompt (console), the most common thing you do to test whether the device really connected is to run this command :

adb devices

That command will shows all devices currently connected to the computer, remember you need to turn on USB debugging mode on the device, otherwise this won't work.

 

Here's list of adb command that you can play with.

Command	What for
adb devices	show list of android devices
adb shell	run linux command line on your device
adb help	show help
adb version	show adb version
adb logcat	show log data on your device, to stop press CTRL + C
adb bugreport	showing dumpsys, dumpstate, and logcat, to stop press CTRL + C
adb jdwp	show JDWP (java debug wire protocol)
adb install <path-to-apk>	install apk to your device
adb pull <remote> <local>	download specified file on your device to the computer
adb push <local> <remote>	upload specified file on your computer to the device
adb get-serialno	show serial number of your device
adb get-state	show the state of your device
adb wait-for-device	wait until the device ready (combine this with other command)
adb start-server	start the adb server
adb kill-server	stop the adb server

Now i want you try these commands and see what happen in your device :

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.DIAL

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.EDIT

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.PICK

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.SEARCH

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.CHOOSER

Have fun with ADB commands :)