Mastering ADB: 61 Essential Commands for Android Debugging and Control

1. Device Connection and ADB Status

adb connect

– Connect to a device over TCP/IP adb disconnect – Disconnect a device adb devices – List connected devices adb get-serialno – Show device serial number adb get-state – Show current device state adb tcpip – Enable/disable wireless debugging

2. Application Management

adb install <apk_path>

– Install an app adb uninstall <package_name> – Uninstall an app adb shell am start -n <package/activity> – Launch an app adb shell am force-stop <package> – Force‑stop an app adb shell pm clear <package> – Clear app data adb shell dumpsys package – Show detailed app info adb shell pm list packages – List all installed packages adb shell – Open a remote shell adb shell pm list packages -f – List packages with their APK paths

3. Debugging Tools and Information

adb shell dumpsys activity | grep -i run

– List running apps adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release – Show Android version adb logcat | grep -i <keyword> – Filter recent logs adb shell getprop ro.product.cpu.abi – Show CPU architecture adb shell df – Display storage usage adb shell dumpsys activity activities | grep -i run – Show current foreground activity adb shell dumpsys meminfo – Show memory usage adb shell top -m 10 -d 15 -n 1 – Show top CPU‑consuming processes adb shell df /data – Show internal storage space adb shell dumpsys battery – Show battery status adb shell wm size – Show screen resolution adb shell wm density – Show screen DPI adb shell cat /proc/meminfo – Show virtual memory info adb shell cat /proc/cpuinfo – Show CPU details adb shell dumpsys meminfo -d – Detailed memory state of processes adb shell dumpsys cpuinfo – Performance testing adb shell dumpsys activity > dump_file.txt – Save system dump to file

4. File Operations

adb shell screencap -p /sdcard/screen.png

– Capture remote screenshot adb pull /sdcard/file_name.txt – Download file from device adb push file_name.txt /sdcard/ – Upload file to device adb shell cat /sys/class/net/wlan0/address – Show MAC address adb shell ifconfig | grep "inet addr" – Show IP address adb push – Copy files or directories to device adb pull – Copy files or directories from device

5. Input/Output Operations

adb shell input text "example"

– Simulate text input adb shell input keyevent <keycode> – Simulate key press

6. Device Control

adb reboot

– Reboot device adb reboot bootloader – Reboot into Fastboot mode adb reboot recovery – Reboot into Recovery mode

7. Other Operations

adb shell pm list permissions -g

– List permission groups adb -s emulator-5556 emu kill / adb shell am start -n <...> – Manage AVD

adb shell ls -lR | awk 'BEGIN { FS="[ \t]+"; }; /^-/ { name=substr($0, index($0,$9)); }; /^-/ && fsize[name]==$5 { printf("%s is a duplicate of %s
", $9, name); }; /^-/ { fsize[name]=$5; }'

– Find duplicate files

adb shell ls -lR | grep -v '^d' | awk '{size=$5; name=$NF; sub(/^.*\//, "", name); if (fsize[size] && fsize[size]==name) printf("%s is a duplicate of %s
", name, fsize[size]); else fsize[size]=name;}'

– Show duplicate file details adb shell ps | grep <process> – Find app PID adb shell ps -A | grep <process> – Search for processes adb shell pm list packages -s – List system packages adb shell dumpsys package – Show required permissions adb shell dumpsys package | grep userId= – Show user UID

adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.wifi.WifiApDialog

– Set Wi‑Fi hotspot SSID

adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings\$DataUsageSummaryActivity

– Toggle mobile data adb backup -f FILE_NAME -noapk PACKAGE_NAME – Backup specific app adb restore FILE_NAME.ab – Restore app backup adb shell getevent -S – Show input device info