ADB Commands

A non-comprehensive list of generally useful adb commands. This document is continuously evolving and PRs are welcome! Standard Unix-like system argument conventions are followed where square brackets [] indicate optional arguments and angled brackets <> indicate a required argument.

Files

• Copy files to device

  adb push <source file> <destination directory>

• Copy files from device

  adb pull <device file> <local file path>

Input

• Key events

  adb shell input keyevent [--longpress] <keycode>

  Popular <keycode>s are:

  • 3 Home button
  • 4 Back button
  • 24 Volume up
  • 25 Volume down
  • 26 Toggle screen on/off
  • 220 Brightness down
  • 221 Brightness up

Display

• Get Screen Resolution

  adb shell wm size

• Get Screen density

  adb shell wm density

• Emulate Screen Size and Density

  adb shell wm size <dimens> for example adb shell wm size 640x480

  adb shell wm density <density> for example adb shell wm density 288

  When you are done emulating a certain screen, reset to the original settings:

  adb shell wm size reset

  adb shell wm density reset

Properties & Settings

• Get Properties

  adb shell getprop [property]

  Property name is optional if you want all properties. Popular [property] values:

  • ro.build.version.release release version of OS
  • ro.product.cpu.abi cpu architecture, for example arm64-v8a
  • ro.product.cpu.abilist all supported cpu architectures

• Get Settings

  adb shell settings get <namespace> <key>

  Possible <namespace> values are system, secure, global. List of keys are available in the documentation.

• Update Settings

  adb shell settings put <namespace> <key> <value>

Package Manager

• List installed packages

  adb shell pm list packages [query]

• Grant Permissions

  adb shell pm grant <your.package.name> <permission>

• Revoke Permissions

  adb shell pm revoke <your.package.name> <permission>

• To Clear Application Data & Cache

  adb shell pm clear <your.package.name>

Profiling

• Frame profiling

  adb shell setprop debug.hwui.profile <value>

  Possible <value>s are:

  • true to enable profiling
  • visual_bars to enable profiling and visualize the results on screen as bars
  • visual_lines to enable profiling and visualize the results on screen as lines
  • false to disable profiling

• Overdraw

  adb shell setprop debug.hwui.overdraw <value>

  Possible <value>s are:

  • show to display overdraw areas on screen
  • count to display an overdraw counter
  • false to disable overdraw debugging

• Graphics Rendering Performance

  adb shell dumpsys gfxinfo [your.package.name]

• Heap Dump

  adb shell am dumpheap <your.package.name> /sdcard/dumpheap.hprof

• Layout Borders

  adb shell setprop debug.layout <true/false>

  You have to relaunch your application to see the borders.

Miscellaneous

• Kill Application

  adb shell am kill <your.package.name>

  Simulates the application being killed for memory pressure. Only works if the application is placed into the background first by pressing the home button.

• Immersive Mode

  adb shell settings put global policy_control immersive.full=[value]

  Possible [value]s are:

  • * to enable immersive mode
  • leave blank to disable immersive mode