adb

ADB over Wifi, pre Android 11

~ Aditya

Yep, this is doable too. But it requires an initial connection over USB.

  1. Connect the device over USB, with USB debugging enabled
  2. Open a terminal and check the device is connected:
    > adb devices
  3. Ask the device to listen for adb connections on a particular port:
    > adb tcpip 12345 or
    > adb -s DEVICE_ID tcpip 12345
  4. Once the adb has restarted, disconnect the device from USB.
  5. Check the device IP address, and connect to it over wifi:
    > adb connect 192.168.0.2:12345
  6. Ready to develop.
  7. Once done with dev, return the device to USB mode to not let the tcp port open as as security risk:
    > adb usb​

It’s a bit more work than the simple settings toggle on Android 11, but works just as well once connected.

Note: The devices need to be on the same wifi network, and not be connected through VPN.

Awesome sauce: wireless adb debugging

~ Aditya

tldr: Android 11 has introduced adb debugging over wifi. It is super awesome!

My test device, a Pixel 1, stopped working recently. It shutdown while connected over USB during a test, and then never restarted. Debugging with an emulator on my old (though still much loved) laptop is tiresome. So, I needed an alternative to continue development before I could buy another testing device.

Solution: A different applicationIdSuffix1 for my debug apk so I can install it alongside the production version. When combined with wireless debugging, I’m all set up to continue development on my main device, a Pixel 2 XL.

It’s awesome sauce.

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