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Beginner guide: your first ten minutes ​

By the end of this page you will have connected an Android phone to DroidDeck over USB, found your way around the window, saved a screenshot of the phone and watched its log.

What ADB is ​

ADB stands for Android Debug Bridge. It is a command-line tool from Google, part of Android platform-tools, that lets a computer talk to an Android device: install apps, copy files, read logs, run commands. Developers and testers use it every day.

ADB has three parts. A small program on the device listens for instructions. A background program on your computer, the adb server, keeps track of connected devices. The adb command sends instructions through that server.

DroidDeck does not replace ADB. It runs adb for you and shows the results in a window. Anything DroidDeck does, adb could do from a terminal.

What USB debugging is ​

A phone ignores ADB until you turn on USB debugging, a setting in Android's hidden Developer options menu. The first time a computer connects, the phone asks whether to allow USB debugging from that computer. The phone only obeys computers you have allowed.

WARNING

USB debugging gives an allowed computer deep access to the phone: its files, its apps, its screen. Only allow computers you trust, and never accept the prompt on a computer that is not yours. Turn USB debugging off again when you no longer need it.

What you need ​

  • DroidDeck installed, with adb found. See Install.
  • An Android phone or tablet, and a USB cable that carries data. Some cables only charge.
  • No phone to hand? An Android emulator works too. Start it and skip to step 4: emulators appear without any setup.

Connect your phone ​

  1. On the phone, turn on Developer options. On most phones, open Settings, then About phone, and tap Build number seven times. The exact place varies between phone makers.

  2. Still on the phone, open Developer options in Settings and turn on USB debugging.

  3. Open DroidDeck and plug the phone into your computer.

    The phone appears in the list on the Devices tab. Its state chip reads unauthorized, and the panel on the right says Accept the USB-debugging authorization prompt on the device.

  4. Unlock the phone and allow USB debugging in the prompt it shows.

    The state chip changes to online, and the right-hand panel fills with the phone's details.

If the phone does not appear, or stays unauthorized, see Troubleshooting.

Find your way around ​

The DroidDeck window on the Devices tab with two emulators connected
  1. 1Tabs — The eight parts of the app. Devices is the one that opens first.
  2. 2Device picker — The device every tab works on. It reads No devices when nothing is connected.
  3. 3Notice bar — Appears when adb or scrcpy is missing. This one says scrcpy was not found.
  4. 4adb — The version and location of the adb program DroidDeck is using.
  5. 5Live tracking — Shows that the device list updates by itself as devices come and go.
  6. 6Device list — One card per device, with its name, serial and transport number. Click a card to select it.
  7. 7State — Reads online when the device is ready. Other states mean it needs attention.
  8. 8Details — System, Display, Battery and Network facts about the selected device.

The device picker in the top right matters most. DroidDeck works on one device at a time, and every tab acts on the device shown there. With one phone connected you never need to touch it: DroidDeck selects the first online device for you.

Read the device details ​

With your phone selected on the Devices tab, look at the panel on the right.

  • System shows the Android version, API level, manufacturer, model and build.
  • Display shows the screen's resolution and density.
  • Battery shows the charge level, whether it is charging, and the power source.
  • Network shows the phone's IP addresses.

These values are read once, when you select the device. Select Refresh details, the round arrow at the top right of the panel, to read them again. You can select and copy any value, which helps when you fill in a bug report.

Take a screenshot ​

  1. Open the Screen tab.

  2. Select Capture.

    A picture of the phone's screen appears on the right, with the capture time and its size in pixels underneath.

  3. Select Save…, choose a folder, and save the file.

    DroidDeck suggests a name made of droiddeck, the device's serial and the date and time.

Watch the log ​

Android keeps a running log of what the system and every app are doing. The tool that reads it is called logcat.

  1. Open the Logcat tab.

    Lines start arriving straight away, newest at the bottom.

  2. In the row of letters V D I W E F, select W.

    The view now shows only warnings and worse. The letters are priorities, from Verbose, the chattiest, to Fatal, the most serious.

  3. Open an app on the phone and watch new lines arrive.

  4. Select V again to see everything.

Disconnect ​

Unplug the phone. It leaves the device list by itself. There is nothing to eject.

What you learned ​

  • ADB is the bridge between your computer and an Android device, and USB debugging is the switch that lets it work.
  • A device must be online before DroidDeck can use it.
  • Every tab works on the device in the picker at the top right.
  • The Devices tab shows facts about the device, Screen captures its screen, and Logcat shows its log.

Next steps ​