Android Automation

Control and automate Android devices using ADB, uiautomator, and screencap.

Connecting Devices

USB Connection

• Enable Developer Options and USB Debugging on the device.
• Connect via USB and verify with adb devices.

Wireless Connection (Android 11+)

• Enable Wireless Debugging in Developer Options.
• Pairing: Find the IP, port, and pairing code in the "Pair device with pairing code" popup.

adb pair :

• Connecting: Use the IP and port shown on the main Wireless Debugging screen.

adb connect :

• Verify with adb devices.

Common Workflows

Launching an App

Use the monkey tool to launch apps by package name: adb shell monkey -p -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1

Analyzing the UI

Dump and pull the UI hierarchy to find coordinates: adb shell uiautomator dump /sdcard/view.xml && adb pull /sdcard/view.xml ./view.xml

Then grep for text or resource IDs to find bounds="[x1,y1][x2,y2]".

Interacting with Elements

• Tap: adb shell input tap
• Text: adb shell input text "" (Note: Use %\s for spaces in some environments or handle quoting carefully)
• Keyevent: adb shell input keyevent (Home: 3, Back: 4, Power: 26, Search: 84, Enter: 66)
• Swipe: adb shell input swipe

Visual Verification

Take a screenshot to verify the state: adb shell screencap -p /sdcard/screen.png && adb pull /sdcard/screen.png ./screen.png

Tips

• Search: Use input keyevent 84 to trigger search in many apps.
• Wait: Use sleep between commands to allow the UI to update.
• Coordinates: Calculate the center of [x1,y1][x2,y2] for reliable taps.