How do I "shake" an Android device within the Android emulator to bring up the dev menu to debug my React Native app

Question

I am working on a cross-platform React Native mobile app. I am writing console.log statements as I develop. I want to see these logging statements in Chrome while I'm running the Android app in the default Android emulator. According to Facebook's docs I just need to "shake the device". How do I do this in the Android emulator?

To access the in-app developer menu:

On iOS shake the device or press control + ⌘ + z in the simulator. On Android shake the device or press hardware menu button (available on older >devices and in most of the emulators, e.g. in genymotion you can press ⌘ + m to >simulate hardware menu button click)

Multiped

Also just wanted to add that the docs also say The Developer Menu is disabled in release (production) builds. So make sure you are not running a release build when you're trying to bring up this menu. – Kimon

Answer 1

Within your app in the Android Emulator press Command + M on macOS or Ctrl + M on Linux and Windows.

Mayle

Sadly F2 no longer works on Linux in Android Emulator 2 beta. What now? – Connotation

@SzczepanHołyszewski I would like to add that, currently in linux, ctrl + m brings up developer menu – Prodigy

the <kbd>f1</kbd>, ... <kbd>f12</kbd> are confusing and difficult to press in most computers – Leucocytosis

I'm probably not going to get any answers on this as this thread is ages old, but I'll say it anyways; This doesn't work for me. Moving the device virtually is not recognized as a shake in my application – Heroworship

CMD + M just minimises Android Studio for me. How to open the debug menu inside the emulator? – Shaky

Answer 2

With a React Native running in the emulator,
Press ctrl+m (for Linux, I suppose it's the same for Windows and ⌘+m for Mac OS X) or run the following in terminal:

adb shell input keyevent 82

Leucocytosis

Not working for me immediately. I needed to go into "settings" ("...") > Settings > Send Keyboard Shorcuts to > Emulator Controls (not virtual device) then it worked. – Fuss

ctrl + m doesn't work on linux. This adb shell command works even if i would prefer a shortcut....guess i can make one that launch this command if i don't find any other way – Sex

To specify a device do adb -s <device id/serial> shell input keyevent 82. I use this when using both an emulator and a physical device. – Godhood

this answer should marked as the correct answer as its more detailed – Curbing

This is the only solution that worked for me (using Windows) – Splendiferous

Answer 3

If you're using the new emulator that comes with Android Studio 2.0, the keyboard shortcut for the menu key is now Cmd+M, just like in Genymotion.

Alternatively, you can always send a menu button press using adb in a terminal:

adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_MENU

Also note that the menu button shortcut isn't a strict requirement, it's just the default behavior provided by the ReactActivity Java class (which is used by default if you created your project with react-native init). Here's the relevant code from onKeyUp in ReactActivity.java:

if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) {
  mReactInstanceManager.showDevOptionsDialog();
  return true;
}

If you're adding React Native to an existing app (documentation here) and you aren't using ReactActivity, you'll need to hook the menu button up in a similar way. You can also call ReactInstanceManager.showDevOptionsDialog through any other mechanism. For example, in an app I'm working on, I added a dev-only Action Bar menu item that brings up the menu, since I find that more convenient than shaking the device when working on a physical device.

Matronna

this is not working on MIUI on my mi4i. it just brings up app tray. is there another solution? i really dont want to run it on an emulator as that slows the shit out of my laptop – Avertin

it seems there are other issues specific to miui. after enabling notification permission i can now shake device to get the menu. check this thread in case anybody else is having issues with MIUI github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/2754 – Avertin

I edited my post to add more detail on how all this stuff works, which may help you track down the problem. My best guess is you're not using ReactActivity and haven't hooked up the menu button through other means. – Matronna

thank you for your prompt response :) though the issue was with MIUI permissions manager which did not let the menu dialog show. – Avertin

Nice tip about ReactActivity. Seems like that code has now been moved to ReactActivityDelegate.java – Stereoisomer

I think I've seen more than 20 SO answers and only this one points where it's handled and I found a fix for my (existing app + react-native) app. Thanks! – Ejaculate

Answer 4

For Linux you click on the three dots "..." beside the emulator, on Virtual sensors check "Move" and then try quickly moving either x, y or z coordinates.

Hippopotamus

Actually, thats the only solution that worked for me. – Wyon

You can also click the device graphic in the window shown and drag it around. – Foxe

Any idea how to do this using adb? – Paperweight

Only the x direction "shaking" worked for me. – Hydrocele

Did not work for me on Mac OS 12.6 & Android Studio 2022.1.1 Patch 2. No amount of shaking on any axis brought up the react native developer menu. – Kimon

Answer 5

'Ctrl + m' works for Windows in the Android emulator to bring up the React-Native developer menu.

Couldn't find that documented anywhere. Found my way here, guessed the rest... Good grief.

By the way: OP: You didn't mention what OS you were on.

Nationalize

Answer 6

As while developing react native apps, we play with the terminal so much

so I added a script in the scripts in the package.json file

"menu": "adb shell input keyevent 82"

and I hit $ yarn menu

for the menu to appear on the emulator it will forward the keycode 82 to the emulator via ADB not the optimal way but I like it and felt to share it.

Seminar

Nice workaround! – Zoi

Since Emulator settings are unavailable now, this is a solution with the Chipmunk build of AS. – Combative

Answer 7

I am on Mac OS so when I press Command, it enable zooming option. Here is my solution

• Open Configuration window [...] button
• Go toSettings tab ->General tab -> Send keyboard shortcuts to field
• Change value to Virtual device" as shown in the picture

After that focus on the emulator and press Command + M, the dev menu appears.

Lesseps

I'm not sure how to get to these settings? Is this in Android Studio? On the device? I'm using MacOS. Where do I find this? – Bibliomania

These settings are from the Android Emulator app. Note, this is very different from launching an emulator from within Android Studio. If you launch the emulator from within Android Studio, Android Studio wraps the emulator with it's own trash settings that are different from these. To get what Ponleu has screenshot'd, launch the emulator manually via terminal. Example:emulator -avd Pixel_5_API_33_2. You can use emulator -list-avds to see what emulators you have configured. Docs: developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator-commandline – Kimon

Answer 8

If you want to simulate a 1 second shake from terminal you can use the following command:

adb emu sensor set acceleration 100:100:100; sleep 1; adb emu sensor set acceleration 0:0:0

Bedim

For Android studio hedgehog, this was the only thing that worked for me. Thanks for sharing! – Nonaggression

Works for Android Studio Iguana as well! – Chaing

Answer 9

'Command + M' for OSX is working for me.

Kissiah

Answer 10

For those for whom Command + M simply minimizes the emulator:

1. Exit emulator
2. Go to Setting>Tools>Emulator and uncheck the Launch in a tool window checkbox
3. Open emulator
4. now Command + M will open developer menu

Misguide

Answer 11

on linux ctrl+m should work but it doesn't for solving the problem click on the (...) (its extended controls) and then close that window.now you can open menu by ctrl+m. then:

1. click on the (...) (its extended controls)

2. close extended controls

3. ctrl+m

Gallicism

For me, this solution almost worked on Linux. I had to press ctrl + m within the extended controls window. Pressing ctrl + m after closing it had no effect. – Pursy

Answer 12

Use command + m(cmd + M) on MAC. Also make sure that you are accessing your application while you try to access the Debug Menui.e. your app must be running otherwise Cmd + M will just return the usual ordinary phone menu.

Barimah

Answer 13

It might be not direct solution, but I've created a lib that allows you to use 3 fingers touch instead of shake to open dev menu, when in development mode

https://github.com/pie6k/react-native-dev-menu-on-touch

You only have to wrap your app inside:

import DevMenuOnTouch from 'react-native-dev-menu-on-touch'; // or: import { DevMenuOnTouch } from 'react-native-dev-menu-on-touch'

class YourRootApp extends Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <DevMenuOnTouch>
        <YourApp />
      </DevMenuOnTouch>
    );
  }
}

It's really useful when you have to debug on real device and you have co-workers sitting next to you.

Medicinal

Yeah, but...shaking it often prepares them for the surprise that is the one day you mistake a cup of chocolate mousse for your cell phone .'* `~. – Badge

Answer 14

I was trying on a release build via adb install -r -d <app-release>.apk 🤦

Make sure you're running the debug build, then the menu will work via the shortcut or CLI.

Broome