How to start an application using Android ADB tools

Asked 31/12, 2010 at 3:33 Answered 15/8, 2023 at 15:0

Solved android adb

606

How do I send an intent using Android's ADB tools?

Coloration answered 31/12, 2010 at 3:33 Comment(2)

stop: #3117595 – Mom 23/10, 2017 at 9:45

Get ActivityName: stackoverflow.com/a/37959688 – Reimers 4/1, 2023 at 19:48

755

adb shell
am start -n com.package.name/com.package.name.ActivityName

Or you can use this directly:

adb shell am start -n com.package.name/com.package.name.ActivityName

You can also specify actions to be filter by your intent-filters:

am start -a com.example.ACTION_NAME -n com.package.name/com.package.name.ActivityName

Earle answered 31/12, 2010 at 3:40 Comment(12)

Thank you very much , i've made it shell function in ~/.bash_profile to be much faster function androidrun(){ ant clean debug adb shell am start -n $1/$1.MainActivity } and its usage androidrun com.example.test – Globose 16/2, 2013 at 12:43

adb shell am will give you a list of other options to pass to the am command. You can find out more at developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html#am – Opportunity 14/5, 2013 at 23:17

@shurane How can I find -a option? – Swirly 28/5, 2013 at 14:33

@Swirly I don't have access to a device offhand, but you can try just running adb shell am, which will list some more detailed help compared to the documentation. – Opportunity 28/5, 2013 at 15:10

is is possible to run the default activity, instead of being so specific to which activity i intend it should start? – Monmouth 25/7, 2013 at 8:23

AFAIK, you can omit part of the command like in Joilnen answer – Earle 25/7, 2013 at 21:42

I had problems finding the application and activity. I used this pipe line adb logcat | grep --line-buffered ActivityManager | grep --line-buffered to list all applications that were displayed. – Ricardoricca 10/3, 2017 at 20:7

Can you add an example of how to launch it with a deep link? – Lockup 16/9, 2017 at 14:26

https://mcmap.net/q/65538/-how-to-run-a-specific-android-app-using-terminal-duplicate shows how to use cmd and how to obtain the Activity name knowing the package – Montage 20/4, 2018 at 5:30

This answer works on Oculus Go (as there is no way on its UI to run normal android apps) but it displays a non-VR view of the app. However, if your install and run your app through visual studio, you see the VR view of your app! – Twill 9/8, 2019 at 20:46

If you have a dollar sign in an activity name, use 3 backslashes to escape it, e.g. adb shell "am start -a android.settings.SYNC_SETTINGS -n com.android.settings/.Settings\\\$AccountDashboardActivity" – Perique 5/10, 2022 at 11:26

com.package.name/com.package.name.ActivityName, can be shortened/reduced to, com.package.name/.ActivityName – Firry 23/2, 2023 at 18:58

420

It's possible to run an application specifying the package name only using the monkey tool by follow this pattern:

adb shell monkey -p your.app.package.name -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1

The command is used to run the app using the monkey tool which generates random input for the application. The last part of the command is an integer which specifies the number of generated random input for the app. In this case the number is 1, which in fact is used to launch the app (icon click).

Missive answered 20/8, 2014 at 7:18 Comment(15)

Launcher is default. You can simplify to adb shell monkey -p your.app.package.name 1 – Implement 28/10, 2015 at 16:6

Is it possible to use the APK file name, instead of the package name? Suppose I have an APK file, and I want to be able to install&run it, is it possible? – Monmouth 15/6, 2016 at 7:42

What if I get an error: no activities found to run. aborting? – Sheepish 4/8, 2016 at 21:5

@Sheepish if no activities found, it's a Service app and has no Activity at all. – Lankester 6/9, 2016 at 8:42

--pct-syskeys 0 is required for devboards: https://mcmap.net/q/64181/-how-to-start-an-application-using-android-adb-tools – Mom 25/10, 2017 at 14:31

@WSS im sorry but i think you're wrong. An visible APP has main activity at least. If you don't have activity nothing will happen except the case that you init a service at launch, ie notification app. Take a read: quora.com/Can-an-Android-app-be-made-without-an-activity. Regards. – Lankester 20/4, 2018 at 23:21

@erm3nda sorry, I was wrong and that app worked. Since the app was open source I imported its project, but it has some problems and it caused it to fail. – Lura 21/4, 2018 at 17:31

@Lura no worries :) – Lankester 22/4, 2018 at 0:40

@Sheepish if it is a service use adb shell am startservice com.some.package.name/.YourServiceSubClassName see here: https://mcmap.net/q/65539/-how-to-start-and-stop-android-service-from-a-adb-shell – Snowman 25/3, 2019 at 5:52

This should be the accepted answer. In particular, Androiderson's comment. – Mirianmirielle 26/4, 2019 at 15:59

@androiddeveloper You can use the android tools to get the android package name and then launch that. See here: #6289649 – Duong 2/5, 2019 at 10:17

I found this to be the most useful technique because it only requires the package name and not the name of the launcher activity. – Purposely 3/5, 2019 at 16:5

ty, best answer I have got. – Brail 7/7, 2021 at 7:3

This helps me to launch gmail app. Thanks! To launch gmail app using adb shell adb shell monkey -p com.google.android.gm -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1 – Cariole 26/7, 2022 at 11:41

It works, but has problems: 1) will launch random activity every time, 2) cannot add deeplink string. If you get ** No activities found to run, monkey aborted. check that you didn't unistall an app. – Trombley 17/3, 2023 at 7:31

138

Or, you could use this:

adb shell am start -n com.package.name/.ActivityName

Bewick answered 1/9, 2012 at 15:42 Comment(7)

is it possible to do it without specifying the activity name, so that the default main activity will start? – Monmouth 16/5, 2013 at 11:13

@androiddeveloper See the monkey command below from depodefi: no need to specify activity name! – Gusta 28/2, 2015 at 8:17

@DanielBeauyat Nice. it works even on a device. Here's the link to the post, BTW: https://mcmap.net/q/64181/-how-to-start-an-application-using-android-adb-tools – Monmouth 28/2, 2015 at 10:52

It should be noted that if you use an applicationIdSuffix such as .debug for your debug builds, you have to use the fully qualified activity name: adb shell am start -n com.package.name.debug/com.package.name.ActivityName. The suffix only applies to the application id, not the package name of the java classes. – Rosenthal 5/2, 2016 at 13:20

What if I don't know the ActivityName? – Sheepish 1/9, 2016 at 13:27

Run ~/android-sdk-linux/build-tools/20.0.0/aapt dump badging yourapp.apk , which will list the following entry: launchable-activity: name='com.company.android.package.YourLaunchableActivity' – Bracket 16/9, 2016 at 9:59

monkey -p com.package.name 1 via adb shell – Puerperal 16/12, 2016 at 12:26

Linux and Mac users can also create a script to run an APK file with something like the following:

Create a file named "adb-run.sh" with these three lines:

pkg=$(aapt dump badging $1|awk -F" " '/package/ {print $2}'|awk -F"'" '/name=/ {print $2}')
act=$(aapt dump badging $1|awk -F" " '/launchable-activity/ {print $2}'|awk -F"'" '/name=/ {print $2}')
adb shell am start -n $pkg/$act

Then "chmod +x adb-run.sh" to make it executable.

Now you can simply:

adb-run.sh myapp.apk

The benefit here is that you don't need to know the package name or launchable activity name. Similarly, you can create "adb-uninstall.sh myapp.apk"

Note: This requires that you have Android Asset Packaging Tool (aapt) in your path. You can find it under the new build tools folder in the SDK.

Denis answered 25/6, 2013 at 5:47 Comment(7)

for windows you can try with cygwin (untested) – Denis 25/6, 2013 at 6:17

Your post made me look up AWK. I went ahead and re-created your script. pastebin.com/X7X1SsFa – Religiosity 6/12, 2013 at 16:20

This is fabulous. Why this isn't a standard adb command we'll never know. – Ultravirus 8/6, 2014 at 7:51

You won't need to have aapt in your path (as long as "android" is) if you set the PATH in the adb-run.sh script, like this: PATH=$(dirname $(which android))/../build-tools/20.0.0:$PATH – Precipitation 23/10, 2014 at 20:16

@Denis why does this not work on play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amaze.filemanager ? – Lura 18/4, 2018 at 19:53

This answer is a real Good asset. I substituted aapt with : $HOME/Library/Android/sdk/build-tools/<version>/aapt – Carruth 9/10, 2018 at 0:17

Note that there might be more than one launchable activity in one apk (I think) -- besides it might be better to run aapt only once... – Coreen 22/1, 2021 at 11:26

Step 1: First get all the package names of the apps installed in your device, by using:

adb shell pm list packages

Step 2: You will get all the package names. Copy the one you want to start using ADB.

Step 3: Add your desired package name in the below command.

adb shell monkey -p 'your package name' -v 500

For example,

adb shell monkey -p com.estrongs.android.pop -v 500

to start the Es explorer.

Apopemptic answered 16/11, 2018 at 12:41 Comment(2)

This will launch your application and send 500 pseudo-random events to it. So use '1' to replace '500' is better. – Tensimeter 26/12, 2018 at 7:11

What is "Es explorer"? For example, can you add a reference to it? (But without "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the answer should appear as if it was written today.) – Merill 8/11, 2021 at 14:4

The shortest command yet is the following:

adb shell monkey -p your.app.package.name 1

This will launch the default activity for the package that is in the launcher.

Thanks to Androiderson for the tip.

Dysthymia answered 20/7, 2021 at 21:55 Comment(1)

Bam! Works great, even on Android 4.4. Thanks! – Pucker 20/10, 2021 at 14:45

Also, I want to mention one more thing.

When you start an application from adb shell am, it automatically adds FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag which makes behavior change. See the code.

For example, if you launch a Play Store activity from adb shell am, pressing the 'Back' button (hardware back button) wouldn't take you back to your app. Instead, it would take you to the previous Play Store activity if there was some (if there was not a Play store task, then it would take you back to your app). FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK documentation says:

if a task is already running for the activity you are now starting, then a new activity will not be started; instead, the current task will simply be brought to the front of the screen with the state it was last in

This caused me to spend a few hours to find out what went wrong.

So, keep in mind that adb shell am add FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag.

Midland answered 26/5, 2014 at 6:35 Comment(3)

Also, worth mentioning that that there is no way to clear said flag, which is annoying – Einstein 17/7, 2019 at 21:26

would it help to supply the flag (-f) FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK? – Tichonn 17/9, 2020 at 16:14

What do you mean by "take you your app" (seems incomprehensible. Two instances)? Please respond by editing (changing) your answer, not here in comments (without "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the answer should appear as if it was written today). – Merill 8/11, 2021 at 13:42

We can as well start an application by knowing the application type and feeding it with data:

adb shell am start -d "file:///sdcard/sample.3gp" -t "video/3gp" -a android.intent.action.VIEW

This command displays available *video players to play a sample.3gp file.

Molt answered 4/1, 2014 at 12:42 Comment(0)

You can find your app package name by the below command:

adb shell pm list packages

The above command returns a package list of all apps. Example:

org.linphone.debug
.
.
com.android.email

Now I want to start app linphone by using the below command and this worked for me:

adb shell am start org.linphone.debug

Alexipharmic answered 20/2, 2021 at 12:56 Comment(1)

Hmm, didn't work on Android 4.4. 1. the package names are all prefixed with package: (e.g. package:com.cnn.mobile.android.phone). 2. When trying to launch (with or without the package: prefix), I get

Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] pkg=com.cnn.mobile.android.phone } Error: Activity not started, unable to resolve Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 pkg=com.cnn.mobile.android.phone }

. – Pucker 20/10, 2021 at 14:45

Open file ~/.bash_profile, and add these Bash functions to the end of the file

function androidinstall(){
   adb install -r ./bin/$1.apk
}

function androidrun(){
   ant clean debug
   adb shell am start -n $1/$1.$2
}

Then open the Android project folder:

androidinstall app-debug && androidrun com.example.app MainActivity

Globose answered 16/2, 2013 at 12:51 Comment(2)

Can you explain what app-debug does? – Luxate 5/3, 2013 at 2:11

@TrevorSenior app-debug is the title of the apk file , usually in debug mode the generated apk file is titled "APPLICATION NAME-debug.apk" – Globose 10/3, 2013 at 15:40

monkey --pct-syskeys 0 for development boards

This argument is needed for development boards without keys/display:

adb shell monkey --pct-syskeys 0 -p com.cirosantilli.android_cheat.textviewbold 1

Without it, the app won't open, and you will get an error message like:

SYS_KEYS has no physical keys but with factor 2.0%

It was tested on HiKey960, Android O AOSP.

Learned from: this GitHub issue

Also asked at: How to use the monkey command with an Android system that doesn't have physical keys?

Mom answered 25/10, 2017 at 14:30 Comment(0)

Use:

adb shell am start -n '<appPackageName>/<appActitivityName>'

To get <appPackageName> run :

adb shell pm list packages

To get <appActitivityName> lunch app and run

adb shell dumpsys window | grep -E 'mCurrentFocus'

Jumpy answered 29/11, 2022 at 16:51 Comment(0)

Use:

adb shell am start -n '<appPackageName>/.<appActitivityName>

Example:

adb shell am start -n 'com.android.settings/.wifi.WifiStatusTest'

You can use the APK-INFO application to know the list of app activities with respect to each app package.

Zapateado answered 8/5, 2018 at 4:34 Comment(2)

your example codes don't show usage of ` APK-INFO` – Thirza 10/5, 2021 at 4:23

What is "APK-INFO"? For example, can you add a reference to it? (But without "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the answer should appear as if it was written today.) – Merill 8/11, 2021 at 14:0

adb shell am start -n com.app.package.name/com.java.package.name.ActivityName

Example

adb shell am start -n com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox/com.google.android.search.core.google.GoogleSearch

If the Java package is the same, then it can be shortened:

adb shell am start -n com.example.package/.subpackage.ActivityName

Ephemerality answered 17/3, 2021 at 10:22 Comment(0)

The right way would be to use cmd package resolve-activity to find the startup activity before launching, so you can launch with

am start $(cmd package resolve-activity --brief com.package.name | tail -n 1)

Firebreak answered 20/3, 2023 at 16:4 Comment(0)

Try this, for opening an Android photo app and with the specific image file to open as a parameter.

adb shell am start -n com.google.android.apps.photos/.home.HomeActivity -d file:///mnt/user/0/primary/Pictures/Screenshots/Screenshot.png

It will work on latest version of Android. No pop up will come to select an application to open as you are giving the specific app to which you want to open your image with.

Lapidify answered 24/8, 2017 at 11:15 Comment(1)

I have a player app, which is able to stream a video from url, how can i pass this url as a parameter and stream from that url? suppose a url from youtube? – Motorcade 6/2, 2018 at 12:13

When you try to open a Flutter app, you can use this command:

adb shell am start -n com.package.name/io.flutter.embedding.android.FlutterActivity

Replace com.package.name with your package name. You find your package in your app/build.gradle at applicationId.

Aesculapius answered 28/4, 2022 at 23:28 Comment(0)

To guarantee support for Android TV as well as non-Android TV apps:

adb shell "monkey -p com.package.name -c android.intent.category.LEANBACK_LAUNCHER 1 || monkey -p com.package.name -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1"

Tropic answered 15/8, 2023 at 15:0 Comment(0)

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