There are different tools available on the Android Software Development Kit, popularly referred to as Android Devkit or Android SDK. The tools that you will find on this devkit are all unique and designed to serve various specific purposes in Android development. Let’s talk about Android SDK Platform-Tools. This is one of the major components of the Android SDK. It includes some essential tools for Android development. These tools are ADB, Fastboot, and Systrace. Android SDK Platform-Tools is useful in the hands of Android app developers. These tools can be employed by ROM, Root, Recovery developers and phone technicians to root Android devices, unlock bootloaders, as well as flash new custom files.
What Platform Can It support? Where Can It be used?
The platform-tools is a component of the Android SDK containing what are considered to be the essential tools for Android app development, viz, ADB, Fastboot, and Systrace. These tools are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS computers. So, if you’re an Android developer, these tools are important to you, and you can get the version for your computer OS.
Download links
Please refer Android License regarding the software before download.
How to use Android SDK Platform Tools?
- At first, download the tools in its ZIP format and extract it to your computer. Remember you download the version for your OS.
- Then boot your mobile into fastboot/recovery mode and connect with your PC.
- Using Command Prompt or Terminal navigate to the extracted folder. Use the following ADB and Fastboot commands as per your requirements.
Minimal ADB and Fastboot
For a regular user who uses adb and fastboot for simple usage like a flash, bootloader unlocks, you can use this software. It is a Windows version. So simply download, extract, and install the executable file.
- Download the ADB drivers.
How To Install?
- Simply download and extract the files. Select the adb setup file and run this as Administrator.
- The installation window will open press “Y” twice to install adb system-wide
- Here you can find the adb files in your installed folder.
Note: You can access the command anywhere within your PC. But, it is better to copy the flash and boot files in this folder for the process.
How To Use ADB
There are many things you can do with ADB. The tool supports a lot of commands to trigger most functions. Most of them deal with the recovery mode. I’ll try my best to cover some essential commands.
Note: you must activate “Developer Options” on the device and turn on “USB Debugging” on the Android device before running ADB commands.
ADB commands
|
ADB Command |
Function |
|
adb reboot–bootloader |
It reboots the android device in bootloader mode |
|
adb reboot |
Reboots Android phone in normal mode |
|
adb push |
Move a file from local system to an Android phone’s location |
|
adb devices |
Displays all connected ADB compatible devices |
|
adb pull |
Moves a file from Android to your PC |
|
adb install |
The command installs an app from your system’s .apk file location to your Android device |
|
adb connect |
It uses ADB commands over Wi-Fi Network |
|
adb backup |
Simply back up the Android device |
|
adb shell screencap |
Take a screenshot of the device |
|
adb sideload file |
Move the file to your mobile device and Install it. |
How to use Fastboot
Fastboot installs alongside ADB when you extract the ZIP file. It allows you to run commands on an Android device that is in bootloader mode. There are, however, different ways to use an Android device in bootloader mode. But using Fastboot is the best option. Also, it is possible to unlock an Android device bootloader using Fastboot to install a custom system file.
However, before Fastboot commands can work on an Android device, you must activate “Developer Options” on the device and turn on “USB Debugging.”
Fastboot commands
|
Fastboot Commands |
Functions |
|
fastboot oem lock |
Locked the bootloader of an unlocked device |
|
fastboot devices |
Shows the serial number of a connected Android device |
|
fastboot flash recovery (filename) |
It can flash the file from PC |
|
fastboot boot recovery (filename) |
Boot the data from PC |
|
fastboot oem unlock |
Unlock the bootloader of connected Android device |
What is Systrace?
It is an in-built advanced tool in Android Studio to understand your app performance in your Android mobile. Systrace gives you an overview of background process performance. How much CPU it is accessing to do things like that? It also needs ADB to perform the commands.
Conclusion:
To conclude I must say that the use of these tools is infinite. I try my best to give you some ideas about how to use them but I gave 0.1%. There are many add ons available, and you can use them as per your requirement. You can also disable bloatware apps in Samsung devices. If you face any problem, or you need additional adb commands simply comment us below!
Till then! Keep Smiling 🙂
Also Read: How To Doodle On a Video On Android
