I have a simple android app .apk file create with Expo (react native) using the expo build:android script.
I am trying to run this on a device which is locked down by the provider so their is no access to Expo client. The only interface is via ADB.
I have successfully installed the app using the following command:
adb -s <device_id> install <package-name>.apk
I am then trying to start the app via the following:
adb shell am start -n host.exp.myapp
But I get the following error:
Exception: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Bad component name: host.exp.myapp
When I run adb shell cmd package list packages, I can see the package:host.exp.myapp listed and I am sure it's following naming conventions with lowercase and no special characters.
How can I start my app via ADB?
Use the command adb shell monkey -p com.package.name -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1
It starts the activity as if it was launched using the launcher. Replace com.package.name with desired package name in the command.
If you only know the package name and not the Activity you can use AndroidViewClient/culebra which resolves it.
For example, if you only knows the Chrome package name com.android.chrome you can run
#! /usr/bin/env python3
from com.dtmilano.android.viewclient import ViewClient
device, serialno = ViewClient.connectToDeviceOrExit()
device.startActivity(package='com.android.chrome')
and it is resolved to the main Activity and then started.
If you want to do it from adb without using python you can take a look at the source here.
What I have:
I have application installed in device
I have a Mac system and I am using terminal
I am connected to device via terminal
What I am trying to do:
I am trying to launch the installed application via terminal ( I
don't want to reinstall the app and run )
I need to find the app via package name and run it
What I have tried:
admins-MacBook-Pro:platform-tools devrath$ ./adb shell monkey -p com.cnx.dictionary -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1
Error I am getting:
** No activities found to run, monkey aborted.
To find the package, use adb shell pm list packages. There will more than likely be a lot of packages listed. If you know a part of the package name, you can use grep to limit your results. If you were looking for the Facebook package name, you could use adb shell pm list packages | grep facebook and it would only show results with facebook in it.
From there, you need you find the class to start.
adb shell
dumpsys package | grep -Eo "^[[:space:]]+[0-9a-f]+[[:space:]]+com.packagename/[^[:space:]]+" | grep -oE "[^[:space:]]+$" (make sure you change the "com.packagename" part to the name of your package.
Find the class you want to use from the output list. Most apps will have a class of .SplashActivity, .HomeActivity, or .Main but you will have to find the one for your app
When you have that, use am start -n com.packagename/.Class where your package name replaces com.packagename and the class you chose replaces .Class.
One thing to note. In step 1, we used the command adb shell so we are in the of the android device issuing the commands after. If you are issuing the am start command at the main terminal screen, you will have to add adb shell before am start.
I used the zebra site a while back to get this info initially so i left it here for your reference as well.
I have a problem of an app that open a site every time open the browser.
I found the id of the app with this intent by adb and now I'm wondering if there is a way to find the package name by the app id without root permissions.
For UnRooted devices following works for me:
Set up adb in a PC, connect the device to the PC, launch a shell on the PC and enter:
adb shell "dumpsys package | grep -A1 'userId=UID'"
Replace UID with the ID you're looking for, such as 10102.
Example:
bash-4.2# adb shell "dumpsys package | grep -A1 'userId=10102'"
userId=10102
pkg=Package{46171ce com.android.chrome}
bash-4.2#
The line containing Package{would show the package name of the app in between whitespace and}. You can do adb shell dumpsys package PKG_NAME (PKG_NAME → package name of an app) to know more details about that package/app.
Is there a way to get the launchable activity for a package from using adb? For an unroot phone (i.e. without having the pull the apk from /data/app directory and inspect with appt).
I tried dumpsys, but it does not include information on default launchable activity.
Thanks
You don't need root to pull the apk files from /data/app. Sure, you might not have permissions to list the contents of that directory, but you can find the file locations of APKs with:
adb shell pm list packages -f
Then you can use adb pull:
adb pull <APK path from previous command>
and then aapt to get the information you want:
aapt dump badging <pulledfile.apk>
$ adb shell pm dump PACKAGE_NAME | grep -A 1 MAIN
Since Android 7.0 you can use adb shell cmd package resolve-activity command to get the default activity of an installed app like this:
adb shell "cmd package resolve-activity --brief com.google.android.calculator | tail -n 1"
com.google.android.calculator/com.android.calculator2.Calculator
#!/bin/bash
#file getActivity.sh
package_name=$1
#launch app by package name
adb shell monkey -p ${package_name} -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1;
sleep 1;
#get Activity name
adb shell logcat -d | grep 'START u0' | tail -n 1 | sed 's/.*cmp=\(.*\)} .*/\1/g'
sample:
getActivity.sh com.tencent.mm
com.tencent.mm/.ui.LauncherUI
I didn't find it listed so updating the list.
You need to have the apk installed and running in front on your phone for this solution:
Windows CMD line:
adb shell dumpsys window windows | findstr <any unique string from your pkg Name>
Linux Terminal:
adb shell dumpsys window windows | grep -i <any unique string from your Pkg Name>
OUTPUT for Calculator package would be:
Window #7 Window{39ced4b1 u0 com.android.calculator2/com.android.calculator2.Calculator}:
mOwnerUid=10036 mShowToOwnerOnly=true package=com.android.calculator2 appop=NONE
mToken=AppWindowToken{29a4bed4 token=Token{2f850b1a ActivityRecord{eefe5c5 u0 com.android.calculator2/.Calculator t322}}}
mRootToken=AppWindowToken{29a4bed4 token=Token{2f850b1a ActivityRecord{eefe5c5 u0 com.android.calculator2/.Calculator t322}}}
mAppToken=AppWindowToken{29a4bed4 token=Token{2f850b1a ActivityRecord{eefe5c5 u0 com.android.calculator2/.Calculator t322}}}
WindowStateAnimator{3e160d22 com.android.calculator2/com.android.calculator2.Calculator}:
mSurface=Surface(name=com.android.calculator2/com.android.calculator2.Calculator)
mCurrentFocus=Window{39ced4b1 u0 com.android.calculator2/com.android.calculator2.Calculator}
mFocusedApp=AppWindowToken{29a4bed4 token=Token{2f850b1a ActivityRecord{eefe5c5 u0 com.android.calculator2/.Calculator t322}}}
Main part is, First Line:
Window #7 Window{39ced4b1 u0 com.android.calculator2/com.android.calculator2.Calculator}:
First part of the output is package name:
com.android.calculator2
Second Part of output (which is after /) can be two things, in our case its:
com.android.calculator2.Calculator
<PKg name>.<activity name> =
<com.android.calculator2>.<Calculator>
so .Calculator is our activity
If second part is entirely different from Package name and doesn't seem to contain pkg name which was before / in out output, then entire
second part can be used as main activity.
Here is another way to find out apps package name and launcher activity.
Step1: Start "adb logcat" in command prompt.
Step2: Open the app (either in emulator or real device)
You can also use ddms for logcat logs where just giving search of the app name you will all info but you have to select Info instead of verbose or other options. check this below image.
Launch your app and keep it in foreground.
Run the below command:
adb shell dumpsys window windows | find "mcurrentfocus"
mCurrentFocus doesn't work for me on Android 12 device.
Here is the right step to go:
Connect the device and open the app.
adb shell dumpsys window windows | grep -E mObscuringWindow
mObscuringWindow=Window{bc78a3 u0 com.yds.demo/com.test.activity.AppActivity}
com.test.activity.AppActivity is the activity.
How do I send an intent using Android's ADB tools?
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
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).
Or, you could use this:
adb shell am start -n com.package.name/.ActivityName
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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?
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.
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
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'
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.
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.