adb shell Command Reference

Lists installed packages, optionally with the APK path, uid, version code and installer.

Prints the absolute paths of the APK files that make up an installed package.

Removes a package, or removes it for one Android user only — which is how a preinstalled app is disposed of without root.

Switches a package off for one Android user without removing it — the reversible alternative to uninstalling.

Wipes an app's data — or, on Android 13 and later, only its cache.

Asks the system to drop cached files until the given amount of free space exists.

Installs one APK that is already on the device, which is what `adb install` does under the hood.

Opens an install session so several APKs — a base plus its splits — are installed as one atomic unit.

Starts an activity by component or by intent — the fastest way to test whether a deep link resolves.

Sends a broadcast intent, which is how SystemUI demo mode and other platform receivers are driven from a shell.

Kills every process and service belonging to one app.

The battery service's live state: level, status, health, voltage and temperature.

Free space per partition, a disk write latency check, and a cached per-app breakdown of what is using storage.

Whether the phone is throttling, and every thermal zone the hardware layer reports, in degrees Celsius.

Every sensor the phone has, with its vendor, type, rates and batching — plus a buffer of recent readings.

Which processes are using the most memory, measured as proportional set size.

Everything the package manager knows about one app: version, paths, flags, install source and per-user state.

Which app is in the foreground, and the task and stack structure behind it.

The platform's ring buffer of crashes, ANRs and tombstones — how you read ANR traces without root.

Reads one value out of the phone's settings provider.

Writes a value into the settings provider — the mechanism behind most developer-options tricks.

Types a string into whatever field currently has focus.

Presses a hardware or virtual key — Home, Back, Power, volume, Enter.

Streams raw input events straight from the kernel, or lists what each input device can report.

Reports the display's resolution, or overrides it so the phone pretends to be a different screen.

Reports the display density, or overrides it — which is what actually moves a layout breakpoint.

Takes a screenshot, either to a file on the phone or to standard output as PNG.

Records the screen to an MP4 file on the device.

Reports how much disk space a directory tree occupies.

Reports free and used space per mounted filesystem.

Walks a directory tree and prints what matches — big files, empty folders, leftovers.

Deletes a file or a directory tree on the device.

A one-shot process table: CPU share, memory, state and command line.

Prints the system properties — the phone's own answer to what it is.

Streams the system log: the running commentary of everything happening on the phone.

Runs a command as one app's own uid — the way to read a debug build's private files without root.