[adb] [Wireless debugging] [Wi-Fi] Is there an updated XDA tutorial yet on setting up adb COMPLETELY wirelessly as of Android 11+ (no USB cable!)?

[GalaxyA325G]

Is there an updated XDA tutorial yet on setting up adb COMPLETELY wirelessly as of Android 11?

Why do I ask?

• Using adb is a critical developer/hacking/user tool
• As of Android 11, adb has been fundamentally changed for Wi-Fi
• As of Android 12, adb was further improved for Wi-Fi
• The existing XDA Developers' tutorial doesn't contain that info
• I figured it out on my own (see below)...
  • (Which meant a LOT of new questions popped up that had to be solved that could have been answered in a tutorial)

Unfortunately, almost everything out there that I can find about adb is (wrong / inaccurate / incomplete [choose one]) in terms of how to set up a wi-fi connection as of Android 11 & 12.

• The problem is there are important questions to be solved that are MISSING from that old tutorial
  • (These problems revolve around connection completely from the PC side only)

• Where I would think EVERYONE would have the SAME questions as I do about the new setup
  • (And for which an updated XDA Developers' adb tutorial would be very useful!)

Mostly these new Android 11+ Developer options Wireless debugging features eliminate the USB cable.

But that then instantly brings up the non-intuitively fundamental question of ESTABLISHING the connection solely from the PC...

(which - let's never forget - is how the older, well documented USB-cable-first-then-Wi-FI adb connection had always been done)​

Hence my question of:
Is there an updated XDA tutorial yet on setting up adb COMPLETELY wirelessly as of Android 11+ & 12+?

DETAILS:
Given how important adb is to Android software development and hacking, I searched for an XDA Developers writeup on how the newly added Android 11+ Developer options Wireless debugging works and which incorporates a few of the even more newly added Android 12+ Developer options Wireless debugging tiles (which are CRITICAL but it's not obvious to those who haven't done it why those new Android 12 tiles are critical until you do it every day all day!) & Android 12's separate ability to randomize the phone's MAC address for every Wi-Fi connection for added privacy (not just for every Wi-Fi SSID as Android 11 did it) which has implications for reserving IP addresses (sometimes erroneously referred to as "static IP addresses" in the router and on the phone) for those daily random-port connections using adb over Wi-Fi only.

I figured it all out, of course, but that XDA Developers writeup didn't help because it contained outdated information.

On the phone:

1. Enable Wi-Fi & connect to an SSID on your home LAN (required for the new tile to work, but duh)
2. Enable Developer options:Wireless debugging (Android 11+)
3. Enable the Developer options:Wireless debugging Tile (Android 12+)
4. Enable random MAC address per SSID (Android 11) or per connection (Android 12+)
5. Enable (so-called) static IP address
6. Physically observerandom Wireless debugging port assignment (&/or random port + random PIN)
   • Note all the questions are related to the fact everyone wants to eliminate that last step above!

On the PC:

1. Simply assure yourself that the phone is on the LAN (e.g., ping 192.168.0.2) (duh)
   • Remember - it's using a RANDOM MAC address so the router has to be configured for that
2. Then connect from the PC adb to the phone completely over Wi-Fi (encrypted or not)
   • Remember - there's no initial establishment via USB - which means you need to know random ports!
3. adb connect 192.168.0.2:12345 (or)adb pair 192.168.0.2:12345 123456
   • Remember - everyone's goal is to obtain those random ports 100% from the PC side of things
   • You may have to accept an encryption dialog on your phone if this is the first time using that PC

At this point, adb over Wi-Fi works the same as adb has always worked (over USB first, then over Wi-Fi).

• Until, of course, Android randomly resets the port assignment - which it does frequently!
• Then you're back to having to look at the phone for the random port assignment

Notice that most of the issues people are having (see reference list below) are related to the fact that the random port assignement, as far as we know, can ONLY be obtained from a visual inspection of the Android phone - but also notice that nobody used to need to do that in the olden days (when we connected via USB cable first!).

My observation is nobody wants to do that visual inspection of the phone every time, all day, every day, whenever Android re-randomizes the MAC address (which, for me, happens frequently but my phone is set up specifically for Wi-FI privacy).

In summary, this thread asks if there is an XDA Developers' writeup for connecting adb on the PC completely wirelessly to Android 11 and Android 12 and up.

The REASON I believe that XDA Developers' updated adb tutorial is needed by hackers/developers/users is:
a. The way adb works over Wi-Fi is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT as of Android 11 (this is why finding an updated tutorial is needed!)
b. I had to figure all this out on my own, so that means everyone else does too (unless I missed the XDA Developers' tutorial), and,
c. There are still a ton of open unanswered questions that everyone also has.

REFERENCES: (in no specific order, these are attempts to make it work the way everyone wants it to work!)

• (PSA) Using the new Android 12 TILE for 'Developer options' 'Wireless debugging' to establish adb connection over Wi-Fi without USB
• What's the difference between Windows/Android adb "connect" versus adb "pair" when mirroring Android 12 over Wi-Fi onto a Windows PC?
• Android 12 Developer options adb "Wireless debugging" option keeps turning off
• [adb,scrcpy,vysor] What ports does Android 12 randomly set when Wi-Fi connecting via Wireless debugging adb "pair" or "connect" commands?
• [adb] What is the adb syntax to connect wirelessly to Android by unique serial number (instead of by Wi-Fi LAN IP address & random port assignment)?

Note that none of those threads would be needed if we could have found a comprehensive tutorial that was updated to Android 11 and 12 new connect-adb-over-Wi-Fi-without-USB functionality that answers those basic obvious questions to ask. (See illustrative screenshots below).

Is an updated XDA Developers' writeup extant for connecting adb on the PC completely wirelessly to Android?

 

[CFKod]

I simply use ladb - it's an app that makes the whole process a breeze

See a big xda write up about it here ..

How to debloat your phone (and more) without connecting to a PC

LADB is an app that lets you run ADB shell commands from your phone, no root and no PC needed! Use it to debloat your phone and more!

www.xda-developers.com

 

[GalaxyA325G]

I simply use ladb

Thanks for that advice to use Local ADB which "leverages Android’s built-in support for ADB over WiFi to provide a GUI for sending shell commands straight from the Android device."

The great news is that was the first XDA Developers' tutorial that I've seen that showed cognizance of the new Android 11 features of setting up adb completely wirelessly (without need for USB first).
* GitHub: LADB (A local ADB shell for Android!)

The bad news is that, at least upon initial inspection, ladb doesn't do anything you can't do inside of Termux as far as I can tell (is that correct though - maybe the ladb apk can do more privileged actions?).

Spoiler: Example of doing in Termux what would often be done in adb

1. Install F-droid <https://f-droid.org/>
<https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk>
2. Install F-Droid Termux <https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.termux/>
<https://f-droid.org/repo/com.termux_117.apk>
3. Add F-Droid Termux Widget <https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.termux.widget/>
<https://f-droid.org/repo/com.termux.widget_12.apk>
4. Run the F-Droid Termux & create an alias we'll name "rad" for reset ad id.
$ rad
(This should report: No command rad found)
$ alias rad 'am start -n com.google.android.gms/.ads.settings.AdsSettingsActivity'
$ rad
(this should pop up the "Reset Advertising ID" Activity on your phone
(manually close that Activity for now - we can programmatically close it later)
$ cat ~/.bashrc
cat /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.bashrc
No such file or directory
$ alias > ~/.bashrc
$ cat !$
alias rad='am start -n com.google.android.gms/.ads.settings.AdsSettingsActivity'
$ unalias rad
$ rad
(This should report: No command rad found)
$ source ~/.bashrc
$ rad
(this should pop up the "Reset Advertising ID" Activity on your phone
(manually close that Activity for now - we can programatically close it later)
5. Run the F-Droid Termux and create two directories for the shortcut widget
$ mkdir -p $HOME/.shortcuts (we will put our shell script here)
$ mkdir -p $HOME/.shortcuts/tasks (we didn't use this directory yet)
6. Create a shell script to open up the reset ad id Activity.
$ cd $HOME/.shortcuts
$ nano ./rad.sh
Edit the result to look like this:
#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash
am start -n com.google.android.gms/.ads.settings.AdsSettingsActivity
$ chmod +x ./rad.sh
$ ./rad.sh
(nothing will happen)
7. Modify termux to be able to execute user shell scripts on Android.
$ pkg install termux-exec
8. Test your shell script.
$ ./rad.sh
(this should pop up the "Reset Advertising ID" Activity on your phone
(manually close that Activity for now - we can programmatically close it later)
9. Add the Termux Widget to your homescreen.
Long press your Android homescreen.
Select "Widgets" & then "Termux:Widget" & place it on your Android homescreen.
It will ask: Create widget and allow access? to which you press "Yes"
Then press the "rad.sh" entry showing up in that Termux Widget.
"Termux requires "Display over other apps" permission
to start terminal sessions from background on Android >=10."
"Grants it from Settings -> Apps -> Termux -> Advanced"
10. Grant Termux permission to display over other apps:
Android11:Settings > Apps > Your apps > Termux > Appear on top = (change off to on)
11. Now press the Termux Widget entry named "rad.sh"
(this should pop up the "Reset Advertising ID" Activity on your phone
(manually close that Activity for now - we can programmatically close it later)
12. Reboot the phone & ensure everything is persistent.
Tap the new homescreen icon after rebooting
& the "reset ad id" Activity should pop up.

But worse, the LocalADB instructions clearly say to do the same manual (aurgh!) steps we've been doing all along.

That is, even with LADB, they're still NOT obtaining the random port address programatically; they're getting it manually - just like I've been doing all along without LADB.

So ladb doesn't change anything... as far as I can tell (but maybe I'm wrong?).

"Copy the 6 digit “Wi-Fi pairing code” and paste it into the “pairing code” box in LADB. Copy the 5 digit port number from the IP address (the 5 numbers after the colon) and paste it into the “Port” box in LADB."

If I were to "guess" wildly - then that means what everyone wants is perhaps impossible to accomplish; but I'm still hoping that's not the case - but - the point is to find an updated XDA Developers' tutorial that shows an awareness of the stated problem set.

EDIT: I have an idea. I installed LADB on Android, and now I'm trying to see if I can query that LADB from the PC using adb commands where the goal is maybe the PC adb can query the Android ladb to figure out what the current random port assignment is???

 

[CFKod]

So ladb doesn't change anything... as far as I can tell (but maybe I'm wrong?).


If I were to "guess" wildly - then that means what everyone wants is perhaps impossible to accomplish; but I'm still hoping that's not the case - but - the point is to find an updated XDA Developers' tutorial that shows an awareness of the stated problem set.

EDIT: I have an idea. I installed LADB on Android, and now I'm trying to see if I can query that LADB from the PC using adb commands where the goal is maybe the PC adb can query the Android ladb to figure out what the current random port assignment is???

Yes .. everything you have said is correct
I wouldn't say it has any special privileges. It just guides you through the connection process.
You end up with a blank canvas in terminal - just as you would using termux

Not sure what the app costs, I purchased pre release so cost barely a thing

either way , it cuts out some of the faff and i'd certainly recommend for a less tech savvy person...
Then again.. why wouldn't anyone with no clue, use adb?

If I can assist in any way. Feel free to give me a shout on telegram

 

[GalaxyA325G]

Yes .. everything you have said is correct

I must again thank you for letting me know about local adb.
I installed ladb the instant you informed me about it.
Yesterday and today I started to test it out.

It just guides you through the connection process.

I'm hoping maybe this ladb running on the Android device "might" give it something special that the PC doesn't have in terms of access to the information of the random port assignment on Android.

There are multiple levels of this problem set, the top level being the almost complete lack of XDA Developers' tutorials that have any cognizance of what's new in Android 11 and up with respect to adb wireless connections - where - again - I thank you for finding the one and only XDA Developers' tutorial that shows that awareness.

However, the more important level of this problem set is to find a way to connect adb wirelessly to Android WITHOUT manually grepping the random port with our eyeballs.

You end up with a blank canvas in terminal - just as you would using termux

It may very well be that the Android developers made that impossible (e.g., for security reasons); but in the absence of any information or tutorial stating that as a fact, I'm not going to assume it's impossible (yet).

AFAICT, the way to solve the problem is to find a way to either:
a. Keep the port assignment static, or,
b. Set the port to a specific assignment (as we did with USB), or,
c. Determine the random port assignment programatically

It "may" be that local adb can help in that latter method... dunno yet... but I didn't even know ladb existed until you mentioned it so I'm starting from scratch without a tutorial (for this part of the problem set).

I wouldn't say it has any special privileges.

Actually, after looking it up since yesterday, I think local adb DOES have more privileges than does Termux; so I was wrong in that assumption.

The ladb developer, @tytydraco said so himself on Dec 18, 2020 when he announced the existence of the ladb APK on XDA Developers.

for those of you who have used or encountered ADB in the past, you know that you usually need a PC to shell into your phone. While yes, apps such as Termux exist, they don't have elevated privileges as ADB does.

So we can safely assume ladb has "elevated privileges" which Termux doesn't have (which is a good thing as we may need them!).

Then again.. why wouldn't anyone with no clue, use adb?

Well.... just as "mock location" GPS spoofing is a "Developer option" that has gone mainstream, I suspect we're at an inflection point where with screen mirroring of scrcpy and vysor, that adb usb/wireless debugging has gone mainstream too!

In summary, here's the status so far (which may change over time)...
a. Unfortunately, nobody knows of an updated XDA adb tutorial
b. But there is an updated XDA ladb tutorial
c. But even that ladb tutorial REQUIRES an eyeball grep of the random port assignment (aurgh!)

Note with the brand new Android 12 tile that it's not in the least difficult to do that eyeball grep of the current random port assignment (although you have to get up from your computer to find the phone in order to do so) - but the whole point of computers is they are supposed to do that stuff for you (are they not?).

While it may be designed that way by Google, I'm hoping I can figure out a programatic way to obtain that random port assignment from the PC, where the suggestion of perhaps implementing ladb as a middleman "might" solve that problem (if I can figure out the method).

Thanks for your help and advice, as everyone has the same adb random port assignment problem who wants to mirror their phone onto the PC completely wirelessly - and for which there is no known XDA tutorial to help them (yet).

BTW, I've noticed only recently since I started testing out ladb that the serial numbers are different where I wonder if anyone can explain why there is both a long and a short serial number when using adb completely wirelessly.

Note the question matters because "maybe" we can omit the random port if we can connect via the static serial numbers...