Setting up a Device for Development
With an Android-powered device, you can develop and debug your Android applications just as you would on the emulator. Before you can start, there are just a few things to do:
Verify that your application is "debuggable" in your manifest or build.gradle file.
In the build file, make sure the debuggable property in the debug build type is set to true. The build type property overrides the manifest setting.
android {
buildTypes {
debug {
debuggable true
}
In the AndroidManifest.xml file, add android:debuggable="true" to the <application> element.
Note: If you manually enable debugging in the manifest file, be sure to disable it in your release build (your published application should usually not be debuggable).
Enable USB debugging on your device by going to Settings > Developer options.
Note: On Android 4.2 and newer, Developer options is hidden by default. To make it available, go to Settings > About phone and tap Build number seven times. Return to the previous screen to find Developer options.
Set up your system to detect your device.
If you're developing on Windows, you need to install a USB driver for adb. For an installation guide and links to OEM drivers, see the OEM USB Drivers document.
If you're developing on Mac OS X, it just works. Skip this step.
If you're developing on Ubuntu Linux, you need to add a udev rules file that contains a USB configuration for each type of device you want to use for development. In the rules file, each device manufacturer is identified by a unique vendor ID, as specified by the ATTR{idVendor} property. For a list of vendor IDs, see USB Vendor IDs, below. To set up device detection on Ubuntu Linux:
Log in as root and create this file: /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules.
Use this format to add each vendor to the file:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0bb4", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
In this example, the vendor ID is for HTC. The MODE assignment specifies read/write permissions, and GROUP defines which Unix group owns the device node.
Note: The rule syntax may vary slightly depending on your environment. Consult the udev documentation for your system as needed. For an overview of rule syntax, see this guide to writing udev rules.
Now execute:
chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
Note: When you connect a device running Android 4.2.2 or higher to your computer, the system shows a dialog asking whether to accept an RSA key that allows debugging through this computer. This security mechanism protects user devices because it ensures that USB debugging and other adb commands cannot be executed unless you're able to unlock the device and acknowledge the dialog. This requires that you have adb version 1.0.31 (available with SDK Platform-tools r16.0.1 and higher) in order to debug on a device running Android 4.2.2 or higher.
When plugged in over USB, you can verify that your device is connected by executing adb devices from your SDK platform-tools/ directory. If connected, you'll see the device name listed as a "device."
If using Android Studio, run or debug your application as usual. You will be presented with a Device Chooser dialog that lists the available emulator(s) and connected device(s). Select the device upon which you want to install and run the application.
If using the Android Debug Bridge (adb), you can issue commands with the -d flag to target your connected device.