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Troubleshooting & FAQs

If you run into issues while using adbt, here are some of the most common solutions.

1. Device shows as "Unauthorized"​

When connecting a device over USB or Wi-Fi for the first time, Android requires you to authorize the host computer.

  • Solution: Unlock your Android device's screen. A prompt will appear asking "Allow USB debugging?". Check "Always allow from this computer" and tap Allow. If adbt does not automatically update the status, unplug the device and plug it back in.

2. "adb command not found" or adbt fails to launch​

adbt relies on having the Android Debug Bridge (adb) installed and accessible in your system's PATH.

  • macOS/Linux: brew install --cask android-platform-tools
  • Windows: Install ADB via Scoop or download the zip from the Android developer portal.

3. Screen mirroring (Scrcpy) doesn't start​

adbt has native support to launch scrcpy with a single keypress. If it fails to launch, you likely do not have scrcpy installed on your host machine.

4. Wireless pairing (Wi-Fi) fails​

Android 11+ supports wireless pairing via a pairing code and IP address.

  • Ensure your host computer and the Android device are connected to the exact same Wi-Fi network.
  • Verify you are entering the correct IP, Port, and Pairing PIN shown in the "Wireless debugging" menu in Developer Options.
  • If it still fails, try restarting the ADB server manually with adb kill-server and adb start-server and try again in adbt.

5. Cannot pull or push files in File Explorer​

Certain directories (like /data/data/) are restricted by android permissions and require root access. adbt runs with shell user privileges (shell), so you can only explore and transfer files from locations accessible to the shell user, such as /sdcard/.

If you have root access and want to browse root directories, you must restart adbd as root (via adb root) before launching adbt.