If you are an Android user, then you may know about ADB and Fastboot drivers. These drivers help you root your device, flash custom recovery, install OTA update packages from outside, temporarily boot into custom recovery and more. ADB Driver helps you to use your device via command or terminal when your device is connected to a PC with USB debugging enabled. They allow us to install apk from PC/Mac to Android devices, delete files, reboot in bootloader and recovery mode, and more. If you have an Android smartphone or tablet and have no idea how to set up and install ADB drivers and Fastboot on Mac, this tutorial is for you.
Everything you should know about ADB for Mac
ADB and Fastboot are the most important tools that you need to bridge between your Android and PC. It has three values:
- The clients: The device you are sending the command to is usually your computer.
- The daemon. Run as background service on your phone and take orders from customers.
- A service: Runs in the background of the client to establish a connection between the two devices.
ADB is a debugging tool that allows app developers to develop apps and troubleshoot their code in a mobile setting. However, the tool is much more than that. It also allows you to access hidden areas of your phone and install updates or custom ROMs. Now let’s see how to install ADB drivers on your Mac.
Explore the outstanding features of this unique tool
ADB Fastboot installer comes with numerous features for its users. So let’s take a look at what are the best features ADB drivers offer you.
- It comes as an easy and quick tool to install ADB drivers.
- Supports any Android devices.
- It automatically detects the Model Number and the Manufacturer’s Name of the device.
- It helps you to refresh your Android device list attached to the computer fast.
- ADB driver is compatible with Windows 7 up to the latest Windows 11 including Windows Vista and Windows XP.
How to setup this smart command tool on your Mac
Getting ADB setup download on your Mac operating system is pretty straightforward. Only you have to download the toolkit and configure the path variables because ADB and Fastboot are part of the Android SDK package. You can also follow our step-by-step instructions to install ADB drivers and Fastboot drivers on your Mac.
You have to also make sure to put your device in USB Debugging mode. To enable Developer Option to do that task. Otherwise, your Mac computer won’t recognize your Android device.
How to install ADB drivers on your Mac computer
Many users think that installing ADB Fastboot on Mac is more complicated than on Windows. But when you get comfortable with it, everything will become easier. There are two ways to download and run ADB on Mac. Installing ADB manually is the easiest method and using the Homebrew method will provide automatic updates.
Simple steps to install this trendy tool manually
Here are the steps on how to run ADB on Mac operating system.
- Download the zip file of ADB on your Mac computer.
- Extract the zip file to an easily accessible location.
- Open terminal.
- Enter the command to navigate to the folder where you extracted the ADB: cd /path/to/extracted/folder/
- For example, this is on my Mac: cd /Users/Doug/Desktop /platform-tools/
- USB to the device on a compatible Mac cable. For USB connection mode, switch to “File Transfer (MTP)” mode. Not all devices need it, but it’s best to keep it in this mode to avoid problems.
- When Terminal is in the same folder as ADB in Mac Tools, you can start the ADB daemon with adb li.
- The message “Enable USB debugging” will seem on your device. Connection is permitted.
- Finally, re-enter step #7. If all went okay, you should now notice your device’s serial number in the macOS terminal.
How to install ADB Mac using Homebrew?
Here we will take a slightly different approach to installing ADB on Mac. We need to install Homebrew on macOS first, then we can easily install Android platform tools. Homebrew is an open-source package manager that can install missing packages. With all that said, let’s start here.
- First, open a terminal on your Mac and run the following command.
- It will install Homebrew on your Mac. During installation, it will ask you for a password. The entire installation process takes about 10 minutes.
- Then install the ADB Mac platform tool from the command below.
- Now connect your Android device to your Mac and run the command ADB device.
- You will be prompted to enable USB debugging on your device. So just open the checkbox and hit “Allow”.
- You should now see your device’s phone number on your Mac. This means ADB has been successfully installed on your Mac.
It’s completely free! You can run any ADB command on your device! Now go ahead and replace your phone with our comprehensive guide! ADB for Mac is ready!
Simple examples of ADB commands for you
To check if ADB is installed, connect your device to your PC/Mac with a USB cable and run the adb command as above. It should show the tool listed in the Command Prompt/Terminal window/PowerShell. If you get different results, we recommend starting over with these steps.
A list of sample commands you can run on the device:
- List of connected devices: adb devices
- kill with adb ADB server: adb kill-server
- Install the application: adb install
- Set up port forwarding: adb forward tcp:6100 tcp:7100
- From device copy files/directories: adb pull
- Copy files/directories to device: adb push < path_to_the_remote_object>
- Copy files/directories to device’remoto4_locto4’name. DB shell: adb shell
Summing Up
Now we have come to the end of this article. Accessing ADB unlocks many functions on your Android device, so if you had trouble installing ADB on your Mac before, I hope these tips are helpful. Here we provide all the instructions on how to install ADB drivers on Mac, you just have to follow the simple step-by-step instructions. Don’t forget to let us know if you encounter any issues while installing this great tool. Happy to download it!
