Set up adb on Mac OS X

Question

I spent quite sometime figuring how to set up adb on Mac, so I figure writing how to set it up might be useful to some people. adb is the command line tool to install and run android apps on your phone/emulator

Answer 1

Note: this was originally written on Installing ADB on macOS but that question was closed as a duplicate of this one.

Note for zsh users: replace all references to ~/.bash_profile with ~/.zshrc.

Option 1 - Using Homebrew

This is the easiest way and will provide automatic updates.

1. Install homebrew

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
   

2. Install adb

   brew install android-platform-tools
   

   or try a cask install depending on your settings:

   brew install --cask android-platform-tools
   

3. Start using adb

   adb devices
   

Option 2 - Manually (just the platform tools)

This is the easiest way to get a manual installation of ADB and Fastboot.

1. Delete your old installation (optional)

   rm -rf ~/.android-sdk-macosx/
   

2. Navigate to https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools.html and click on the SDK Platform-Tools for Mac link.

3. Go to your Downloads folder

   cd ~/Downloads/
   

4. Unzip the tools you downloaded

   unzip platform-tools-latest*.zip 
   

5. Move them somewhere you won't accidentally delete them

   mkdir ~/.android-sdk-macosx
   mv platform-tools/ ~/.android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools
   

6. Add platform-tools to your path

   echo 'export PATH=$PATH:~/.android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools/' >> ~/.bash_profile
   

7. Refresh your bash profile (or restart your terminal app)

   source ~/.bash_profile
   

8. Start using adb

   adb devices
   

Option 3 - If you already have Android Studio installed

1. Add platform-tools to your path

   echo 'export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/$USER/Library/Android/sdk' >> ~/.bash_profile
   echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools"' >> ~/.bash_profile
   

2. Refresh your bash profile (or restart your terminal app)

   source ~/.bash_profile
   

3. Start using adb

   adb devices
   

Option 4 - MacPorts

1. Install the Android SDK:

   sudo port install android
   

2. Run the SDK manager:

   sh /opt/local/share/java/android-sdk-macosx/tools/android
   

3. Uncheck everything but Android SDK Platform-tools (optional)

4. Install the packages, accepting licenses. Close the SDK Manager.

5. Add platform-tools to your path; in MacPorts, they're in /opt/local/share/java/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools. E.g., for bash:

   echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/local/share/java/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools"' >> ~/.bash_profile
   

6. Refresh your bash profile (or restart your terminal/shell):

   source ~/.bash_profile

7. Start using adb:

   adb devices

Option 5 - Manually (with SDK Manager)

1. Delete your old installation (optional)

   rm -rf ~/.android-sdk-macosx/
   

2. Download the Mac SDK Tools from the Android developer site under "Get just the command line tools". Make sure you save them to your Downloads folder.

3. Go to your Downloads folder

   cd ~/Downloads/
   

4. Unzip the tools you downloaded

   unzip tools_r*-macosx.zip 
   

5. Move them somewhere you won't accidentally delete them

   mkdir ~/.android-sdk-macosx
   mv tools/ ~/.android-sdk-macosx/tools
   

6. Run the SDK Manager

   sh ~/.android-sdk-macosx/tools/android
   

7. Uncheck everything but Android SDK Platform-tools (optional)

   

8. Click Install Packages, accept licenses, click Install. Close the SDK Manager window.

   

9. Add platform-tools to your path

   echo 'export PATH="$PATH:~/.android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools/"' >> ~/.bash_profile
   

10. Refresh your bash profile (or restart your terminal app)

    source ~/.bash_profile
    

11. Start using adb

    adb devices