Android device debugging via USB

July 28, 2025 ยท View on GitHub

What

You can get crash logs from your Android device with USB debugging and adb.

Why

Crash logs, aka backtraces, make it sigificantly easier to fix the bug that caused the crash.

How

Further documentation

Official documentation

XDA documentation

Stackoverflow page about adb

Howtogeek page about administrator privileges

Things you will need

  1. Android device, aka phone or tablet
  2. Windows, Linux, or macOS computer
  3. USB cable to connect between the computer and the Android device, likely USB-A to C or USB-C to C
  4. The correct ADB(Android Debug Bridge) for your operating system

Steps

  1. Enabling Developer options on your Android device
  2. Enable USB debugging on your Android device
  3. Connect the USB cable between the computer and Android device
  4. Download correct copy of adb for your operating system, see below
  5. Unzip adb zip
  6. Unlock the Android device

Windows

  1. Open a command prompt with administrator privileges on the computer
  2. cd to directory with adb
  3. Run adb.exe shell

Linux or macOS

  1. Open a terminal window on the computer

  2. cd to directory with adb

  3. Run sudo ./adb shell and enter your password

  4. Allow the debugging when prompted

  5. Type exit and hit enter

Windows

  1. Run adb logcat | findstr AndroidRuntime

Linux or macOS

  1. Run sudo adb logcat | grep AndroidRuntime

  2. Look at the timestamps on the left, and copy the block of lines that have very close timestamps

  3. Paste it into a new Github issue

  4. Create the new Github issue

  5. Disable USB debugging in Developer options on your Android device after you are done

Example of the crash log

02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: Process: me.edgan.redditslide, PID: 25025
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void android.widget.RelativeLayout.setVisibility(int)' on a null object reference
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at me.edgan.redditslide.Activities.MainActivity$AsyncNotificationBadge.onPostExecute(MainActivity.java:5145)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at me.edgan.redditslide.Activities.MainActivity$AsyncNotificationBadge.onPostExecute(MainActivity.java:5071)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.AsyncTask.finish(AsyncTask.java:771)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.AsyncTask.-$$Nest$mfinish(Unknown Source:0)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.AsyncTask$InternalHandler.handleMessage(AsyncTask.java:788)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:109)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8787)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:591)
02-08 17:36:07.739 25025 25025 E AndroidRuntime: 	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:871)

ADB downloads

Windows

Linux

macOS

Instructions from the documentation for enabling Developer options

Device                       Setting

Google Pixel                 Settings > About phone > Build number

Samsung Galaxy S8 and later  Settings > About phone > Software information > Build number

LG G6 and later              Settings > About phone > Software info > Build number

HTC U11 and later            Settings > About > Software information > More > Build number or Settings > System > About phone > Software information > More > Build number

OnePlus 5T and later         Settings > About phone > Build number

Enabling USB debugging on your device

Before you can use the debugger and other tools, you need to enable USB debugging, which allows Android Studio and other SDK tools to recognize your device when connected via USB.

Enable USB debugging in the device system settings under Developer options. You can find this option in one of the following locations, depending on your Android version:

Android 9 (API level 28) and higher: Settings > System > Advanced > Developer Options > USB debugging