ADB Remote

Control any Android TV, Android box or Android device from your iPhone or Android phone, over Wi-Fi. ADB Remote speaks ADB (Android Debug Bridge) directly from the phone. There's no computer, no server and no account.

• Remote: a d-pad, media keys, a trackpad and live typing (any language).
• See and touch the TV screen on your phone.
• Play: send photos and videos from your phone, YouTube videos and links. You can also mirror your whole screen with sound, from an iPhone (built-in AirPlay receiver) or an Android phone.
• Apps: browse, open, stop, uninstall, back up and install apps (.apk, .apks, .xapk, .apkm).
• Files: browse the TV's storage, upload and download files.

iPhone

Android

On the TV

More screenshots are in the User guide.

Features

Devices

• Add a TV by its IP address. The ADB port is found automatically: the last port that worked, then 5555, then a port scan if you ask for one.
• Works with classic network debugging (adb tcpip) and with Android 11+ Wireless debugging, including pairing with a 6-digit code.
• Shows what the device is (model, Android version, memory, storage, screen), whether it is rooted, whether it has Google Play, and which of this app's features work on it.
• Includes a transfer speed test and a per-device connection log that you can share.
• The app reconnects on its own. A connection that stops answering for 10 seconds is replaced.

Control

• Buttons: d-pad, OK (long-press works), Back, Home, Menu, Recents, volume, channels, media keys, power, input, settings, Esc/Tab/Enter/function keys.
• Live typing: what you type appears on the TV as you type, in any language. You can also send a whole piece of text (for example a password) in one go.
• Trackpad:
  • Gestures: tap to click, two fingers to scroll, two-finger tap for Back, hold then move to drag.
  • Uses a virtual mouse where Android allows it. Otherwise the TV app draws a pointer.
• Screen: the TV's screen live on your phone (H.264 through scrcpy). Tap and swipe on it to control the TV. It can go full screen.

Play

• Photos & videos from your phone's library. Swipe through them on the phone and the TV follows.
  • Photos crossfade, and zooming on the phone zooms on the TV too.
  • Videos stream from the phone, with play/pause, ±10 s and a scrubber. On iPhone, HEVC videos are converted for TVs that can't play HEVC.
• YouTube: browse YouTube on the phone and tap Play on TV. Links go to the TV's YouTube app (YouTube, SmartTube or TizenTube).
• Links: paste or share any link (Send to TV in the share sheet on both platforms). YouTube links open in the TV's YouTube app, other links in its browser.
• Mirror:
  • iPhone: the TV becomes an AirPlay receiver. It mirrors the iPhone screen with sound, plays Music over AirPlay, and plays YouTube or Photos videos handed over with AirPlay. Colours are converted correctly on TVs that crush greys.
  • Android phone: the phone's screen and sound go to the TV (H.264 + PCM), and the picture turns when you rotate the phone.

Apps

• Every app with its icon. Tap one to open it on the TV; long-press for more.
• Force stop, uninstall (including built-in apps, for the current user), and save an app's APK (split apps as .apks).
• Install .apk, .apks, .xapk and .apkm files from your phone.

Files

• Browse internal storage, USB drives and SD cards, or the whole file system.
• Upload from the phone, save to the phone, rename, delete, create folders, and open a media file on the TV.

Works with old TVs

• Android 4.4 and newer are supported. On Android 4.x, a small helper replaces the slow input keyevent so the remote stays instant.
• Features that need a newer Android are marked in the device details.

How it works

iPhone app (SwiftUI) ─┐
                      ├─► AdbKit (Swift: ADB, TLS pairing, scrcpy, casting…) ─► TV's adbd over Wi-Fi
Android app (Compose) ┘        (Android: through JNI)                            ├─ scrcpy-server
                                                                                 ├─ helper jar
                                                                                 └─ TV app (viewer, AirPlay)

Both phone apps share one engine, AdbKit, written in Swift. The Android app runs it through the Swift SDK for Android and a small JNI bridge. Anything the TV needs is pushed and started over ADB the first time a feature uses it. See Architecture and Protocols.

Getting started

1. Turn on debugging on the TV.
   • Android TV / Google TV: Settings → Device Preferences → About → press Build 7 times. Then Settings → Device Preferences → Developer options → turn on USB debugging and Network debugging (or Wireless debugging on Android 11+).
   • Some boxes have network ADB on port 5555 already, or a different port such as 5789. The app can scan for it.
   • BlueStacks: Settings → Advanced → Android Debug Bridge.
2. Add the TV in the app with its IP address (Settings → Network on the TV shows it).
3. Allow the connection on the TV the first time ("Always allow from this computer"). With Wireless debugging, use Pair with Code instead.

Your phone and the TV must be on the same network. For help with each tab, see the User guide.

Building

Part	Needs	Command
iOS app	Xcode 26, XcodeGen	cd App && xcodegen && open AdbRemote.xcodeproj, or Tools/build-ipa.sh
Android app	Android SDK + NDK r30, Swift 6.4.1 + Swift SDK for Android	cd AndroidRemote && ./gradlew assembleDebug, or Tools/build-apk.sh
TV app	Android SDK, NDK	AndroidViewer/build.sh
Helper jar	Android SDK	AndroidHelper/build.sh

Built copies of the TV app, helper jar and scrcpy-server are kept in App/Resources/, so the phone apps build without rebuilding them. Step-by-step instructions are in Building.

Security and privacy

• ADB gives full control of the device. Use it on networks you trust, and turn network debugging off when you don't need it.
• The phone keeps its own ADB key (RSA 2048) on the phone. The TV remembers it when you tap "Always allow".
• Everything stays on your local network. There's no analytics, account or cloud.
• Photos, videos and Android mirroring travel unencrypted on your local network, like most casting protocols. AirPlay mirroring is encrypted as the iPhone requires.

Documentation

• User guide: every screen, with screenshots
• Architecture: how the parts fit together
• Protocols: the TV app's ports and message formats, and the Android bridge
• Building: toolchains, scripts, tests and screenshots

Disclaimer

ADB Remote is not affiliated with Google, Apple or any TV maker. "Android", "Android TV", "Google TV" and "YouTube" are trademarks of Google LLC; "AirPlay", "iPhone" and "iOS" are trademarks of Apple Inc. The AirPlay receiver is an independent, interoperable implementation based on the open-source UxPlay project. Use ADB Remote only with devices you own or are allowed to manage.

License

ADB Remote is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0. The TV app includes GPL-3.0 code (the FairPlay part of the AirPlay receiver), and other parts use Apache-2.0, MIT and public-domain code. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.