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Remotely control Android smartphone from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS without rooting

Remotely control Android smartphone from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS without rooting

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Marcus the Chariot
·Nov 5, 2021·

3 min read

Requirement

  • The Android device requires at least API 21 (Android 5.0).
  • Make sure you enabled adb debugging on your device(s).
  • On some devices, you also need to enable an additional option to control it using keyboard and mouse.
  • adb be installed using sudo $ apt install android-tools-adb.

Tool

scrcpy

This application provides display and control of Android devices connected on USB (or over TCP/IP). It does not require any root access. It works on GNU/Linux, Windows and macOS.

It focuses on:

  • lightness (native, displays only the device screen)
  • performance (30~60fps)
  • quality (1920×1080 or above)
  • low latency (35~70ms)
  • low startup time (~1 second to display the first image)
  • non-intrusiveness (nothing is left installed on the device)

Install

Ubuntu (20.04):

$ apt install scrcpy

A Snap package is available: scrcpy. Or you can search scrcpy in Ubuntu Software and install it.

Run

This application provides two options to connect your smartphone.
You can choose 1 in 2 ways below.

Plug an Android device, and execute

$ scrcpy

It accepts command-line arguments, listed by:

$ scrcpy --help

Connected over TCP/IP

You must follow requirement on top of this guide to ensure everything will work well.

Step 1: Make sure you turn on Developer mode in your Samsung smartphone.
Step 2: Turn on USB debugging in Developer options.

Step 3: Connect your Android device and adb host computer to a common Wi-Fi network accessible to both. Beware that not all access points are suitable; you might need to use an access point whose firewall is configured properly to support adb.
Step 4: Connect the device to the host computer with a USB cable.
Step 5: Set the target device to listen for a TCP/IP connection on port 5555.

$ adb tcpip 5555
restarting in TCP mode port: 5555

If you got an error:

$ adb tcpip 5555
error: no devices/emulators found

Make sure you followed step 1 and 2 above. Or you can check the solution in Stackoverflow.

Step 6: Disconnect the USB cable from the target device.
Step 7: Find the IP address of the Samsung device. For example, on a device, you can find the IP address at Settings > About phone > Status > IP address.
Step 8: Connect to the device by its IP address.

$ adb connect device_ip_address:5555

Step 9: Confirm that your host computer is connected to the target device.

$ adb devices
List of devices attached
device_ip_address:5555 device

Step 10: Connect Samsung device

$ scrcpy

Now, you are good to go!

Bonus:

You can read more scrcpy here.

 
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