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Android Studio

Android Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) developed by Google for building Android apps.

Android Studio includes several command-line tools, which are used by Abra Desktop to communicate with Android devices.

info

Abra Desktop requires Android Studio 2023 or newer.

Download Android Studio​

Please download Android Studio from the Android Developer website.

Install Android Studio​

Open the downloaded android-studio.dmg file. Next, drag Android Studio to your Applications folder.

Dragging Android Studio to the Applications folderDragging Android Studio to the Applications folder

Setup Android Studio​

Open Android Studio from your Applications folder. It will guide you through the setup.

Android Studio setup window, it shows two options, the standard option is highlightedAndroid Studio setup window, it shows two options, the standard option is highlighted

The Standard setup is sufficient for use with Abra Desktop. Complete the next steps to finish the setup.

Android SDK location​

Once you're done with the setup, a Welcome window should open.

Press the Settings icon in the bottom-left corner.

Android Studio welcome screen with a red box around the settings icon, annotated with the text 'Open settings'.Android Studio welcome screen with a red box around the settings icon, annotated with the text 'Open settings'.

The Settings window should open.

  1. Search for SDK
  2. Open the the Android SDK section.
  3. Copy the location listed in the Android SDK Location field.
Android Studio settings screen with annotations highlighting the steps listed in the paragraph aboveAndroid Studio settings screen with annotations highlighting the steps listed in the paragraph above

The copied location points to the Android SDK, for example: /Users/mike/Library/Android/sdk.

warning

In the next steps, replace <User> with your macOS username.

ADB location​

Abra Desktop uses the the ADB tool to communicate with Android devices.

ADB is located in the subfolder /platform-tools/adb of Android SDK.

Paste the Android SDK location, and append the subfolder.

Example: /Users/<User>/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb

To validate if the adb path is valid, run the following command in the Terminal:

/Users/<User>/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb --version

It should return output similar to:

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version 35.0.2-12147458
Installed as /Users/<User>/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb
Running on Darwin 24.3.0 (arm64)

Update PATH​

Next we should add the adb path to your global PATH, using the following command:

export PATH=$PATH:/Users/<User>/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb

Next, refresh your paths by running:

source ~/.zshrc
tip

You can now add your adb path in the Abra Desktop Settings.