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Remote Debug

With Live Device Interaction's remote debug feature, you can connect your local computer to a Fire TV device over the internet. Remote debug creates a connection that makes the remote device behave as if it were directly plugged into your computer, which eliminates the need to physically connect to a device over USB. With remote debug, you can build, test, and debug apps in real-time using your favorite IDE (like Android Studio). You can also run ADB commands and execute automated tests using frameworks like Appium or Maestro from your local machine.

Prerequisites

Before your start, make sure you do the following:

  • If you use Windows, install Git Bash.
  • Install AWS CLI on your local development machine.
  • Install AWS Session Manager plugin.
  • Install and configure Android SDK Platform Tools so that the adb command is added to the PATH environment variable. For details, see Command-line tools in the Android developer documentation.

Access the remote debug feature

First, connect to a device by following the instructions in Connect remotely to devices. On the connected device, switch to the Dashboard tab, scroll down to the Remote Debug card, and follow the on-screen instructions to make sure you meet all prerequisites.

To start a remote debug session

  1. Click Start Session.
  2. Follow the on-screen instructions.
  3. If Appstore Quality Central shows a prompt to trust your ADB fingerprint, click Add Key.

  4. Verify that the device is connected locally by entering adb devices -l at the command prompt.

    You should see a device listed as localhost:XXXXX device product:XXXXX model:XXXXX device:XXXXX transport_id:X.

You can now run ADB commands on the device from your terminal. Other programs that interact with Android devices over ADB, such as Android Studio and Appium, can interact with the remote device. After successfully establishing a remote debug session, you can launch Android Studio and test your app.

Additional guidance

Use the following guidance for working with remote debug sessions.

  • If you see the message adb: device unauthorized or localhost:XXXXX unauthorized transport_id:X when you run adb commands, you can try to resolve this by reconnecting:
  • If you run any commands that cause the device to disconnect (such as adb reboot), your session will disconnect. If you get disconnected, you need to start a new session through Appstore Quality Central.
  • adb reverse commands have no effect and any app or feature that depends on adb reverse might not function.
  • If during a remote session your computer goes to sleep and wakes up, the remote device might still show up when you run adb devices -l. However, you might not be able to run ADB commands if the remote debug session is terminated. In this case, run adb disconnect to disconnect all devices and restart the session from Appstore Quality Central.

Interact with the device locally using scrcpy

You can also interact with a remote device without needing Appstore Quality Central open in a browser tab. Using scrcpy (pronounced "screen copy"), you can interact with your device locally. With the scrcpy tool, you can display and control your device directly from your computer.

To use scrcpy

  1. At the command prompt, run adb devices to find the name of the remote device.

  2. Launch scrcpy using the command scrcpy --serial localhost:50104 --force-adb-forward.

    Replace localhost:50104 with the name and port of the remote device that shows up under adb devices.

  3. For optimal performance of scrcpy, use this command:

     scrcpy \
 --serial *********:50104\               # Specify device serial number
 --force-adb-forward\                    # Force adb forward mode
 --max-size 720\                         # Limit resolution to 720p
 --video-codec=h265\                     # Use HEVC/H.265 codec if available
 --video-bit-rate=2M\                    # Set bitrate to 2 Mbps
 --max-fps=60\                           # Set maximum framerate to 60 FPS
 --always-on-top                         # Keep window on top

Last updated: Aug 04, 2025