scan2adb

Pair and connect an Android 11+ phone to adb over Wi-Fi by scanning a QR code in your terminal. No USB cable, and no typing pairing codes or ports.

It uses the same QR pairing flow as Android Studio, as a single script.

Supported OS

OS	Supported
macOS	✅
Linux	✅
Windows	✅

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• qrcode Python module
• adb from Android platform-tools 31 or newer (check with adb --version)
• Android 11+ phone on the same Wi-Fi network as your computer

Installation

With pip

pip3 install scan2adb

This installs qrcode too and adds a scan2adb command. Run it as scan2adb instead of python3 scan2adb.py in the steps below. You still need adb (see below).

From source

git clone https://gitlab.com/c09yc47/scan2adb.git
cd scan2adb
pip3 install qrcode

Then install adb:

OS	Command
macOS	brew install android-platform-tools
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/Kali)	sudo apt install adb
Windows	winget install Google.PlatformTools

You can also download adb for any OS from the official platform-tools page. If your distro's adb is older than 31, use that download instead.

On Debian, Ubuntu and Kali, pip3 install may refuse with externally-managed-environment. In that case, run sudo apt install python3-qrcode instead.

Usage

1. Run the script:

   OS	Command
   macOS / Linux	python3 scan2adb.py
   Windows	python scan2adb.py

2. On the phone, open Settings → Developer options → Wireless debugging → Pair device with QR code.

3. Scan the QR code shown in the terminal.

scan2adb pairs the phone, connects to it, and lists it with adb devices -l. After that, you can use adb as usual.

By default it waits 120 seconds for the scan. To change that, set TIMEOUT in seconds:

# macOS / Linux
TIMEOUT=60 python3 scan2adb.py

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:TIMEOUT=60; python scan2adb.py

If the phone can't read the QR code in the terminal, add -b (or --browser) to also open it as a large image in your default browser:

python3 scan2adb.py -b

If the scan isn't picked up, scan2adb offers to restart the adb server 2 seconds after showing the QR. Type y or yes and press Enter to restart it and get a fresh QR code. Anything else is ignored and it keeps waiting.

To list the options, run python3 scan2adb.py --help.

Run from anywhere (optional)

Set up a scan2adb command that works from any folder, with no .py. It points to scan2adb.py in your cloned folder (no copy is made), so git pull updates it automatically. Run the setup once, from inside the cloned scan2adb folder. If you later move or rename that folder, run it again.

macOS and Linux (Terminal)

Prerequisites: Python 3 (python3 --version), with qrcode installed for that same Python (python3 -m pip install qrcode, or sudo apt install python3-qrcode on Debian/Ubuntu/Kali), and adb. The setup asks for your password because it writes to /usr/local/bin.

if [ -d /usr/local/bin ]; then chmod +x scan2adb.py && sudo ln -sf "$PWD/scan2adb.py" /usr/local/bin/scan2adb; else echo "Error: /usr/local/bin not found" >&2; fi

This creates a symlink /usr/local/bin/scan2adb that points to the script. /usr/local/bin is already on the default PATH on macOS and Linux, so no shell configuration changes are needed. If /usr/local/bin doesn't exist, the command changes nothing and prints Error: /usr/local/bin not found.

The script runs with the first python3 on your PATH, through its #!/usr/bin/env python3 line.

Windows (PowerShell and CMD)

Prerequisites: Python 3 from python.org (includes the py launcher) or with "Add python.exe to PATH" checked during install. Also qrcode (py -3 -m pip install qrcode) and adb.

Run this in PowerShell:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Force
$py = if (Get-Command py -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) { 'py -3' } else { 'python' }; $script = (Resolve-Path .\scan2adb.py -ErrorAction Stop).Path; Set-Content -Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\WindowsApps\scan2adb.cmd" -Value "@$py `"$script`" %*" -Encoding oem

This creates a one-line scan2adb.cmd launcher in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WindowsApps. That folder is on your user PATH by default in Windows 10 and 11, so no PATH change is needed. The launcher runs the script with py -3 (or python if py isn't installed), with the full path quoted. It works in both PowerShell and CMD and survives restarts.

The first line relaxes PowerShell's script execution policy for the current window only. It doesn't change your system settings and resets when you close the window.

Verify

Open a new terminal, go to any other folder, and run:

OS	Check where it's installed	Run it
macOS / Linux	which scan2adb	scan2adb
Windows (PowerShell)	Get-Command scan2adb	scan2adb
Windows (CMD)	where scan2adb	scan2adb

Options work as before, for example scan2adb -b.

To remove it, run sudo rm /usr/local/bin/scan2adb on macOS or Linux, or delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\scan2adb.cmd on Windows.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
command not found: scan2adb (macOS / Linux)	Open a new terminal. Check that /usr/local/bin appears in echo $PATH. If it doesn't, add export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH" to ~/.zshrc (zsh) or ~/.bashrc (bash).
'scan2adb' is not recognized (Windows)	Open a new terminal. Check that %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WindowsApps is listed in $env:PATH. If it's missing, add it under Settings → System → About → Advanced system settings → Environment Variables → Path (user variables).
Permission denied when running scan2adb (macOS / Linux)	Run chmod +x scan2adb.py in the cloned folder.
Permission denied / Operation not permitted during setup	Keep sudo in the command, since /usr/local/bin is owned by root.
Error: /usr/local/bin not found during setup	The folder doesn't exist on this system (this can happen on a fresh Apple Silicon Mac). Create it once with sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin, then run the setup command again.
'qrcode' module not found	qrcode is installed for a different Python. Install it for the one the command uses: python3 -m pip install qrcode (macOS / Linux) or py -3 -m pip install qrcode (Windows).
pip install fails with externally-managed-environment (macOS, Homebrew Python)	Run python3 -m pip install --user --break-system-packages qrcode.
Windows opens the Microsoft Store, or says Python was not found	That's the Store's placeholder python. Install Python from python.org, or turn off the python.exe entries under Settings → Apps → Advanced app settings → App execution aliases. Then run the setup command again.
No such file or directory / can't open file	The cloned folder was moved or renamed. Run the setup command again from its new location.
Terminate batch job (Y/N)? after Ctrl+C (CMD)	This is normal for .cmd launchers. Press Y.

How it works

1. Generates a one-time service name and password and shows them as a QR code (WIFI:T:ADB;S:<name>;P:<password>;;).
2. After the scan, the phone advertises a _adb-tls-pairing._tcp mDNS service under that name.
3. scan2adb finds that service and runs adb pair <ip:port> <password>.
4. It then finds the phone's _adb-tls-connect._tcp service. If adb hasn't already connected on its own, scan2adb runs adb connect.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
Timed out waiting for scan	Phone and computer are on the same Wi-Fi network, the router doesn't use client/AP isolation, and mDNS isn't blocked by a firewall or VPN. Answering y to the restart question can also help.
Phone camera doesn't recognize the QR code	Make the terminal font bigger (Cmd/Ctrl + +) so the QR code is larger, or run with -b. Turning off background transparency in the terminal's settings can also help.
'adb' not found	Install adb (see Installation) and make sure it's on your PATH.
'qrcode' module not found	Run pip3 install qrcode.
Paired but connect service not found	Run adb connect <phone-ip>:<port> using the IP address and port shown on the phone's Wireless debugging screen.
Pairing failed	Close the pairing dialog on the phone and run scan2adb again. Each run makes a new QR code.

Turn off Wireless debugging on the phone when you're done.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Author

Akshay Ravi — linkedin.com/in/c09yc47