Android & WebViews

Tapscope reaches Chrome and debuggable WebViews on Android through adb, the Android Debug Bridge. The device needs USB debugging and has to allow this Mac.

adb missing or not running

Shown in Tapscope adb not found · adb is not running

Tapscope uses adb from the Android platform-tools to find devices. It starts the adb server itself when adb is installed.

Install the platform-tools with Homebrew (first command below) or through Android Studio’s SDK Manager.
Check with adb version.
adb in an unusual place: set its path as devices.adbPath in ~/.tapscope/config.json.
adb stuck: restart its server with the last command below.

brew install --cask android-platform-tools
adb version
adb kill-server && adb start-server

Allow USB debugging

Shown in Tapscope Not authorized

The device sees the Mac but has not allowed it to debug yet.

Turn on developer options: Settings › About phone › tap Build number seven times.
Turn on Settings › System › Developer options › USB debugging.
Unlock the device and confirm “Allow USB debugging?”. Tick “Always allow from this computer”.
No dialog? In Developer options tap Revoke USB debugging authorizations and reconnect the cable.

Device offline

Shown in Tapscope Offline

adb knows the device but has lost the connection to it.

Unplug the cable and plug it in again.
Use a data cable and a port directly on the Mac; some cables only charge.
Run adb reconnect and check the list with adb devices -l.
On Linux, check the udev rules for your device.

adb reconnect
adb devices -l

Nothing to debug

Shown in Tapscope No debuggable browser or WebView

The device is ready, but no browser or app offers a debug connection.

Open Chrome on the device with a page and finish Chrome’s welcome screens.
Keep the browser or app in the foreground. Android freezes apps in the background, and they stop answering.
Your own app: debug builds allow WebView debugging automatically. For other builds, call the line below at startup.
Apps from the Play Store usually turn WebView debugging off; they cannot be inspected.

WebView.setWebContentsDebuggingEnabled(true)

Still stuck?

Run the diagnosis in Terminal. It checks every connection Tapscope needs and prints the next step for each problem.

tapscope doctor

Send us its output and we will help: support@tapscope.ch