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Connect an Android device over adb

With adb, Wireway points the device at your Mac in one click, on any network, and shows which app sent each request. It works for a device on a cable and for an emulator. This takes about three minutes.

Wireway doesn't include adb. If you have Android Studio you already have it; otherwise run brew install android-platform-tools.

1. Open the Connect a Device window

Wireway's window with the Connect a Device button in the toolbar marked 1Wireway's window with the Connect a Device button in the toolbar marked 1
  1. Click Connect a Device in the toolbar marked 1. The button in the middle of an empty list does the same.

2. Turn on USB debugging

The Connect a Device window on its Android over adb tab, with the tab and the steps for USB debugging marked 1 and 2The Connect a Device window on its Android over adb tab, with the tab and the steps for USB debugging marked 1 and 2
  1. Choose the Android over adb tab marked 1.
  2. On the device, open Settings, About phone and tap Build number 7 times. Then turn on USB debugging under System, Developer options marked 2. Names vary a little between Android versions and makers. Emulators have it on already.
  3. Plug the device in. It asks to allow your Mac: allow it.

3. Connect it

The Android over adb tab with a device listed and its Connect button marked 1The Android over adb tab with a device listed and its Connect button marked 1
  1. Click Connect on the device's row marked 1. The row then says Connected over adband, under it, that each request says which app sent it.

4. Install Wireway's certificate

The certificate lets Wireway read HTTPS traffic. Install it once per device.

A connected device's row with the Install Certificate menu marked 1A connected device's row with the Install Certificate menu marked 1
  1. Click Install Certificate… marked 1 and choose As a User Certificate…. Wireway copies the certificate to the device's Downloads folder as wireway-ca.crt and opens the device's Security & privacy settings.
  2. On an emulator, In the System Store (Most Apps) is quicker: it installs the certificate for every app and asks nothing on the emulator. A Google Play image can't use it and says so.

On the device

The device's Security and privacy settingsThe device's Security and privacy settings
Settings opens here
Security and privacy scrolled down, with More security and privacy marked 1Security and privacy scrolled down, with More security and privacy marked 1
1. More security & privacy
More security and privacy, scrolled to Encryption and credentials, marked 1More security and privacy, scrolled to Encryption and credentials, marked 1
2. Encryption & credentials
Encryption and credentials, with Install a certificate marked 1Encryption and credentials, with Install a certificate marked 1
3. Install a certificate
The Install a certificate list, with CA certificate marked 1The Install a certificate list, with CA certificate marked 1
4. CA certificate
The warning that your data won't be private, with Install anyway marked 1The warning that your data won't be private, with Install anyway marked 1
5. Install anyway
The file picker's menu, with Downloads marked 1The file picker's menu, with Downloads marked 1
6. Open the menu, then Downloads
The Downloads folder, with wireway-ca.crt marked 1The Downloads folder, with wireway-ca.crt marked 1
7. Tap wireway-ca.crt
User credentials, listing the installed Wireway certificate, marked 1User credentials, listing the installed Wireway certificate, marked 1
8. It shows under User credentials
  1. In Security & privacy, scroll down and open More security & privacy, then Encryption & credentials, then Install a certificate and CA certificate. Names vary a little between Android versions and makers.
  2. Android warns that your data won't be private. Choose Install anyway: this is your own proxy.
  3. In the file picker, open the menu, choose Downloads and tap wireway-ca.crt. Don't tap the small preview icon at the right of the row: it opens a dialog that says the certificate must be installed in Settings.
  4. To check, open User credentials: the Wireway certificate is listed there.

An app trusts a user certificate only if its network security config allows it, which is usually the case in debug builds. Apps that don't are left encrypted, so they keep working.

5. Use an app on the device

Open any app on the device. Its requests appear in Wireway's list within a moment, and the window shows that it has seen traffic. Click Done to close it; the device stays connected.