Can’t install apps on your Android because the screen stopped working or another reason? Don’t worry, all is not lost. You can still install the apps you need, though you’ll have to follow a series of steps you’re probably not used to. Next, we explain how to install an APK on Android from your PC via ADB. The only thing you will need is a computer and a USB cable to connect your cell phone.
In case you don’t know her, ADB is a command-line tool that allows communication between a computer and an Android devicegiving you full control over the device. The classic method for installing apps on Android is to move the APK file to the device and then install it manually. With ADB you don’t need to move the APK to your device, just connect to your device and point ADB to the file to install it.
Steps to install APK on Android from PC via ADB
Before starting we leave you this guide on how to use ADB from any platform. But to make things easier for you, here’s a summary of how to connect your Android to ADB from scratch:
Connect your Android to ADB
- On your computer, open the Windows PowerShell program (find it by pressing the Windows+S key combination).
- Enter the command in PowerShell iwr -useb Obtain.scoop.sh | Nothing and press Enter. If you receive an error, you will need to enter it first Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser and try again.
- After the previous step is successfully completed, enter scoop install adb and press Enter.
- On your Android device, enable USB debugging.
- Connect your Android to PC via USB cable. You will receive a warning that you will have to accept.
- In PowerShell, write adb. devices and press Enter. You will get an emerging advantage that you will have to accept.
- If an alphanumeric code representing the connected Android device appears under the “List of connected devices” messageup to this point you will have done everything correctly. If not, repeat the steps to make sure you haven’t done anything wrong. By the way, if your device appears as “unauthorized”, follow this tutorial on how to fix ADB device unauthorized error.
Install an APK on Android from your PC
Now that you have your Android connected to ADB, you can install applications from your PC as follows:
- Go to the folder where the APK you want to install is located (if it’s not in a folder, create it and place it).
- Right-click on an empty space in the folder and select Open in terminal (You may need to click “Show More Options” first.)
- Introduce adb installs filename.apk and press Enter. Make sure to change “filename” to the actual name of the APK you want to install.
- You will see the message «Running the installation in streaming» indicates that the application is being installed. After the installation is complete, you will see the word «Success«.
That’s all! Now you can search for the application that has been installed on your mobile phone. If you want to take advantage of the fact that you already have your phone connected to ADB to do other things from your PC, look at this list with the 10 most useful ADB commands you should know.
