A versatile "Swiss Army knife" that lets you communicate with a device. It allows you to install apps, pull/push files, and run shell commands directly on the phone.
| Component | Scope | Requires Android running? | |-----------|-------|----------------------------| | | Low‑level system & hardware | ADB: yes; Fastboot: no | | Build Tools (aapt, zipalign) | APK creation/signing | No | | SDK Tools (emulator, lint) | Development environment | N/A | | NDK | Native code compilation | No | sdk platform tools work
The tools are designed to be backward compatible, meaning the latest version generally works with all older versions of Android. Standalone or Integrated: While they are bundled with Android Studio , they can also be downloaded as a standalone ZIP A versatile "Swiss Army knife" that lets you
The Platform-Tools package contains several utilities, but three stand out as the heavy hitters: Android Debug Bridge (adb): sdk platform tools work