wADB

wADB (pronounced wad-be) is a tiny macOS menu-bar app that keeps the standard ADB server (127.0.0.1:5037) running so paired Android phones stay available for wireless debugging without keeping Android Studio open.

Pair once by scanning a QR code; ADB's native mDNS support (including ADB Wi-Fi 2.0 on Android 17+ with Platform-Tools 37+) reconnects trusted phones whenever the server runs. Because wADB supervises the shared system-wide ADB server and restarts it if another client stops it, Android Studio, the adb CLI, and all other ADB tools see the same devices.

Requirements

• macOS 14 or later
• Android SDK Platform-Tools (adb); wADB uses your existing installation and does not install or replace it
• Mac and phone on the same local Wi-Fi network (no remote relay)
• Wireless debugging enabled in the phone's Developer options

Getting started

1. Launch wADB. It lives in the menu bar (no Dock icon) and starts supervising ADB immediately.
2. Allow Local Network access when macOS prompts so Bonjour discovery and reconnection work.
3. Choose Pair new device… from the menu, then on your phone open Settings → Developer options → Wireless debugging → Pair device with QR code and scan the code.

The menu lists active wireless ADB devices only (USB devices and emulators remain available to ADB clients as usual).

• Stop ADB / Start ADB toggles supervision and stops or restarts the shared ADB server for the current session (disconnecting all ADB devices across clients while stopped).
• Quit wADB stops supervision while leaving the running ADB server and its active connections intact.

Security and privacy

• Ephemeral pairing secrets: QR credentials are generated with the system CSPRNG, piped to adb pair via stdin only (never argv, environment variables, logs, or disk), and wiped as soon as pairing finishes or the window closes.
• Minimal persisted state: Only non-sensitive pairing hints are saved (last verified endpoint, Bonjour name/address, display name, and transport fingerprint). Connection status always comes live from the ADB server.
• No external services: wADB uses your existing ADB server, keys, and pairings with no helper daemon, companion app, or relay.
• Redacted support logs: About wADB → Share Logs writes a local, reviewable text report with device details, IP addresses, and user paths replaced by placeholders. Nothing is uploaded automatically.

Building from source

Requires Xcode 26 (or a compatible toolchain). project.yml is the XcodeGen source of truth:

xcodegen generate --spec project.yml
xcodebuild test -project wADB.xcodeproj -scheme wADB -configuration Debug
xcodebuild build -project wADB.xcodeproj -scheme wADB -configuration Debug

Local deployment

Build, stop the running app and its track-devices observer, and install to /Applications/wADB.app (backing up the previous bundle in /private/tmp):

./scripts/deploy-local.sh

Local builds use ad-hoc signing by default. To sign with an Apple Developer team:

cp Config/Signing.local.xcconfig.example Config/Signing.local.xcconfig
# or pass the team ID for a one-off / CI build:
WADB_DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=YOURTEAMID ./scripts/deploy-local.sh

Releases

Published builds are signed with Developer ID, notarized, and stapled, so Gatekeeper accepts the DMG without warnings. Pushing a vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH tag on a commit in main runs the Notarized release workflow, which tests, builds, notarizes, and publishes a GitHub Release with the DMG and a .sha256 checksum. Environment setup, secrets, versioning, and the local release script are documented in docs/RELEASING.md.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See NOTICE for copyright and third-party attribution.