Pairing Android's wireless debugging with a Mac

Wireless debugging is Android's developer connection, adb, carried over your Wi-Fi network instead of a USB cable. You need Android 11 or later, Developer options turned on, and the phone and the Mac on the same network. On the phone, open Developer options > Wireless debugging, turn it on and tap Pair device with pairing code. The phone shows a six digit code, which you give to the Mac once. After that, the two can connect whenever they are on the same network.

There are two ways to do the Mac's half: Google's own adb tool in Terminal, or an app that pairs for you. Both are below, followed by what to try when the phone and the Mac will not pair.

Before you start

• Android 11 or later. Check under Settings > About phone. Older versions only offer adb over Wi-Fi after a USB connection, with adb tcpip 5555.
• Developer options on. Tap the build number seven times. How to turn on USB debugging shows where the build number is on each make. On a Pixel, Developer options then appears under Settings > System.
• The same network. The phone on Wi-Fi, and the Mac on the same Wi-Fi or wired into the same router. Not a guest network: more on that below.

Turn on wireless debugging

Open Developer options and find Wireless debugging. Tap the words rather than the switch, so its own page opens, then turn it on. The phone asks whether to allow wireless debugging on this network. Tick Always allow on this network if it is your own, and tap Allow.

The page now shows the phone's address and port, a list of paired devices, and two ways to pair: Pair device with QR code and Pair device with pairing code. The QR code is for Android Studio and apps that show one. The pairing code works with everything.

If you will switch it on and off often, add the tile: Developer options > Quick settings developer tiles > Wireless debugging.

Pair with adb in Terminal

Install Google's SDK Platform-Tools, which contain adb. With Homebrew it is one line; otherwise download them from Google's Android developer site.

brew install --cask android-platform-tools

On the phone, tap Pair device with pairing code. A dialog shows a six digit code and an address with a port, such as 192.168.1.23:37155. Leave it open. On the Mac, run adb pair with that address and type the code when asked:

adb pair 192.168.1.23:37155

Terminal reports that it paired, and the Mac appears on the phone under Paired devices. That pairing port was only for pairing. To connect, use the address and port shown at the top of the Wireless debugging page, which is a different port:

adb connect 192.168.1.23:41689
adb devices

Recent versions of adb often find a paired phone on the network and connect by themselves, so adb devices may list it before you type adb connect. The connection port can change when wireless debugging is turned off and on again, so read it from the phone each time.

From here adb works as it does over a cable: adb pull /sdcard/DCIM/Camera ~/Desktop/Camera copies the camera folder, adb shell opens a shell. To unpair, tap the Mac under Paired devices and choose Forget.

Pair with SideMount

SideMount mounts a phone as a volume in Finder, over the cable or, once paired, over Wi-Fi. It speaks adb itself, so you do not need platform-tools. Open its panel from the menu bar and choose Connect over Wi-Fi, which shows while no phone is plugged in, or Pair beside Pair a phone over Wi-Fi in its settings. The panel shows a QR code for Pair device with QR code, or, if you choose Use a pairing code instead, it waits for a phone that is showing a code. Tap Pair device with pairing code on the phone, and type the six digits into the panel.

The first time, macOS asks whether the app may find devices on your local network. Allow it, or nothing will appear. You can change your answer in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network.

After that, the phone mounts in Finder whenever it is on the same network with wireless debugging on, and if you plug in the cable as well, the cable takes over. It needs macOS 26 or later; the setup guide covers the rest of the first connection.

Be realistic about speed. In our measurements, a phone mounted over our home Wi-Fi moved about 13 to 18 MB/s, against 270 to 280 MB/s for the same phone on the cable. That is fine for a few documents or photos and slow for a phone's worth of video. Every wireless way from Android to a Mac compares the alternatives.

When pairing fails

The code expired or the dialog closed

The phone only accepts a code while the pairing dialog is open on its screen. If the screen locked, or you switched apps, tap Pair device with pairing code again and use the new code. A mistyped code fails with no explanation, so a fresh code is also the cure for that.

A guest network, or one that keeps devices apart

Many guest networks, and many hotel, school and office networks, use client isolation: each device can reach the internet but not the other devices. Wireless debugging needs the phone and the Mac to reach each other directly, and anything that finds the phone for you relies on the phone announcing itself on the network, which these networks often block. Use your home network, and if pairing still fails there, look in the router's settings for client isolation or AP isolation and make sure it is off for the network you use.

A VPN on the Mac or the phone

A VPN can send local traffic away from your network, so the two never meet. Turn it off while you pair, or allow local network access in its settings, then try again.

Wireless debugging switched itself off

On Android 16 and earlier, wireless debugging often turns itself off when the phone changes network or restarts. Turn it on again, and check the port, which may have changed. On Android 17, with platform-tools 37.0.0 or later on the Mac, Google's ADB Wi-Fi 2.0 has the phone turn it back on by itself on networks you have allowed.

Old adb, or a stuck adb server

Pairing needs a recent adb. Update platform-tools, run adb kill-server, and try again. If discovery is what fails, adb connect with the address and port from the phone works without it.

Questions