Need command line to start web browser using adb

Question

How can I start a browser with the adb shell command and make it open a certain web page?

any app from CLI: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4567904/how-to-start-an-application-using-android-adb-tools — Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com, Nov 07 '17 at 10:55

score 265 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 17 '19 at 16:01

265

Running this command will start a web browser in android:

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d http://www.stackoverflow.com

edited Mar 17 '19 at 16:01

RzR

answered Aug 18 '10 at 13:43

Joakim Lundborg

I am trying to use this to load pre saved pages(on sdcard), but it gives error. – shingaridavesh Jun 19 '15 at 22:19
This was opening a new tab each time I fired it, resulting in a great mess of opened tabs after a while. – Bobbi Bennett Jan 22 '16 at 21:01
actually you need to remove "./" before executing that command. – Irwin Nawrocki Jan 15 '19 at 10:49

score 60 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 15 '13 at 16:14

60

If your url's are symbol heavy you should also quote aggressively

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d 'http://stackoverflow.com/?uid=isme\&debug=true'

edited Oct 15 '13 at 16:14

Daniel Imms

answered Jun 26 '13 at 17:55

ash_jungroup

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 21 '18 at 10:17

If you want to start Chrome specifically

adb shell am start \
-n com.android.chrome/com.google.android.apps.chrome.Main \
-a android.intent.action.VIEW -d 'file:///sdcard/lazer.html'

Also give Chrome access to sdcard via

adb shell pm grant com.android.chrome android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

Swap com.android.chrome with com.chrome.canary if you are using Chrome canary version.

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 21 '16 at 16:30

4

I wanted to start silk on my kindle via adb, without adding a new url. I came up with this:

adb shell am start -n com.amazon.cloud9/.browsing.BrowserActivity

edited Jan 21 '16 at 16:30

Daniel Imms

answered Nov 14 '15 at 15:16

Bobbi Bennett

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 14 '18 at 13:17

You can open the default web browser with keyevents too (it's possible to write KEYCODE_EXPLORER instead of 64)

adb shell input keyevent 64

Enter an url submit: (66 -> KEYCODE_ENTER)

adb shell input text "stackoverflow.com" && adb shell input keyevent 66

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 23 '22 at 18:41

0

I add --user 0 after start and work in jackpal emulator like this:

adb shell am start --user 0 -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d http://www.stackoverflow.com

edited Jan 23 '22 at 18:41

answered Jan 23 '22 at 18:33

6 Answers6