Android tools
Mavster needs the Android SDK with `adb` on your PATH to discover and drive Android emulators and devices. This page covers installing the SDK, getting `adb` on PATH, and verifying everything works.
To test Android apps with Mavster, your Mac needs the Android SDK and the adb command-line tool. Mavster uses adb for everything Android — discovering devices, launching and force-stopping apps, sending navigation keys, and listing connected emulators.
Install the Android SDK
Two common paths:
Option 1 — Android Studio
The easiest option. Download Android Studio from the official Android site, install it, and let it install the SDK on first launch. The SDK lands in ~/Library/Android/sdk by default.
Option 2 — Command-line tools only
If you don't want the full IDE, download the standalone "Command line tools" package from the Android site and unpack it somewhere stable.
Get adb on your PATH
Mavster looks for adb on your PATH. Add the SDK's platform-tools directory to your shell profile:
# ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile
export ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/Library/Android/sdk"
export PATH="$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools"
Reload your shell, then verify:
which adb # should print a path inside platform-tools
adb --version # should print the adb version
Verify Mavster sees your devices
With adb installed and at least one Android emulator running (or a USB device with USB debugging enabled), switch the Preview Connection panel's platform picker to Android and you should see your emulators and devices listed.
If the picker is empty, run adb devices from a terminal as a sanity check. If the terminal command shows your devices but Mavster doesn't, double-check that adb is on the PATH macOS apps see (not just the PATH your terminal sees) — these can differ depending on how you set up your shell.
Real Android devices over USB
For physical Android devices:
- Enable Developer Options on the device (tap the build number 7 times in Settings → About).
- Enable USB Debugging under Developer Options.
- Connect the device with a USB cable.
- The first connection prompts you on the device to trust the computer — accept it.
Run adb devices to confirm the device shows up. Then it'll appear in Mavster's Android picker.
Just testing Android — do I need Xcode too?
No. If you're not testing iOS, you can skip iOS tools entirely. Mavster discovers Android devices through adb and doesn't touch Xcode for the Android path.