adb push and pull: copy files to and from an Android phone

In short: adb push copies a file or folder from your computer to an Android phone, and adb pull copies one from the phone to your computer. For example, adb push report.pdf /sdcard/Download/ puts a file in the phone's Download folder, and adb pull /sdcard/DCIM/Camera copies its photos. /sdcard is the phone's shared storage.

adb copies files over the same connection as every other command, so it works by USB or Wi-Fi without any app on the phone, and it handles big folders that a file manager struggles with.

Syntax

adb push [--sync] local/file-or-folder /sdcard/destination/
adb pull [-a] /sdcard/file-or-folder [local/destination]

Option	What it does
--sync	With push: copies only files that are newer on your computer than on the phone
-a	With pull: keeps the files' dates and permissions
Several sources	Both accept more than one file or folder, with the destination last

Where things are on the phone

Folder	What is in it
/sdcard/Download/	Downloads, and a good place for files you push
/sdcard/DCIM/Camera/	Photos and videos from the camera
/sdcard/Pictures/Screenshots/	Screenshots on Pixel and many other phones
/sdcard/DCIM/Screenshots/	Screenshots on Samsung phones
/sdcard/Documents/	Documents saved by apps
/data/	Apps' private data; closed to adb on normal phones

adb shell ls /sdcard/ lists what is there; paths on the phone are case-sensitive.

Examples

# A test file into the Download folder
adb push testdata.json /sdcard/Download/

# Every photo, into a folder called phone-photos, keeping their dates
adb pull -a /sdcard/DCIM/Camera phone-photos

# Several files at once
adb push one.pdf two.pdf /sdcard/Documents/

# A file from your own debuggable app's private folder
adb shell run-as com.example.app cat files/settings.json > settings.json

Photos you push may not appear in the gallery until the phone scans its storage again, for example after a restart.

On many phones at once

bash

for s in $(adb devices | awk 'NR>1 && $2=="device" {print $1}'); do
  adb -s "$s" push testdata.json /sdcard/Download/
done

PowerShell

adb devices | Select-Object -Skip 1 | ForEach-Object {
  $serial, $state = $_ -split '\s+'
  if ($state -eq 'device') { adb -s $serial push testdata.json /sdcard/Download/ }
}

To collect from every phone, pull into a folder per phone, as the ADB command builder writes for you. In BenchFleet, each phone's page has a file browser with drag and drop, on every plan, next to the live screen.

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Common errors and fixes

Error	What it means	Fix
remote object '…' does not exist	The path on the phone is wrong	Check it with adb shell ls; paths are case-sensitive
Permission denied	That place on the phone is protected	Use /sdcard/, or run-as for your own debuggable app
Read-only file system	The destination is part of the system	Push to /sdcard/ instead
No space left on device	The phone is full	Free up storage on the phone
A Windows path with spaces fails	The shell split the path in two	Put the path in quotes

Related

• adb screenshot: capture screenshots and recordings to pull.
• adb shell: list, move and delete files on the phone.
• adb install: install APKs rather than copying them.
• All ADB commands and the ADB command builder.

Questions

How do I copy a file from my computer to an Android phone with adb?

Run adb push with the file and a folder on the phone, for example adb push report.pdf /sdcard/Download/. The file then appears in the phone's Download folder.

How do I copy photos from an Android phone with adb?

Run adb pull /sdcard/DCIM/Camera. adb copies the whole folder into a Camera folder where your terminal is; add a folder name at the end to choose where it goes, and -a to keep the photos' dates.

Where is /sdcard on an Android phone?

It is the phone's shared storage, the same place a file manager calls Internal storage, with folders such as Download, DCIM, Pictures and Documents. On most phones it is also reachable as /storage/emulated/0.

Can adb pull an app's private data?

Not on a normal phone, because each app's data is private. For an app you build yourself as debuggable, adb shell run-as with its package name can read its files; other apps' data needs a rooted test phone.

Can I copy a whole folder?

Yes. adb push and adb pull copy folders with everything in them, and adb push --sync copies only the files that are newer on your computer.

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