Using adb logcat with a real phone (and not the emulator)

when I'm using the Android emulator I can do "adb logcat" to see output messages (log / system.out.println) originated from my code. It also shows the stack trace of exceptions which happen during execution.

But, when I'm using a real phone, "adb logcat" does not do / show anything.

I also tried "adb -d logcat" which also does not display anything.

Is there any way to get it working with the real phone?

Thanks.

UPDATE:

I just tried "adb -s ? logcat" ('?' is the serial number of the device) and also got no results.

I tried another "adb" command to see if anything was working: "adb -s ? bugreport". This printed a lot of stuff. Example: "Memory Info", "CPU Info" and some Java specific things. So it seams that some stuff is working.

12 Answers

1. Enable USB debugging on your device.

2. Connect the device to computer

3. Use these commands:

Get the "device id"

adb devices 

example:

$ adb devices List of devices attached 5856423841563398 device emulator-5554 device 

To specify the device when using logcat

adb -s "device id" logcat 

example:

$ adb -s 5856423841563398 logcat --------- beginning of crash 03-31 15:56:51.174 13547 13547 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main 

Don't forget to check Settings -> Applications -> USB debugging. Then

 $ adb -d logcat 

will show log messages.

1. Get list of devices:

   adb devices

You will get this:

List of devices attached emulator-5554 device 0123456789ABCDEF device 

1. Run log with parameters like this:

   adb -s "0123456789ABCDEF" logcat MyTag:D *:S

where "MyTag" is tag used in Log.d("MyTag", value) or you will get too many text.

This is the best way to use LogCat via command line:

adb logcat -v time > log.txt 

1. Enable USB debugging in your device.
2. Connect your device to computer
3. Open Android Studio
4. Click on View/Tool Windows/Logcat (or Alt+6)
5. Select your device on the top left combo box

you can do "adb -d logcat". This should work.

have you installed ADB drivers for the device?

What does adb devices return?

Emulators are named like emulator-5554 etc. If your device is properly installed you should see it too. The name depends on which manufacturer you are using.

If you don't see your device, the drivers are not installed correctly. Do some searches for "adb install drivers" on Google. Here's a hit that might do it for you:

Try downloading Catlog to your phone

Had the same issue but added a filter in the logcat and only give him a name and set log level to "verbose". You can try that.

I can't see the complete message of some exceptions if the message are to long. Scrolling doesn't function very well.

(Using Eclipse)

Jelmert

You probably need to activate logging on your mobile device too.

In the case of my Huawei device, I need to enter the phone number: ##2846579##

to get into a service menu. From there I could activate logging. Not sure what device you are using, but probably there is some service menu there too.

Once done, reboot and try again with adb -d logcat

Cheers Christian

On the windows command/Linux shell, issue the command below,

adb devices 

if the device is not listed in result, then install "APK installer", which can help install the adb driver in your windows machine. Link is below:

Check the listing again with the command above in the shell/cmd, and if the device is listed then Log Cat will surly work.

After that you can try:

adb -d logcat 

Check the tutorial on YouTube:

Happy Coding :-)

Enabling logcat on the Huawei U8185: