5 android helper apps for development
Android development can be a frustrating endeavor. There is a number of obstacles and difficulties but a large community always finds a way around them at least. Here are 5 apps every developer should have on their work belt.
Superuser
Android OS is basically Linux system and that means good old users and privileges system form the UNIX world. Every installed app will be a Linux user with the same named group created as well. These user have limited access to files and system which is very important for all round security so one app can not access files of another. When developing however, you will have to open a file or a db somewhere from time to time. That means providing yourself with a root access but that isn’t available on android by default. Rooting is out of scope here but once done you’ll need a Superuser app. With this app you can grant or revoke root privileges to other apps that require it.
ADB wireless
This is a great app giving you a wireless “android debug bridge”. ADB is a command line tool very useful during development and with it you can deploy apps to a device, debug it and generally communicate with the device. Usually this is done via USB cable but that can be cumbersome at times. Recently I was developing a camera app and one of the phones mounted SD card to a PC when ever I plugged it to USB to use ADB. So the card wasn’t available for the app anymore and I couldn’t debug it. This app came to my rescue!
Busybox
I’ve mentioned already that android is a Linux but somewhat limited Linux lacking various useful tools available on desktop. You can shell to it via ADB but you’ll probably find your favorite command missing. Busybox app is a toolkit independent from the android itself and it’s customized for embedded systems. Very useful.
droid VNC server
As the name implies this is an app by which you can control your phone via VNC client. I found a interesting way to use this app when I want to demo an app to a client. I share a PC screen with the client and I have an open VNC client onscreen to view the phones screen.
Market enabler
If you are not from the US you will discover that not all apps are available to you on Google Play Store (Android Market). Reasons for this are various, sometimes real but sometimes imaginary. Anyhow this is done via MNC/MCC codes (Mobile Network Code i Mobile Country Code) and those are unique codes for amy operator and country on world.With this app you’ll be able to fake any MNC/MCC code and install any app available on Google Play Store (device limits still apply off course).
