ADBKeyBoard

Android Virtual Keyboard Input via ADB

ADBKeyBoard is a virtual keyboard that receives commands from system broadcast intents, which you can send text input using adb.

There is a shell command 'input', which can help you send text input to the Android system.

usage: input [text|keyevent]
  input text 
  input keyevent 

But you cannot send unicode characters using this command, as it is not designed to use it this way.
Reference : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14224549/adb-shell-input-unicode-character

e.g.
adb shell input text '你好嗎' 
is not going to work.

ADBKeyboard will help in these cases, especially in device automation and testings.

Features:

• Send text input via ADB broadcast intents
• Support Unicode characters (via base64 encoding)
• Support key events and editor actions
• Configurable input view visibility (show/hide status bar)
• Settings interface accessible from app launcher or system settings

Download APK from release page

• APK download: [https://github.com/senzhk/ADBKeyBoard/blob/master/ADBKeyboard.apk]

Build and Install APK

Prerequisites

• Android SDK installed
• Java JDK 17 or higher (Java 17 is recommended for Android development)
• Gradle (included via wrapper)

Build Steps

1. Get the source code:

   git clone https://github.com/senzhk/ADBKeyBoard.git
   cd ADBKeyBoard

2. Set Android SDK location:

   Option 1: Set environment variable

   export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Android/Sdk

   Option 2: Create local.properties file in project root:

   sdk.dir=/path/to/your/Android/Sdk

3. Build the project:

   Build Debug APK:

   ./gradlew assembleDebug

   Build Release APK (signed with debug keystore):

   ./gradlew assembleRelease

   The APK files will be generated at:

   • Debug: keyboardservice/build/outputs/apk/debug/keyboardservice-debug.apk
   • Release: keyboardservice/build/outputs/apk/release/keyboardservice-release.apk

Install Steps

1. Connect your device or start emulator:

   adb devices

2. Install the APK:

   For Debug APK:

   adb install keyboardservice/build/outputs/apk/debug/keyboardservice-debug.apk

   For Release APK:

   adb install keyboardservice/build/outputs/apk/release/keyboardservice-release.apk

   Or install directly from project root:

   adb install ADBKeyboard.apk

3. Enable and set as default input method:

   adb shell ime enable com.android.adbkeyboard/.AdbIME
   adb shell ime set com.android.adbkeyboard/.AdbIME

How to Use

• Enable 'ADBKeyBoard' in the Language&Input Settings OR from adb.

adb install ADBKeyboard.apk
adb shell ime enable com.android.adbkeyboard/.AdbIME
adb shell ime set com.android.adbkeyboard/.AdbIME

• Set it as Default Keyboard OR Select it as the current input method of certain EditText view.
• Sending Broadcast intent via Adb or your Android Services/Apps.

Usage Example:

1. Sending text input
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_INPUT_TEXT --es msg '你好嗎? Hello?'

* This may not work for Oreo/P, am/adb command seems not accept utf-8 text string anymore

1.1 Sending text input (base64) if (1) is not working.

* For Mac/Linux, you can use the latest base64 input type with base64 command line tool:
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_INPUT_B64 --es msg `echo -n '你好嗎? Hello?' | base64`

* For Windows, please try this script (provided by ssddi456): 
https://gist.github.com/ssddi456/889d5e8a2571a33e8fcd0ff6f1288291

* Sample python script to send b64 codes (provided by sunshinewithmoonlight):
import os
import base64
chars = '的广告'
charsb64 = str(base64.b64encode(chars.encode('utf-8')))[1:]
os.system("adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_INPUT_B64 --es msg %s" %charsb64)

2. Sending keyevent code  (67 = KEYCODE_DEL)
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_INPUT_CODE --ei code 67

3. Sending editor action (2 = IME_ACTION_GO)
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_EDITOR_CODE --ei code 2

4. Sending unicode characters
To send 😸 Cat
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_INPUT_CHARS --eia chars '128568,32,67,97,116'

5. Send meta keys
To send Ctrl + A as below: (4096 is META_CONTROL_ON, 8192 is META_CONTROL_LEFT_ON, 29 is KEYCODE_A)
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_INPUT_TEXT --es mcode '4096,29' // one metaState.
or
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_INPUT_TEXT --es mcode '4096+8192,29' // two metaState.


6. CLEAR all text (starting from v2.0)
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_CLEAR_TEXT

Enable ADBKeyBoard from adb :

adb shell ime enable com.android.adbkeyboard/.AdbIME

Switch to ADBKeyBoard from adb (by robertio) :

adb shell ime set com.android.adbkeyboard/.AdbIME   

Switch back to original virtual keyboard: (swype in my case...)

adb shell ime set com.nuance.swype.dtc/com.nuance.swype.input.IME  

Check your available virtual keyboards:

adb shell ime list -a  

Reset to default, don't care which keyboard was chosen before switch:

adb shell ime reset

Settings Configuration

Show/Hide Input View

By default, ADB Keyboard runs completely invisible (no status bar displayed). You can control whether to show the input view status bar through Settings or ADB commands.

Method 1: Via Settings Activity

You can open the settings activity in several ways:

Via App Launcher (Recommended):

1. Open the app drawer on your device
2. Find and tap "ADBKeyBoard" app icon
3. The settings activity will open automatically
4. Toggle "Show Input View" switch
   • ON: Display "ADB Keyboard {ON}" status bar when input method is active
   • OFF: Completely hide the input view (default)

Via ADB command:

# Start MainActivity (recommended)
adb shell am start -n com.android.adbkeyboard/.MainActivity

# Or start SettingsActivity directly
adb shell am start -n com.android.adbkeyboard/.SettingsActivity

Via System Settings (if available):

1. Open Settings → Language & input → On-screen keyboard (or Virtual keyboard)
2. Find "ADB Keyboard" in the list
3. Tap on the "ADB Keyboard" entry (if settings icon is not available)
4. The settings activity will open
5. Toggle "Show Input View" switch

Note: After changing the setting in the UI, you may need to switch to another input method and back, or restart the input method service for the change to take effect.

Method 2: Via ADB Command (Recommended)

Use adb shell settings put global to configure the setting:

Show the input view status bar:

adb shell settings put global adbkeyboard_show_input_view 1

Hide the input view (default):

adb shell settings put global adbkeyboard_show_input_view 0

Check current setting:

adb shell settings get global adbkeyboard_show_input_view

Note: After changing the setting, you may need to switch to another input method and back, or restart the input method service for the change to take effect.

Method 3: Via Broadcast Intent (Deprecated)

You can also use broadcast intent (less recommended):

# Show input view
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_SETTINGS --es setting show_input_view --ez value true

# Hide input view
adb shell am broadcast -a ADB_SETTINGS --es setting show_input_view --ez value false

You can try the apk with my debug build: https://github.com/senzhk/ADBKeyBoard/raw/master/ADBKeyboard.apk

KeyEvent Code Ref: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html

Editor Action Code Ref: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/inputmethod/EditorInfo.html