Android phone basics for testing your app

By the endYou can unlock your Android phone, change a setting, join the same Wi-Fi as your computer, take a screenshot, and get it onto the computer.

Your app will run on your own Android phone long before it reaches Google Play. These are the handful of phone skills the later parts rely on.

Android phones come from many makers, so screens and names differ a little. This step says "on most phones". If yours differs, the search box at the top of the Settings app finds any setting by name.

Unlock

Press the power button on the edge of the phone once, or lift the phone. The lock screen shows the time. Swipe up from the bottom, then use your fingerprint, your face, or type your PIN or pattern, whichever you chose when you set the phone up.

You arrive at the home screen: pages of app icons. Swipe left and right to move between pages. Swipe up from the bottom of the home screen to see every app in a list. On most phones, swiping up from the very bottom edge of the screen leaves any app and comes back here; some phones have a small round home button at the bottom instead.

The Settings app

A gray or blue icon with a gear, named Settings. Nearly every phone change happens here. Tap it, scroll with one finger, tap a row to go in, and tap the < at the top-left (or swipe in from the left edge) to go back. The search box at the top finds any setting by name.

Same Wi-Fi as your computer

When you test your app, your computer and the phone talk to each other over the same Wi-Fi network.

On a Mac

On the Mac, click the Wi-Fi symbol (curved lines) at the top-right of the menu bar. The network with a tick is yours. Note its exact name.

On a Windows PC

On the PC, click the Wi-Fi symbol at the bottom-right of the taskbar, near the clock, then the > next to the Wi-Fi symbol. The network marked Connected is yours. Note its exact name.

Then on the phone: open Settings, tap Network & internet (on Samsung phones: Connections), tap Internet or Wi-Fi, and tap that same name. Type the Wi-Fi password if asked. The word Connected appears under the name.

Some homes have two names, like "Home" and "Home-5G". Put both devices on the same one.

Google Play

The colorful triangle icon is Google Play, the app store for Android. It is where you will install the Claude app for Android and the free testing app, and where your own app will live one day. It uses your Google account, the Gmail address the phone was set up with. The first time, it may ask you to sign in.

Take a screenshot on the phone

On most phones, press the power button and the volume-down button at the same moment, then let go. A small preview appears at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds. If that does nothing, hold the power button for a few seconds and look for Screenshot in the menu that appears.

To find it later: open the Photos app, tap Collections at the bottom, then On this device, then Screenshots. On phones without Google Photos, open the Gallery app and look for an album named Screenshots. The Files app also has a Screenshots or Images folder.

Get it onto your computer

On a Windows PC

A cable is the reliable way. Use the charging cable that came with the phone.

Unlock the phone and plug it into the PC.
On the phone, a notification says Charging this device via USB. Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap it.
Under Use USB for, tap File transfer (some phones say Transfer files or MTP).
On the PC, open File Explorer. The phone appears under This PC with its name. Double-click it, then Internal storage (or Internal shared storage).
Open Pictures, then Screenshots. If it is not there, look under DCIM, then Screenshots.
Drag the screenshot into your Binder folder on the Desktop.
Unplug the cable when you are done.

Without a cable, email the screenshot to yourself: open it in Photos, tap the share button, tap your email app, type your own address, and send. Open the email on the PC and save the picture to Downloads. Google also offers a free Quick Share app for Windows that sends pictures over Wi-Fi; it needs a 64-bit PC with Windows 10 or newer and an Android phone with Android 6.0 or newer, both with Bluetooth on and on the same Wi-Fi. The cable is simpler to start with.

On a Mac

Google's help pages list no cable method for the Mac, so use the internet instead.

The quick way: open the screenshot in Photos on the phone, tap the share button (three dots joined by lines, or an arrow), tap Gmail or your email app, type your own address, and send. Open the email on the Mac and save the picture to Downloads.
The automatic way: if the Photos app backs up your pictures (open Photos, tap your picture at the top-right, and check that Backup is on), every screenshot also appears at photos.google.com in Safari within a few minutes. Click the picture, click the three dots at the top-right, and click Download.

Practice

Take a screenshot of your home screen.
Get it onto your computer using the steps above.
On the computer, drag it into your Binder folder.

If something goes wrong

The PC does not show the phone, or shows it empty. Unlock the phone first. Then tap the USB notification again and make sure File transfer is chosen, not Charging only. Try another cable; some cheap cables only charge. Try another port on the PC.

The phone shows no Wi-Fi networks. In Settings, Network & internet, make sure the Wi-Fi switch is on. Move closer to the router.

I cannot find the screenshot on the phone. Open Photos and tap the search box. Type screenshots. Or open the Files app, tap Images, and look for a Screenshots folder.

The buttons do not take a screenshot. Phone makers differ. Hold the power button and look for Screenshot in the menu. On many Samsung phones you can also swipe the edge of your hand across the screen. The phone maker's support site lists its own way.

I forgot my PIN or pattern. Google's way out erases the phone and restores it from a backup. Search Google's support site for "forgot Android PIN" and follow their page. Expect to lose anything not backed up.