5 ms·

This seems pretty neat. What is the purpose of such an app though? Is it intended for use by Android developers? I don't see what I'd use it for but I'm interes

This seems pretty neat. What is the purpose of such an app though? Is it intended for use by Android developers? I don't see what I'd use it for but I'm interested in how people use the app.

tyingq 9y ago
Would be neat to launch a SaaS service with it that let people test their apps on various real phones. Or have "real world device" testing in your CI/CD pipeline. Or to automate something else that's only available via an android app.
- mohitmun 9y ago
  checkout https://browserstack.com/app-automate https://browserstack.com/app-automate and https://browserstack.com/app-live https://browserstack.com/app-live PS: I work for Browserstack
- rekwah 9y ago
  These exist. * https://aws.amazon.com/device-farm/ https://aws.amazon.com/device-farm/ * https://www.xamarin.com/test-cloud https://www.xamarin.com/test-cloud * https://bitbar.com/testing/ https://bitbar.com/testing/ * https://saucelabs.com/devices https://saucelabs.com/devices
  - Aissen 9y ago
    Add Google's: https://firebase.google.com/docs/test-lab/ https://firebase.google.com/docs/test-lab/ And Geny's: https://www.genymotion.com/cloud/ https://www.genymotion.com/cloud/ (albeit a bit different)
    - rom1v 9y ago
      Note that Genymobile/Genymotion is the company which open sources scrcpy ;-)
      - Aissen 9y ago
        I know, which is why I couldn't forget it :-)
TheSwordsman 9y ago
Would have been awesome like a year and a half ago when I cracked my phone screen.
rom1v 9y ago
It has been devoloped for a specific use case (it is included in a B2B application where the user may need to display and control devices connected on USB). But you might use it for other reasons, like typing text messages from your computer, or showing your device in a conference (e.g. to demo an app).
wccrawford 9y ago
I'm getting just old enough that my near vision is starting to fail. It'd be nice to be able to use my mouse and a computer screen, with a slightly enlarged Android display, to control games and such on my phone. And since it apparently handles keyboard support, typing on the phone would be a lot easier, too.
RandallBrown 9y ago
I can see android users using it in place of an emulator. From what I've heard (I'm not an Android dev) the emulators are generally pretty slow and using a device is way faster. This would let you control it right from your computer, instead of having to actually tap on your phone, which can be tedious, especially when typing.
- izacus 9y ago
  While the modern Android emulator is nowdays actually faster than devices, testing on the actual hardware is still important due to device-specific issues. And having such tool makes this way easier since you don't have to constantly reach for a phone and be wrapped in cables :)
  - MarkyC4 9y ago
    Wireless ADB exists, but the initial APK upload is still pretty slow (compared to wired)
xamuel 9y ago
Could this be used like a poor man's personal hotspot, when data providers refuse to allow tethering?
- Jaruzel 9y ago
  I can also see a use for it, where your IM application of choice does not have web/desktop equivalent, but you want to chat via your PC anyway.
  - squarefoot 9y ago
    If it could control the phone through the network allowing to simulate swiping with the mouse it would be even more useful. As an example, I'm allergic to Whatsapp but am forced to keep it in (on a tablet which stays at home 24/7, data plan only SIM) because of a handful of friends who refuse to use more advanced IM software, so when I'm away they cannot contact me. The WA web app is a joke and forces one to keep the phone/tablet at hand anyway, so although I don't miss Whatsapp at all, being able to tunnel the access to it could be useful sometimes.
Raphmedia 9y ago
A consumer use would be a reliable way to do screen capture (e.g. Tinder, Snapchat). For devs, you could setup a device somewhere for automated testing.
- zanhecht 9y ago
  It won't work on apps that block screenshots. For example, when I open my banking apps, I just see a black screen. See https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/36 https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/36
otachack 9y ago
Demoing an app on Android has been a pain, so far. Vysor was the easiest solution but comes with ads if you don't buy the license. This seemingly being an ad-free alternative makes it very interesting to me and my team. Only thing is I tried to compile the code base on a Macbook Pro and it took maybe 10+ minutes on my only attempt. I had to cancel it b/c my laptop was going into "jet" mode w/ the noise levels during a conference call. I'm going to try and compile it again and see how long it really takes for me.
- rom1v 9y ago
  10 minutes? Wow! It's probably due to the initial gradle build. On my laptop, after a new "git clone", the whole build takes 18s for me. If I use the prebuilt server (https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy#prebuilt-server https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy#prebuilt-server), so that it only compiles the client, it takes 0.8s.

This seems pretty neat. What is the purpose of such an app though? Is it intended for use by Android developers? I don't see what I'd use it for but I'm interested in how people use the app.

tyingq 9y ago

Would be neat to launch a SaaS service with it that let people test their apps on various real phones. Or have "real world device" testing in your CI/CD pipeline. Or to automate something else that's only available via an android app.

mohitmun 9y ago
checkout https://browserstack.com/app-automate https://browserstack.com/app-automate and https://browserstack.com/app-live https://browserstack.com/app-live PS: I work for Browserstack
rekwah 9y ago
These exist. * https://aws.amazon.com/device-farm/ https://aws.amazon.com/device-farm/ * https://www.xamarin.com/test-cloud https://www.xamarin.com/test-cloud * https://bitbar.com/testing/ https://bitbar.com/testing/ * https://saucelabs.com/devices https://saucelabs.com/devices
- Aissen 9y ago
  Add Google's: https://firebase.google.com/docs/test-lab/ https://firebase.google.com/docs/test-lab/ And Geny's: https://www.genymotion.com/cloud/ https://www.genymotion.com/cloud/ (albeit a bit different)
  - rom1v 9y ago
    Note that Genymobile/Genymotion is the company which open sources scrcpy ;-)
    - Aissen 9y ago
      I know, which is why I couldn't forget it :-)

TheSwordsman 9y ago

Would have been awesome like a year and a half ago when I cracked my phone screen.

rom1v 9y ago

It has been devoloped for a specific use case (it is included in a B2B application where the user may need to display and control devices connected on USB). But you might use it for other reasons, like typing text messages from your computer, or showing your device in a conference (e.g. to demo an app).

wccrawford 9y ago

I'm getting just old enough that my near vision is starting to fail. It'd be nice to be able to use my mouse and a computer screen, with a slightly enlarged Android display, to control games and such on my phone. And since it apparently handles keyboard support, typing on the phone would be a lot easier, too.

RandallBrown 9y ago

I can see android users using it in place of an emulator. From what I've heard (I'm not an Android dev) the emulators are generally pretty slow and using a device is way faster. This would let you control it right from your computer, instead of having to actually tap on your phone, which can be tedious, especially when typing.

izacus 9y ago
While the modern Android emulator is nowdays actually faster than devices, testing on the actual hardware is still important due to device-specific issues. And having such tool makes this way easier since you don't have to constantly reach for a phone and be wrapped in cables :)
- MarkyC4 9y ago
  Wireless ADB exists, but the initial APK upload is still pretty slow (compared to wired)

xamuel 9y ago

Could this be used like a poor man's personal hotspot, when data providers refuse to allow tethering?

Jaruzel 9y ago
I can also see a use for it, where your IM application of choice does not have web/desktop equivalent, but you want to chat via your PC anyway.
- squarefoot 9y ago
  If it could control the phone through the network allowing to simulate swiping with the mouse it would be even more useful. As an example, I'm allergic to Whatsapp but am forced to keep it in (on a tablet which stays at home 24/7, data plan only SIM) because of a handful of friends who refuse to use more advanced IM software, so when I'm away they cannot contact me. The WA web app is a joke and forces one to keep the phone/tablet at hand anyway, so although I don't miss Whatsapp at all, being able to tunnel the access to it could be useful sometimes.

Raphmedia 9y ago

A consumer use would be a reliable way to do screen capture (e.g. Tinder, Snapchat). For devs, you could setup a device somewhere for automated testing.

zanhecht 9y ago
It won't work on apps that block screenshots. For example, when I open my banking apps, I just see a black screen. See https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/36 https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/36

otachack 9y ago

Demoing an app on Android has been a pain, so far. Vysor was the easiest solution but comes with ads if you don't buy the license. This seemingly being an ad-free alternative makes it very interesting to me and my team. Only thing is I tried to compile the code base on a Macbook Pro and it took maybe 10+ minutes on my only attempt. I had to cancel it b/c my laptop was going into "jet" mode w/ the noise levels during a conference call. I'm going to try and compile it again and see how long it really takes for me.

rom1v 9y ago
10 minutes? Wow! It's probably due to the initial gradle build. On my laptop, after a new "git clone", the whole build takes 18s for me. If I use the prebuilt server (https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy#prebuilt-server https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy#prebuilt-server), so that it only compiles the client, it takes 0.8s.