Set up adb on Mac OS X

Note: this was originally written on Installing ADB on macOS but that question was closed as a duplicate of this one.

Note for zsh users: replace all references to ~/.bash_profile with ~/.zshrc.

Option 1 - Using Homebrew

This is the easiest way and will provide automatic updates.

1. Install homebrew

    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
   

2. Install adb

     brew install android-platform-tools
   

3. Start using adb

    adb devices
   

Option 2 - Manually (just the platform tools)

This is the easiest way to get a manual installation of ADB and Fastboot.

1. Delete your old installation (optional)

    rm -rf ~/.android-sdk-macosx/
   

2. Navigate to https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools.html and click on the SDK Platform-Tools for Mac link.

3. Go to your Downloads folder

    cd ~/Downloads/
   

4. Unzip the tools you downloaded

    unzip platform-tools-latest*.zip 
   

5. Move them somewhere you won't accidentally delete them

    mkdir ~/.android-sdk-macosx
    mv platform-tools/ ~/.android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools
   

6. Add platform-tools to your path

    echo 'export PATH=$PATH:~/.android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools/' >> ~/.bash_profile
   

7. Refresh your bash profile (or restart your terminal app)

    source ~/.bash_profile
   

8. Start using adb

    adb devices
   

Option 3 - If you already have Android Studio installed

1. Add platform-tools to your path

    echo 'export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/$USER/Library/Android/sdk' >> ~/.bash_profile
    echo 'export PATH=${PATH}:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools' >> ~/.bash_profile
   

2. Refresh your bash profile (or restart your terminal app)

    source ~/.bash_profile
   

3. Start using adb

    adb devices
   

Option 4 - MacPorts

1. Install the Android SDK:

    sudo port install android
   

2. Run the SDK manager:

    sh /opt/local/share/java/android-sdk-macosx/tools/android
   

3. Uncheck everything but Android SDK Platform-tools (optional)

4. Install the packages, accepting licenses. Close the SDK Manager.

5. Add platform-tools to your path; in MacPorts, they're in /opt/local/share/java/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools. E.g., for bash:

    echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/local/share/java/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools' >> ~/.bash_profile
   

6. Refresh your bash profile (or restart your terminal/shell):

   source ~/.bash_profile
   

7. Start using adb:

   adb devices
   

Option 5 - Manually (with SDK Manager)

1. Delete your old installation (optional)

    rm -rf ~/.android-sdk-macosx/
   

2. Download the Mac SDK Tools from the Android developer site under "Get just the command line tools". Make sure you save them to your Downloads folder.

3. Go to your Downloads folder

    cd ~/Downloads/
   

4. Unzip the tools you downloaded

    unzip tools_r*-macosx.zip 
   

5. Move them somewhere you won't accidentally delete them

    mkdir ~/.android-sdk-macosx
    mv tools/ ~/.android-sdk-macosx/tools
   

6. Run the SDK Manager

    sh ~/.android-sdk-macosx/tools/android
   

7. Uncheck everything but Android SDK Platform-tools (optional)

8. Click Install Packages, accept licenses, click Install. Close the SDK Manager window.

9. Add platform-tools to your path

    echo 'export PATH=$PATH:~/.android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools/' >> ~/.bash_profile
   

10. Refresh your bash profile (or restart your terminal app)

    source ~/.bash_profile
    

11. Start using adb

    adb devices
    

echo "export PATH=\$PATH:/Users/${USER}/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/" >> ~/.bash_profile && source ~/.bash_profile

If you put the android-sdks folder in other directory, replace the path with the directory android-sdks/platform-tools is in

This Works Flawless....

In terminal Run both commands next to each other

export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/$USER/Library/Android/sdk

export PATH=${PATH}:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools

Only for zsh users in iterm2 in macOS

type the following two commands to add the android sdk and platform-tools to your zsh in iterm2 in macOS

echo 'export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/$USER/Library/Android/sdk' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export PATH=${PATH}:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools' >> ~/.zshrc

After adding the two command to ~/.zshrc you need to source the zsh.

source ~/.zshrc

NOTE: Path for adb has changed since Android Studio 1.0.xx

For bash shell, use:

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:'$HOME'/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools' >> ~/.bash_profile

For tcsh shell, use:

echo 'setenv PATH $PATH\:'$HOME'/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools' >> ~/.tcshrc