ADB Cheat Sheet for AI Boxes: Commands, Risks and Undo

ADB (Android Debug Bridge) lets you send commands to your AI box from a computer or a phone. Most of the deeper fixes on this site use it: removing the exclamation mark from the network icon, disabling the floating button, or saving logs for a bug report. Every command below says what it does, how risky it is and how to undo it.

Before you start: what you need

• On a computer: Google’s SDK Platform Tools (the official adb program) for Windows, macOS or Linux. Owners on Windows often use ADB AppControl, a graphical tool with a built-in console; it installs a small helper app (“AC Bridge”) on the box the first time and asks you to allow it.
• On a phone or tablet: any ADB shell client app that can connect over Wi-Fi.
• A data-capable USB cable for the USB method, plugged straight into the computer, not a hub.
• Your model and firmware date from Settings → About. Commands that worked on one firmware are not promised to work on another.

How do I connect to the box?

Pick the method that matches your box. Each one ends with the same test:

adb devices

A line with a serial number and the word device means you are connected. unauthorized means you need to accept the prompt on the box’s screen (or allow the helper app).

Carlinkit TBox over USB (code 142618)

Advanced

1. On the box: Settings → Other → Factory settings → enter 142618. The screen confirms ADB mode (on some units it shows “adb” between Chinese characters; one Ultra owner saw no confirmation on the first entry). See engineering codes.
2. Connect the box’s USB port to the computer. Do not press any buttons; holding buttons while connecting puts some boxes into EDL (emergency download) mode instead.
3. Run adb devices, or open ADB AppControl and wait up to 20 seconds for it to find the box.
4. When you are finished, switch the box back to car mode before unplugging (see the next table).

This is the method owners confirmed on the TBox Ultra for the exclamation-mark fix. The full guide, with screenshots of each prompt, is enable ADB on an AI box.

Over Wi-Fi from a phone, tablet or computer (Wireless debugging)

Advanced

The owner guide for this method lists the TBox Ultra, Plus and UHD (SM6225).

1. Put the box and your phone or computer on the same Wi-Fi network, or turn on one device’s hotspot and join it from the other.
2. On the box: Developer options → Wireless debugging → on. Allow debugging on this network.
3. Tap Wireless debugging to open it and note IP address & port, for example 192.168.114.61:40411.
4. From a computer, pair once with the code shown under “Pair device with pairing code”, then connect to the IP address and port from step 3:

adb pair 192.168.114.61:37099
adb connect 192.168.114.61:40411

5. In a phone ADB app, enter the IP address and port in its connect dialog instead.

The pairing port and the connection port are different numbers, and the connection port changes every time Wireless debugging restarts. If you get “more than one device/emulator”, an old connection is still listed:

adb disconnect

Then connect again with the new port.

Ottocast Picasou 3 and Nano (hotspot, port 65535)

Advanced

1. Turn on the box’s Wi-Fi hotspot. The default password reported for these models is 88888888; check the box’s hotspot settings if it differs.
2. Join that hotspot from your phone.
3. Find the gateway IP address (a network-info app shows it; it is usually the box’s own address).
4. In an ADB shell app, connect to that address on port 65535.
5. Turn on developer options:

adb shell settings put global development_settings_enabled 1

Developer options now appear under Settings → System. Leave the setting at 1: one Nano owner who set it back to 0 lost developer options and could no longer connect over ADB at all, and a factory reset was the only way back left to him. Change the hotspot password from the default afterwards. On the Picasou 2 and 2 Pro, the Boot-menu password adbdev is the simpler route.

Which commands fix common problems?

Command	What it does	Risk	Undo
adb shell settings put global captive_portal_mode 0	Stops Android checking for internet through Google’s test servers, which removes the exclamation mark on the Wi-Fi or mobile icon when that check cannot reach them	Advanced	adb shell settings put global captive_portal_mode 1
adb shell setprop persist.sdcarplay.reverse.disable 0	Takes a Carlinkit box out of ADB mode and back to car mode	Advanced	Enter 142618 in Factory settings to return to ADB mode
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.sd.ball	Disables the Carlinkit floating button app	Advanced	adb shell pm enable --user 0 com.sd.ball
adb shell settings put global development_settings_enabled 1	Shows developer options (Ottocast Picasou 3, Nano)	Advanced	Leave it at 1; setting 0 cut one Nano owner off from ADB until a factory reset
adb reboot	Restarts the box	Advanced	None needed

Owners who removed the exclamation mark ran the captive-portal command and then the car-mode command in one session; the icon disappeared after reconnecting in the car. It also worked on third-party Bruxe firmware. Carlinkit’s TBox Ultra firmware of 11 Dec 2025 fixed the same symptom without ADB, so check the firmware tracker first. Full article: exclamation mark on the Wi-Fi icon.

Leaving the box in ADB mode is the most common mistake. The car then reports “device not supported”; see device not supported after ADB.

How do I disable apps I do not use?

Disabling hides an app and stops it running, without deleting it. It is the safe alternative to uninstalling system apps.

1. List the installed packages and find the one you want:

adb shell pm list packages | grep -i ball

On Windows without grep, run adb shell pm list packages and search the output.

2. Disable it for the main user:

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.example.package

3. Reboot and check that the car connection, launcher, Wi-Fi and SIM still work.

To undo:

adb shell pm enable --user 0 com.example.package

Package names owners confirmed: com.sd.ball is the floating button on Carlinkit TBox units, and com.applepie.floatingball is the floating button on the ApplePie UX999 Rocket. Do not disable packages you cannot identify, especially anything from the box maker (names containing suding, carlinkit or sdcarplay): those run the car connection, activation and updates. Never use pm uninstall on system packages; a disabled app comes back with one command, an uninstalled one may need a factory reset or firmware reinstall.

Set the stock launcher as default again before any firmware update, even if you disabled nothing; see set the stock launcher before an update.

How do I save logs for a bug report?

Logs are what a manufacturer’s support team asks for first. Two ways:

Without ADB. Carlinkit boxes have a setting to copy logs to the memory card (“copy log to memory card” in the box settings). With it on, the box writes a logbak folder to the microSD card at boot. Turn it off once you have the logs you need, so the card does not keep filling up.

With ADB, reproduce the problem, then save the log to your computer:

adb logcat -d -v time > box-log.txt

Or write it to the box’s storage and copy it over:

adb shell logcat -d -v time -f /sdcard/box-log.txt
adb pull /sdcard/box-log.txt

To start from an empty log before reproducing the fault, clear it first:

adb logcat -c

These only read the log and change nothing on the box; they are rated Advanced only because they need an ADB connection. Logs can contain account names and Wi-Fi network names; check before sharing. What to send and where: how to report a bug.

What do disable-verity and enable-verity do?

Brick risk

Verity (dm-verity) is Android’s check that the system partition has not been changed. Guides for multitouch or GPS configuration edits switch it off so the system can be modified:

adb disable-verity
adb reboot
adb root
adb remount

After this the system partition is writable. The community’s no-root multitouch method for the TBox Ultra then edits build.prop, which is the step that can stop the box booting. Read enable multitouch on TBox in full before trying it, back up every file you change, and stop at the first error.

With verity off, firmware updates fail with a verification error. Two owners hit this, one on an Ambient after editing a GPS config file. To undo, before any update:

adb enable-verity
adb reboot

Then install the update, and repeat the modification afterwards if you still want it. More: firmware update fails after disabling verity.

Useful read-only commands

These only display information and change nothing. They are rated Advanced only because they need an ADB connection:

adb shell getprop ro.build.display.id
adb shell getprop ro.board.platform
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release
adb shell df -h /data

They show the firmware build, the chipset platform name, the Android version and free storage. Useful for which TBox do I have and for a firmware update, which needs more than 3 GB free.

To see and control the box’s screen from a computer, owners use the open-source mirroring tool scrcpy over the same ADB connection.

When you are done

1. Undo anything you only needed temporarily, using the Undo column above.
2. On Carlinkit, return to car mode (142618 again, or the setprop command).
3. Turn off Wireless debugging and USB debugging in developer options.
4. Disconnect:

adb disconnect

5. Connect the box to the car and check the head unit sees it in your usual protocol.