Connecting Over Wi-Fi — adb pair (Modern) and adb tcpip (Legacy)

Android 11 introduced a paired wireless debugging flow that replaces the legacy adb tcpip dance. The modern path encrypts and authenticates over TLS using a pairing-code-derived shared secret and uses ephemeral ports; the legacy path leaves an unauthenticated TCP listener on a well-known port. This skill covers both, plus the mDNS plumbing the host server uses to discover paired devices.

When to use this skill

• The user wants to connect a phone to ADB without a USB cable.
• The user mentions adb pair, QR-code pairing, the "Wireless debugging" toggle in Developer options, or pairing codes.
• The user copies adb tcpip 5555 && adb connect 192.168.1.100:5555 from an old blog and asks why a modern phone treats that as insecure.
• The user sees connection refused after pairing and is on a corporate Wi-Fi.
• The user sees mDNS Bonjour vs Openscreen confusion in adb mdns check.

When NOT to use this skill

• The user wants USB device basics (selector flags, RSA dialog, udev rules) — use ../connecting-to-devices/SKILL.md.
• The user wants the architecture / env-var cheat sheet — use ../../architecture/understanding-adb-architecture/SKILL.md.
• The user wants to run a test on the wirelessly connected device — use ../../tests/running-instrumented-tests-via-adb/SKILL.md.

Prerequisites