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Stéphane Lenclud edited this page Oct 14, 2025 · 10 revisions

Tips and tricks useful for Android Web Browser developers.

Our example commands typically use Chrome package name: com.android.chrome.

App management

Open app info settings

adb shell am start -a android.settings.APPLICATION_DETAILS_SETTINGS -d package:com.android.chrome

Disable an app

⚠️ Disabling an app clears all its data storage

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.chrome.

Enable an app

adb shell pm enable com.android.chrome

Open default apps settings

adb shell am start -a android.settings.MANAGE_DEFAULT_APPS_SETTINGS

Default browser

Check default browser

adb shell cmd package resolve-activity --brief -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d http://www.example.com

Launch default browser

If no default available it will open the chooser:

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d http://www.example.com

Reset default browser

Some devices won't let you simply clear your default Browser application through settings. You should be able to clear it by running adb shell pm clear <package-name> where package-name is your current default browser. However that did not even work on HONOR Magic V2 for instance.

Here is my workaround using device UI:

  • Set an app as default browser
  • Open that app info settings
  • Disable that app - ⚠️ Disabling an app clears all app data

The downside is that you can't use that browser unless you re-enable it. I'm usually doing that using Chrome com.android.chrome since I typically have Chrome beta installed and a bunch of other browsers I can use instead.

Launch search query using default search app

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.WEB_SEARCH --es query "test"

Launch search query using Fulguris debug

adb shell am start -n net.slions.fulguris.full.download.debug/fulguris.activity.MainActivity -a android.intent.action.WEB_SEARCH --es query "test search"

Reset default search app on HONOR

  • Open Settings → Apps → Default apps
  • Find whichever app is currently the default search handler (likely Google or Chrome)
  • Tap it and select Clear defaults
  • Next time you trigger a search intent, you'll see the chooser dialog
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