Mirroring Your Android Phone with scrcpy (USB & Wi-Fi)

scrcpy lets you display and control your Android phone from a Linux PC. It works over USB or Wi-Fi, has low latency, and does not require root.

This guide covers installing scrcpy, enabling Developer Options on the phone, and using it over both USB and Wi-Fi (wireless debugging).

Installation

Prebuilt packages (recommended)

Debian / Ubuntu : apt install scrcpy        (obsolete version in repos)
Arch Linux      : pacman -S scrcpy
Fedora          : dnf copr enable zeno/scrcpy && dnf install scrcpy
Gentoo          : emerge scrcpy
Snap            : snap install scrcpy       (obsolete)

For up-to-date package availability across distros, see repology.org/project/scrcpy.

Building / dependencies (Debian / Ubuntu)

If you want to build scrcpy from source or ensure all required libraries are present:

sudo apt install ffmpeg libsdl2-2.0-0 adb wget \
                 gcc git pkg-config meson ninja-build libsdl2-dev \
                 libavcodec-dev libavdevice-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev \
                 libswresample-dev libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev

Phone setup (Android)

Enable Developer Options

1. Open Settings → About phone
2. Tap Build number 7 times
3. You will see: "You are now a developer"

Enable debugging

Go to Settings → Developer options and enable:

• USB debugging
• Wireless debugging (Android 11+ recommended)

Method 1: USB connection (most stable)

1. Connect the phone to the PC via USB
2. Accept the debugging prompt on the phone
3. Run:

scrcpy

The phone screen appears instantly.

Method 2: Wi-Fi connection (no cable)

Both phone and PC must be on the same Wi-Fi network.

Option A — Legacy TCP/IP (may not work on some phones)

adb tcpip 5555

Find your phone's IP address (Settings → Wi-Fi → Network details), then connect:

adb connect <IP_ADDRESS>:5555

Verify the connection:

adb devices

Start scrcpy over Wi-Fi:

scrcpy -e

Option B — Wireless Debugging (recommended, Android 11+)

This is the official and stable method.

On the phone: Settings → Developer options → Wireless debugging → ON, then pair the device with a pairing code. The phone will display an IP address, pairing port, and pairing code.

On the PC:

adb pair <IP_ADDRESS>:<PAIR_PORT>

Enter the pairing code when prompted, then connect using the shown connect port:

adb connect <IP_ADDRESS>:<CONNECT_PORT>

Verify and run:

adb devices
scrcpy -e

Fully wireless, stable, no USB cable needed.

Verify device connection

At any time, check connected devices with:

adb devices

Expected output:

<IP_ADDRESS>:<PORT>    device

Useful scrcpy options

Front camera:

scrcpy --camera-facing=front

Limit bitrate (better Wi-Fi stability):

scrcpy -e --bit-rate=4M

Limit FPS:

scrcpy --max-fps=30

Notes & tips

• USB is always the most stable option
• Wi-Fi depends on router quality and signal strength
• Wireless Debugging is preferred over adb tcpip 5555
• No root access is required

scrcpy works on all major Linux distros, supports both USB and Wi-Fi, and Wireless Debugging is the modern, stable way to run it.