2/11/2017 How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device?

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How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device? [duplicate]

This question already has an answer here:

Debugging sqlite database on the device 13 answers

I have a set of data in an SQLite database. I need to view the database on a device. How do I do that?

I have checked in ddms mode. The data in file explorer is empty.

android database sqlite adb

edited Dec 28 '16 at 17:53 asked Oct 5 '13 at 6:03

Alex P. user
15.7k 11 50 87 626 3 11 16

marked as duplicate by Alex P. android Sep 15 at 17:27

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

stackoverflow.com/q/18471780/1778421 – Alex P. Dec 28 '16 at 17:54

Try cordova-sqlite-detools , an open source CLI used to pull a sqlite database from a connected Android
device. npmjs.com/package/cordova-sqlite-devtools – Justin Lettau Jun 10 at 14:37

I found a quick way to perform this by simply using Google Chrome and here is it's
video.youtube.com/watch?v=fvkddnn9yps – Harpreet Oct 6 at 13:28

20 Answers

¿No encuentras la respuesta? Pregunta en Stack Overflow en español. ✕

Here are step-by-step instructions (mostly taken from a combination of the other answers).
This works even on devices that are not rooted.

1. Connect your device and launch the application in debug mode.

2. You may want to use adb -d shell "run-as com.yourpackge.name ls
/data/data/com.yourpackge.name/databases/" to see what the database filename is.

Notice: com.yourpackge.name is your application package name. You can get it from the
manifest file.

3. Copy the database file from your application folder to your SD card.

adb -d shell "run-as com.yourpackge.name cat

/data/data/com.yourpackge.name/databases/filename.sqlite > /sdcard/filename.sqlite"

Notice: filename.sqlite is your database name you used when you created the database

4. Pull the database files to your machine:

adb pull /sdcard/filename.sqlite

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2/11/2017 How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device? - Stack Overflow
This will copy the database from the SD card to the place where your ADB exist.

5. Install Firefox SQLite Manager: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sqlite-

manager/
6. Open Firefox SQLite Manager (Tools->SQLite Manager) and open your database file from
step 3 above.
7. Enjoy!

edited May 26 '16 at 12:45 answered Jan 16 '14 at 1:09

Peter Mortensen Andy Cochrane
11.4k 16 79 106 2,096 1 11 11

1 It worked, but I had to replace single quotes in step 2 with double quotes. It doesn't work with single quotes,
but works with double quotes (at least on Windows). – Viachaslau Tysianchuk Mar 7 '14 at 21:10

1 adb pull /sdcard/ will pull whole sdcard. use adb pull /sdcard/filename.sqlite – Muneeb Mirza Dec 16 '14 at
8:08

2 it doesn't work on all devices (for example Nexus 9). For those I recommend this solution
stackoverflow.com/a/29257875/291427 – kmalmur Mar 25 '15 at 14:21

4 It's also important to note that if you want to copy the DB to your SDcard, your App (the one you're "running
as") needs the android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE -permission. Otherwise, it'll tell you
"permission denied". – Lukas Knuth Jun 30 '15 at 14:10

4 Just wanted to mention that I couldn't 'cat' the file to the sdcard and instead had to 'cp' it there, otherwise I
would get an empty file in the sdcard. – TheIT Mar 11 '16 at 1:28

The best way to view and manage your Android app database is to use the library
DatabaseManager_For_Android.

It's a single Java activity file; just add it to your source folder. You can view the tables in your
app database, update, delete, insert rows to you table. Everything from inside your app.

When the development is done remove the Java file from your src folder. That's it.

You can view the 5 minute demo, Database Manager for Android SQLite Database .

edited May 26 '16 at 12:48 answered Jul 21 '14 at 1:24

Peter Mortensen user3716835
11.4k 16 79 106 1,338 15 20

1 Thanks.Let me know if you have any trouble using the library – user3716835 Sep 24 '14 at 15:23

Can this be used to view any database (in sqllite) or only the one created by your app? – Jasper Feb 10 '15
at 11:48

Only the one created by your app – user3716835 Feb 10 '15 at 23:23

3 perfect solution for developers. – chrome Nov 22 '15 at 15:08

this works with SQLiteAssetHelper as well. great tool! – Rm558 Jan 12 '16 at 1:21

Taken from here, you can try:

1. Facebook's open source Stetho library

In build.gradle:

dependencies {
// Stetho core
compile 'com.facebook.stetho:stetho:1.5.0'
//If you want to add a network helper
compile 'com.facebook.stetho:stetho-okhttp:1.5.0'
}

Initialize the library in the application object:

Stetho.initializeWithDefaults(this);

And you can view you database in Chrome from chrome://inspect

2. Another option is this plugin (not free)

3. And the last one is this free/open source library to see db contents in the browser
https://github.com/amitshekhariitbhu/Android-Debug-Database

edited Sep 15 at 16:09 answered Aug 24 '15 at 3:12

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Yair Kukielka
5,317 1 18 27

how to use Stetho in eclipse ? – Istiaque Ahmed Jun 12 '16 at 10:03

5 This was too easy! What a brilliant tool, thank you Stetho developers. – Anton Nov 11 '16 at 14:15

This is awesome man!! – JohnC Apr 20 at 13:04

This library is awsome – kris_IV Oct 9 at 17:46

The best way I found so far is using the Android-Debug-Database tool.

Its incredibly simple to use and setup, just add the dependence and connect to the device
database's interface via web. No need to root the phone or adding activities or whatsoever.
Here are the steps:

STEP 1

Add the following dependence to your app's gradle file and run the application.

debugCompile 'com.amitshekhar.android:debug-db:1.0.0'

STEP 2

Open your browser and visit the your phone's IP address on port 8080. The url should be like:
http://YOUR_PHONE_IP_ADDRESS:8080 . You will be presented with the following:

To get myphone's IP I currently use Ping Tools, but there are a lot of alternatives.

STEP 3

That's it!

More details in the official documentations: https://github.com/amitshekhariitbhu/Android-

Debug-Database

edited Jul 5 at 16:40 answered Mar 17 at 19:22

Bob
1,118 10 18

2 the best solution of all the others, by far... – i31nGo Sep 5 at 2:27

If you are using a real device, and it is not rooted, then it is not possible to see your database
in FileExplorer , because, due to some security reason, that folder is locked in the Android
system. And if you are using it in an emulator you will find it in FileExplorer , /data/data/your
package name/databases/yourdatabse.db.

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2/11/2017 How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device? - Stack Overflow
edited May 26 '16 at 12:44 answered Oct 5 '13 at 7:08
Peter Mortensen Abhijit Chakra
11.4k 16 79 106 1,833 15 39

3 I have rooted, but data in file explorer still empty – John Nov 5 '15 at 2:09

what is the meaning of rooting @Abhijit ? – vivek Apr 19 '16 at 8:01

Root means you have superuser access..Like admin access in windows – Abhijit Chakra Apr 20 '16 at 10:21

You can do this:

1. adb shell

2. cd /go/to/databases

3. sqlite3 database.db

4. In the sqlite> prompt, type .tables . This will give you all the tables in the
database.db file.
5. select * from table1;

edited Aug 16 '16 at 19:34 answered Mar 3 '15 at 20:19

Deepu
345 2 10

This is working. The path is /data/data/COM.YOUR_PACKAGE.NAME/databases which

COM.YOUR_PACKAGE.NAME is the name of the package you want to see its databases. Number 4 did not work,
though. – Mahsa Mohammadkhani Aug 14 '16 at 23:57

Thanks Mahsa Mohammadkhani, updated step 4, as you mentioned in step 2, path is app data path. –
Deepu Aug 18 '16 at 14:04

This works. Kinda. After step 1 you should do a 'run-as PACKAGE.NAME' otherwise you won't have read
access. – Mark Gjøl May 1 at 11:54

This is the correct answer. Ok, not the correct answer, but the simplest answer by far, and works as magic. –
fiatjaf 8 hours ago

Try AndroidDBvieweR!

No need for your device to be ROOTED

No need to import the database file of the application
Few configurations and you are good to go!

edited May 26 '16 at 12:52 answered Mar 3 '16 at 7:55

Peter Mortensen CLOUGH
11.4k 16 79 106 426 5 11

2 Good app, but you need to add a dependency to the app's build.gradle file. – Henrique de Sousa Mar 3
'16 at 11:23

1 Which adding the dependency takes all of 5 seconds. Thanks so much Peter this is brilliant! –
LifeQuestioner Aug 10 '16 at 16:19

1 not everyone wants to add third party libraries to a project. Especially because this requires to change your

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2/11/2017 How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device? - Stack Overflow
code. – Alberto M Sep 8 '16 at 14:05

If you don't want to use

1. adb
2. 3rd party library or
3. gradle dependency etc

and just want the database file in your SDCard, this is the solution.

copy the class DatabaseUtil.java in your project

package com.util;

import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Environment;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.nio.channels.FileChannel;

/**
* Shayan Rais (http://shanraisshan.com)
* created on 8/17/2016
*/
public class DatabaseUtil {
//You need to declare permission
// <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
//in your Manifest file in order to use this class

//__________________________________________________________________________________________

//todo -> rename the database according to your application

final static String DATABASE_NAME = "MyDatabase.sqlite";
//example WhatsApp : /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db
final static String FOLDER_EXTERNAL_DIRECTORY =
Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/shanraisshan";

//__________________________________________________________________________________________

public static void copyDatabaseToExtStg(Context ctx) {

//external storage file
File externalDirectory = new File(FOLDER_EXTERNAL_DIRECTORY);
if(!externalDirectory.exists())

.
.

and simply call copyDatabaseToExtStg() method from any activity in your app

this will copy the database folder at location sdcard/shanraisshan/your_database_file

For further detailed explanation check Android-Database-Viewer on Github.

https://github.com/shanraisshan/Android-Database-Viewer

answered Aug 17 '16 at 11:44

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shanraisshan
1,343 8 26

Although this doesn't view the database on your device directly, I've published a simple shell
script for dumping databases to your local machine:

https://github.com/Pixplicity/dbdump

It performs two distinct methods described here:

1. First, it tries to make the file accessible for other users, and attempting to pull it from the
device.
2. If that fails, it streams the contents of the file over the terminal to the local machine. It
performs an additional trick to remove \r characters that some devices output to the
shell.

From here you can use a variety of CLI or GUI SQLite applications, such as sqlite3 or
sqlitebrowser , to browse the contents of the database.

answered Apr 8 '15 at 19:42

Paul Lammertsma
25.3k 11 102 159

very confused... you should explain where to put your files, and how to execute those commands... I made
copy/paste in my project, open cmd and run humpty.sh -d com.mypak.name databases/MyDB.db it says
Succes! ... but in dumps/com.mypak.name/databases folder is just a bat file witch says : run-as: Package
'com.mypak.name' is unknown – Choletski Aug 6 '15 at 11:46

@Choletski It shouldn't be outputting a batch file, that sounds like a bug. How are you executing a shell
script on Windows? Through cygwin or mingw? As for extracting the database, you may want to execute the
commands through adb shell yourself to see if your device supports run-as . – Paul Lammertsma Aug 6
'15 at 11:53

1 Works like a charm. Surprized no one upvoted this!! Thanks ! – everydayapps Oct 8 '15 at 14:47

I have been using SQLite Database Browser to see the content SQLite DB in Android
development. You have to pull the database file from the device first, then open it in SQLite DB
Browser.

answered Oct 5 '13 at 6:11

Andrew T.
3,961 5 25 46

I need to where the database file is present.I have checked it in file explorer but data is empty.then where to
get the database file. – user Oct 5 '13 at 6:14

Are you using emulator or real device? If on real device, then I guess DDMS won't list the internal storage
(including /data). However, you can use adb pull path_to_db_file_in_device path_to_save to save it to
computer. – Andrew T. Oct 5 '13 at 6:20

using real device – user Oct 5 '13 at 6:51

This only works on an emulator. – ojonugwa ochalifu Jun 6 '15 at 7:30

This won't work when pulling db from a real device as it will be encrypted. If anyone knows how to use this
technique with a "real" database please let me know! – Nicholas Kreidberg Jul 25 at 17:32

try facebook Stetho.

Stetho is a debug bridge for Android applications, enabling the powerful Chrome Developer
Tools and much more.

https://github.com/facebook/stetho

answered Jul 27 '16 at 14:52

Kai Wang
1,119 12 16

Hope this helps you

Using Terminal First point your location where andriod sdk is loacted

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2/11/2017 How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device? - Stack Overflow
eg: C:\Users\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools>

then check the list of devices attached Using

adb devices

and then run this command to copy the file from device to your system

adb -s YOUR_DEVICE_ID shell run-as YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME chmod -R 777

/data/data/YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME/databases && adb -s YOUR_DEVICE_ID shell "mkdir -p
/sdcard/tempDB" && adb -s YOUR_DEVICE_ID shell "cp -r
/data/data/YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME/databases/ /sdcard/tempDB/." && adb -s YOUR_DEVICE_ID pull
sdcard/tempDB/ && adb -s YOUR_DEVICE_ID shell "rm -r /sdcard/tempDB/*"

You can find the database file in this path

Android\sdk\platform-tools\tempDB\databases

answered Oct 20 '16 at 15:11

saeed
1,211 1 9 20

step 1 Copy this class in your package

step 2 put the following code in your class which extends SQLiteOpenHelper.

//-----------------for show databasae table----------------------------------------

public ArrayList<Cursor> getData(String Query)

{
//get writable database
SQLiteDatabase sqlDB =this.getWritableDatabase();
String[] columns = new String[] { "mesage" };
//an array list of cursor to save two cursors one has results from the query
//other cursor stores error message if any errors are triggered
ArrayList<Cursor> alc = new ArrayList<Cursor>(2);
MatrixCursor Cursor2= new MatrixCursor(columns);
alc.add(null);
alc.add (null);

try{
String maxQuery = Query ;
//execute the query results will be save in Cursor c
Cursor c = sqlDB.rawQuery(maxQuery, null);

//add value to cursor2

Cursor2.addRow(new Object[] { "Success" });

alc.set(1,Cursor2);
if (null != c && c.getCount() > 0)
{
alc.set(0,c);
c.moveToFirst();
return alc ;
}
return alc;
}
catch(SQLException sqlEx)
{
Log.d("printing exception", sqlEx.getMessage());
//if any exceptions are triggered save the error message to cursor an return the
arraylist
Cursor2.addRow(new Object[] { ""+sqlEx.getMessage() });
alc.set(1,Cursor2);
return alc;
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
Log.d("printing exception",ex.getMessage());
//if any exceptions are triggered save the error message to cursor an return the
arraylist
Cursor2.addRow(new Object[] { ""+ex.getMessage() });
alc.set(1,Cursor2);
return alc;
}
}

step 3 register in manifest

<activity
android:name=".database.AndroidDatabaseManager"
android:screenOrientation="portrait"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar"/>

step 4

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2/11/2017 How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device? - Stack Overflow
Intent i = new Intent(this, AndroidDatabaseManager.class);
startActivity(i);

answered May 26 at 7:21

Hardik Vasani
163 1 4

Follow these steps

1>Download the *.jar file from here .

2>Put the *.jar file into the folder eclipse/dropins/ and Restart eclipse.

3>In the top right of eclipse, click the DDMS icon.

4>Select the proper emulator in the left panel.

5In the File Explorer tab on the main panel, go to

/data/data/[YOUR.APP.NAMESPACE]/databases.

6>Underneath the DDMS icon, there should be a new blue icon of a Database light up when
you select your database. Click it and you will see a Questoid Sqlite Manager tab open up to
view your data.

*Note: If the database doesn't light up, it may be because your database doesn't have a *.db
file extension. Be sure your database is called [DATABASE_NAME].db

*Note: if you want to use a DB without .db-Extension:

-Download this Questoid SqLiteBrowser: Download fro here.

-Unzip and put it into eclipse/dropins (not Plugins).

-Check this for more information Click here.

answered Nov 6 '14 at 12:57

ArhatBaid
759 6 15

This works with Android 6.0 (debuggable apps at least):

adb shell "run-as your.package.name cp /data/data/your.package.name/databases/you-db-name

/sdcard/file_to_write"

Then you simply can view the DB with aSQLiteManager for instance.

answered Feb 18 '16 at 7:07

lomza
3,791 13 51 76

You can try SQLiteOnWeb. It manages your SQLite database in the browser.

edited May 26 '16 at 12:53 answered Apr 5 '16 at 5:35

Peter Mortensen NovemberEleven
11.4k 16 79 106 220 3 9

I can't get gradle to resolve the dependencies listed in this project's readme – Jerec TheSith Apr 18 '16 at
10:45

Oh~, could you tell me what error you get? – NovemberEleven Apr 19 '16 at 6:27

Error:(48, 18) Failed to resolve: io.github.skyhacker2:sqliteonweb:1.0.1 and Error:(49, 20)

Failed to resolve: io.github.skyhacker2:sqliteonweb-no-op:1.0.2 . i'm using mavenCentral in
repositories – Jerec TheSith Apr 20 '16 at 15:06

please use jcenter in repositories :) – NovemberEleven Apr 21 '16 at 2:21

This is brilliant! So easy to use. Thanks for sharing. – Jaimy Jun 14 '16 at 8:04

There is TKlerx's Android SQLite browser for Eclipse, and it's fully functional alongside Android
Studio. I'll recommend it, because it is immensely practical.

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2/11/2017 How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device? - Stack Overflow
To install it on Device Monitor, just place the JAR file in [Path to Android SDK
folder]/sdk/tools/lib/monitor-[...]/plugins .

edited May 26 '16 at 12:51 answered Dec 16 '15 at 11:49

Peter Mortensen Henrique de Sousa
11.4k 16 79 106 3,542 23 36

Using file explorer, you can locate your database file like this:

data-->data-->your.package.name-->databases--->yourdbfile.db

Then you can use any SQLite fronted to explore your database. I use the SQLite Manager
Firefox addon. It's nice, small, and fast.

edited May 26 '16 at 12:42 answered Oct 5 '13 at 6:40

Peter Mortensen r4jiv007
11.4k 16 79 106 1,273 2 14 23

Is this only work for emulator? – Hoo Nov 4 '15 at 9:51

For rooted device also it works fine – r4jiv007 Nov 4 '15 at 9:56

It can access data-->data-->your.package.name-->databases--->yourdbfile.db after rooted? – Hoo

Nov 4 '15 at 9:58

Yes, it can I have tried it – r4jiv007 Nov 4 '15 at 10:07

3 data in file explorer still empty even device is rooted – John Nov 5 '15 at 2:11

I found very simple library stetho to browse sqlite db of app in

chrome, see

answered Nov 18 '16 at 11:28

Mundroid
109 8

First post (https://stackoverflow.com/a/21151598/4244605) does not working for me.

I wrote own script for get DB file from device. Without root. Working OK.

1. Copy script to directory with adb (e.g.: ~/android-sdk/platform-tools ).

2. Device have to be connected to PC.
3. Use ./getDB.sh -p <packageName> for get name of databases.

Usage: ./getDB.sh -p <packageName> -n <name of DB> -s <store in mobile device> for get DB file
to this (where script is executed) directory.

I recommend you set filename of DB as *.sqlite and open it with Firefox addon: SQLite
Manager.

(It's a long time, when i have written something in Bash. You can edit this code.)

#!/bin/sh
# Get DB from Android device.
#

Hoption=false
Poption=false
Noption=false
Soption=false
Parg=""
Narg=""
Sarg=""

#-----------------------FUNCTION--------------------------:
helpFunc(){ #help
echo "Get names of DB's files in your Android app.
Usage: ./getDB -h
./getDB -p packageName -n nameOfDB -s storagePath
Options:
-h Show help.
-p packageName List of databases for package name.
-p packageName -n nameOfDB -s storagePath Save DB from device to this directory."
}

#--------------------------MAIN--------------------------:

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2/11/2017 How do I view the SQLite database on an Android device? - Stack Overflow
while getopts 'p:n:s:h' options; do
case $options in

p) Poption=true
Parg=$OPTARG;;

n) Noption=true
Narg=$OPTARG;;

s) Soption=true
Sarg=$OPTARG;;

h) Hoption=true;;
esac
done

#echo "-------------------------------------------------------
#Hoption: $Hoption
#Poption: $Poption
#Noption: $Noption
#Soption: $Soption
#Parg: $Parg
#Narg: $Narg
#Sarg: $Sarg
#-------------------------------------------------------"\\n
#echo $# #count of params

if [ $Hoption = true ];then

helpFunc
elif [ $# -eq 2 -a $Poption = true ];then #list
./adb -d shell run-as $Parg ls /data/data/$Parg/databases/
exit 0
elif [ $# -eq 6 -a $Poption = true -a $Noption = true -a $Soption = true ];then #get DB
file
#Change permissions
./adb shell run-as $Parg chmod 777 /data/data/$Parg/databases/
./adb shell run-as $Parg chmod 777 /data/data/$Parg/databases/$Narg
#Copy
./adb shell cp /data/data/$Parg/databases/$Narg $Sarg
#Pull file to this machine
./adb pull $Sarg/$Narg
exit 0
else
echo "Wrong params or arguments. Use -h for help."
exit 1;
fi

exit 0;

edited May 23 at 12:10 answered Jan 10 at 13:38

Community ♦ t0m
1 1 599 5 24

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