Debugging with Android Studio stuck at "Waiting For Debugger" forever

Question

UPDATE The supposed duplicate is a question on being stucking in "Waiting For Debugger" when executing Run, while this question is on being stucking in "Waiting For Debugger" when executing Debug, the steps to produce the problem is different, and the solution(s) are different as well.

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Whenever I try to use Android Studio's Debug function, the Run status would always stuck at:

Launching application: com.astrotek.parashoot.debug/com.astrotek.ptpviewer.StarterActivity.
DEVICE SHELL COMMAND: am start -n "com.astrotek.parashoot.debug/com.astrotek.ptpviewer.StarterActivity" -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER
Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] cmp=com.astrotek.parashoot.debug/com.astrotek.ptpviewer.StarterActivity }

While the device (Samsung Galaxy S3 Android 4.3) I'm debugging would display

This has being the case from Android Studio 0.8.8 all the way to 1.0. And on the same computer I can perform debugging using Eclipse on the same device without any issues.

So the question is what can I do to make Android Studio debugging work?

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Update: The same thing happens when debugging on Nexus 7 (2013) running Android 5.0; and testing on another machine rendered the same result. I can't be the only one encountering this issue :-/

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Update: Opened a bounty since this issue is so annoying. Even re-installing the app doesn't solve. Nexus 5 running Cyano, Win7 64. The ADB log is telling:

8568-8568/it.myapp:myprocess W/ActivityThread﹕ Application it.myapp is waiting for the debugger on port 8100...
8568-8568/it.myapp:myprocess I/System.out﹕ Sending WAIT chunk

Also, I can't find an easy way to disconnect nor reset ADB connection in Android Studio.

Answer 1

Obviously is yet another Android Studio, or rather ADB bug.

Just use this command to disable it. adb shell am clear-debug-app

OR

Ensure there is nothing to wait for, by automatic uninstall from Device before each test-run, using Gradle's uninstallAll task, as mentioned in:
stackoverflow.com/Auto uninstall before install?

Answer 2

On some machines/projects the debugger do not attach automatically so you need to attach it manually (studio menu -> Run -> Attach debugger to Android process)

Answer 3

Restarting Testing device fix the issue for me.

Answer 4

Restarting Android Studio fix the issue for me.

Answer 5

After clicking on the run icon. If it is stuck waiting for a debugger means it is not attached to the app. You have to manually attach by clicking on Attach Debugger to Android process. It is on the right side of the run icon. I had focus this icon in linked image.

Updated Image for Attach Debugger to Android process Icon

Answer 6

A similar question has been asked recently and the solution may work for some and is very quick.

Clearing the Intellij IDEA (Android Studio) .idea directory which contains configuration information worked for me:

1. Exit Android Studio
2. Navigate to the project you are trying to debug
3. Backup any files inside .idea that you modified (if your project checks any of these into VCS)
4. Delete .idea directory
5. Open the project in Android Studio

Answer 7

Debugger stopped connecting for me today and nothing worked until I tried the following:

Go to Run, Edit-Configurations, Miscellaneous Tab, uncheck 'skip installation if APK has not changed' Apply, OK.

Debugger started to connect again.

Answer 8

This problem occurs when you open more than one instance of Android studio, so you need to attach the debugger manually like mentioned above.

You may need to close other instances of Android studio.

Answer 9

I faced this problem in android studio 3.0. Just restarted device solved.

Answer 10

I tried the top three rated answers but failed. After rebooting my mobile, the problem is solved. No more long "Waiting for Debugger".

Answer 11

Both of my dev machines have JDK 8 installed, the debugging function is restored once JDK 7.0.71 was installed and JAVA_HOME environmental variable was set to point to the new JDK.

Guess there's some compatibility issue between Android Studio + ADB + JDK8 (Eclipse + ADB + JDK8 works fine).

Answer 12

I just managed this problem, after several days of trying the above solutions. So I closed the emulator, run AVD manager and in device menu choose - "wipe data" So in next run I was free from stucked debugger.

Answer 13

This fixed it for me. Android Studio -> File -> Invalidate Caches & Restart...

Answer 14

When the Device displays the message go to Run->Attach debbuger, then select a debbuger. it'll start the activity.

Answer 15

I had the same problem. Restart my android phone device worked for me.

Answer 16

For me, the issue was: The Regional Format of Windows was ARABIC. I simply changed the regional format to English (United States) and the error has fixed.

Steps to fix:

1. Go to Start -> type Region -> click on Region to open Region window -> from the Format dropdown, select English (United Stated) -> Click OK.
2. Restart Android Studio.

Answer 17

This solution works for me:

turning off the USB debugging from my device settings , and then turning it on again.

its Much quicker and easier than restart the device.

Answer 18

How it worked for me.

1 Start Android Device Monitor from Tools -> Android -> Android Device Monitor

2 Click on Stop for the process you are facing the issue from list of devices.

Answer 19

This also happens to me from time to time. Problem is that your app / device is configured to wait for debugger. In this case it is waiting for debugger before continuing execution of.

Option 1:

Attach debugger or run in debug mode. You can do this in Android Studio. Buttons to attach debugger and run in debug mode are located next to normal run mode (Bug and Bug with arrow).

Option 2:

Disable Wait for debugger. You can do this is developer settings. This option needs to be disabled in:

1. Root of Developer Options
2. Developer options -> Select debug app -> -> Wait for debugger

This was tested on Android emulator in android studio. Other phones might have this setting different. If you can not find app's settings in debug, reinstalling app might work too.

Answer 20

As for my case, running Android Studio Canary (preview release) along with the stable version was the problem. Running multiple instances of the same Android Studio flavor was OK, but mixing them often resulted in "Waiting For Debugger".

Answer 21

Most of the times this is caused because of the overload of resources and threads over the emulator. Or even for the lock of objects that GC couldn't set free: http://developer.android.com/intl/pt-br/tools/debugging/index.html

Usually, a single restart of it will solve the issue, but sometimes it asks for the IDE restart, so be sure to make both tests.

Another good test is trying to start the app in "Start mode" and then try the debug mode again...

P.S: Don't forget to kill each debug process in the IDE after each test. This will prevent your env to be more overloaded.

Answer 22

Open Command prompt and go to android sdk>platform-tools> adb kill-server

press enter

and again adb start-server

press enter

Answer 23

Android studio 3.0 and Above

Disable the instant Run

Answer 24

Tried all the solutions given here but restarting my laptop worked for me.

Answer 25

I had the same problem. Restart my android device and closed the adb.exe process. With that I could solve the problem

Answer 26

Well, I guess there is a plethora of circumstances that can trigger this issue. I'm using IntelliJ Idea instead, but it's mostly the same than Android Studio. My solution for this problem:

Fastest way:

Right click on the class file that contains the main activity of your project, and then on "Debug 'WhateverActivity'". This will create a new run configuration that should debug fine.

Other solution, without creating a new run configuration:

1. Open Run/Debug configurations and within "Android app" pick the configuration you're using to debug your app.
2. Locate "Launch Options/Launch" there and set it to "Specified Activity" instead of "Default Activity".
3. In the "Launch" field just below the aforementioned option, click on the three ellipsis (three dots) button and select your main activity.

At least it worked for me. I hope it works for others too.

Answer 27

Got it fixed according this solution: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-166153
I opened <project dir>/.idea/workspace.xml replaced all the
<option name="DEBUGGER_TYPE" value="Auto" /> occurrences to
<option name="DEBUGGER_TYPE" value="Java" />
and restarted Android Studio

Answer 28

Non of this solutions worked for me.

In my case was that I was debugging an App from Intellij IDEA and at the same time with Android Studio. By just closing the Intellij IDEA and removing the app I was debugging just fixed my problem.

Answer 29

Make sure that your Active Build Variant is debug.

If you also want to make your release variant APK debuggable then make a simple change in app level build.gradle -

buildTypes {
        release {
            debuggable true
            /*Your rest code*/
        }
    }

Answer 30

Change your time zone and region format. unfortunately, some regions are restricted.

Answer 31

For me the problem was having IntelliJ open at the same time as Android Studio. I was using IntelliJ for back-end development at the same time as Android Studio for app development. Even though I was not doing any mobile device work with IntelliJ, it broke debugging in Android Studio.

Solution: Shutdown IntelliJ when debugging with Android Studio.

Answer 32

Restarting everything didn't work for me. What DID work was waiting for a few minutes while Android Studio unclogged itself. This was the first time I ran the debugger; after that, Android Studio fired up the debugger quickly.

Answer 33

For me Run->Attach debugger to Android process was working, but I had to do it every time app was launched.

Fix: There may be a problem with your 'App launch configuration'(To verify this create new project to see if it's working fine). Just delete app configuration, open MainActivity file and Run->Debug (new conffiguration will be created)

Answer 34

Sometime it's due to the fact that in the build.gradle configuration you have to set the node:

  debug {
            debuggable true
        }

Change it back to false when you have to prepare the signed apk.

Regards

Answer 35

It has happened to me that it stayed stuck in "Waiting for Debugger" when accidentally I tried to Debug a Release build, sometimes it warns that it is not a debug build and others it silently stucks in "Waiting for Debugger".

The solution is obviously to switch to Debug build

Answer 36

For my case, I have to reinstall the AVD.

Answer 37

Seems this is another Android Studio bug. To prevent this problem return back to Android Studio v4.1.3 (4.1.1) or earlier and use Android Gradle Plugin Version 4.1+ and Gradle Version 6.6 . After this, android studio works fine. Say if this answer is useful, Thanks.

Answer 38

In my Linux Ubuntu Android Studio development environment, entirely deleting my configuration folder, ~/.config/Google/AndroidStudio2021.1, and restarting Android Studio was the only way to restore native debugging ability.

Answer 39

Solution using the Terminal

Using @twlkyao answer I entered in the terminal:

adb shell am clear-debug-app

And the response was:

adb.exe: more than one device/emulator

Then, taking a hint from @kudzai zishumba answer, I entered:

adb kill-server

And that cured my problem. I'm surmising that the debugger was attached to the emulator and also to my phone. It's my phone I'm wanting to run debug on, not the emulator.

Answer 40

If all else fails, try "Clean Storage" via the app's System Settings.