How to Control Your Phone Over PC (Scrcpy)

Currently, there are dozens of apps that allow mirroring Android phones on PC, but only a handful of them are really good. From occasional jerks to high latency to intrusive ads; not to mention that Android screen mirroring on PC is one big nightmare.

Scrcpy is one of the best screen mirroring tools for Android. It allows you to mirror your Android phone on your PC and control it directly with PC peripherals like keyboard and mouse. Scrcpy supports seamless copy and paste between your phone and PC, works on both Macs and Windows PCs, and is also absolutely free.

However, it requires an understanding of how to use the ADB command line. If you are an advanced developer, you may already know Scrcpy, but if you are a beginner trying just to mirror his/her phone, this guide will enlighten you step by step and teach you how to use Scrcpy for Windows.

Some basic features of Scrcpy:

recording
mirroring with device screen off
copy-paste in both directions
configurable quality
device screen as a webcam (V4L2) (Linux-only)
physical keyboard simulation (HID) (Linux-only)
and more…

It focuses on:

lightness: native, displays only the device screen
performance: 30~120fps, depending on the device
quality: 1920×1080 or above
low latency: 35~70ms
low startup time: ~1 second to display the first image
non-intrusiveness: nothing is left installed on the device
user benefits: no account, no ads, no internet required
freedom: free and open source software

Requirements:

The Android device requires at least API 21 (Android 5.0).
Make sure you enabled adb debugging on your device(s).
On some devices, you also need to enable an additional option ()to control it using keyboard and mouse.

How to mirror Android screen to PC via USB?

Firstly, go to Settings > About phone > Scroll down and find Build Number > Tap on it several times to enable developer settings.
USE THIS GUIDE IF YOU ARE USING MIUI (How to enable Developer Options)

Go to Settings > System > Developer Options, then enable it from top. (How to enable Developer Options)

Next, scroll down to find usb debugging and enable it.

Now, connect your device to your PC via USB cable and allow USB Debugging.

Next, go back to your PC and download the latest Scrcpy build from this link (direct) and extract it into a folder.

Then, while your device is connected to your PC with USB Debugging enabled and allowed, double click “scrcpy.exe” inside the folder.

If you did every step correct, you should be seeing these after waiting couple of seconds:

Finally, you are now mirroring your phone screen to your PC. Furthermore, you can use your mouse and keyboard to control the device!
That’s it. Next time, you can just connect your phone to your PC and directly open Scrcpy from its folder.

What you can do with Scrcpy? Also see Scrcpy’s Github Page

Capture configuration

Reduce size

Sometimes, it is useful to mirror an Android device at a lower definition to increase performance.

To limit both the width and height to some value (e.g. 1024):

scrcpy --max-size 1024
scrcpy -m 1024  # short version

The other dimension is computed to that the device aspect ratio is preserved. That way, a device in 1920×1080 will be mirrored at 1024×576.

Change bit-rate

The default bit-rate is 8 Mbps. To change the video bitrate (e.g. to 2 Mbps):

scrcpy --bit-rate 2M
scrcpy -b 2M  # short version

Limit frame rate

The capture frame rate can be limited:

scrcpy --max-fps 15

This is officially supported since Android 10, but may work on earlier versions.

Crop

The device screen may be cropped to mirror only part of the screen.

This is useful for example to mirror only one eye of the Oculus Go:

scrcpy --crop 1224:1440:0:0   # 1224x1440 at offset (0,0)

If --max-size is also specified, resizing is applied after cropping.

Lock video orientation

To lock the orientation of the mirroring:

scrcpy --lock-video-orientation     # initial (current) orientation
scrcpy --lock-video-orientation=0   # natural orientation
scrcpy --lock-video-orientation=1   # 90° counterclockwise
scrcpy --lock-video-orientation=2   # 180°
scrcpy --lock-video-orientation=3   # 90° clockwise

This affects recording orientation.

The window may also be rotated independently.

Capture

Recording

It is possible to record the screen while mirroring:

scrcpy --record file.mp4
scrcpy -r file.mkv

To disable mirroring while recording:

scrcpy --no-display --record file.mp4
scrcpy -Nr file.mkv
# interrupt recording with Ctrl+C

“Skipped frames” are recorded, even if they are not displayed in real time (for performance reasons). Frames are timestamped on the device, so packet delay variation does not impact the recorded file.

Connection

Multi-devices

If several devices are listed in adb devices, you must specify the serial:

scrcpy --serial 0123456789abcdef
scrcpy -s 0123456789abcdef  # short version

If the device is connected over TCP/IP:

scrcpy --serial 192.168.0.1:5555
scrcpy -s 192.168.0.1:5555  # short version

You can start several instances of scrcpy for several devices.

Window configuration

Title

By default, the window title is the device model. It can be changed:

scrcpy --window-title 'My device'

Position and size

The initial window position and size may be specified:

scrcpy --window-x 100 --window-y 100 --window-width 800 --window-height 600

Borderless

To disable window decorations:

scrcpy --window-borderless

Always on top

To keep the scrcpy window always on top:

scrcpy --always-on-top

Fullscreen

The app may be started directly in fullscreen:

scrcpy --fullscreen
scrcpy -f  # short version

Fullscreen can then be toggled dynamically with MOD+f.

Rotation

The window may be rotated:

scrcpy --rotation 1

Possibles values are:

0: no rotation
1: 90 degrees counterclockwise
2: 180 degrees
3: 90 degrees clockwise

Other mirroring options

Read-only

To disable controls (everything which can interact with the device: input keys, mouse events, drag&drop files):

scrcpy --no-control
scrcpy -n

Stay awake

To prevent the device to sleep after some delay when the device is plugged in:

scrcpy --stay-awake
scrcpy -w

The initial state is restored when scrcpy is closed.

Turn screen off

It is possible to turn the device screen off while mirroring on start with a command-line option:

scrcpy --turn-screen-off
scrcpy -S

Show touches

For presentations, it may be useful to show physical touches (on the physical device).

Android provides this feature in Developers options.

Scrcpy provides an option to enable this feature on start and restore the initial value on exit:

scrcpy --show-touches
scrcpy -t

Note that it only shows physical touches (with the finger on the device).

File drop

Install APK

To install an APK, drag & drop an APK file (ending with .apk) to the scrcpy window.

There is no visual feedback, a log is printed to the console.

Push file to device

To push a file to /sdcard/Download/ on the device, drag & drop a (non-APK) file to the scrcpy window.