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[Feature] Investigate using Shizuku instead of needing direct ADB access #126

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@djbclark

AI thinks this might be really annoying, but if not it's a feature that would make things really easy for users who already use Shizuku for other things. This is from AI:

Yes, it is entirely possible. If the AirSync developer added Shizuku integration to the AirSync Android app, it could completely eliminate the need for your Mac to manually pair with Android's Wireless Debugging.

In fact, the developer of AirSync (Sameera) has publicly mentioned looking into Shizuku as an alternative method for handling restricted features like background clipboard syncing.

Here is how Shizuku would change how AirSync operates under the hood if the code were added:

1. System Toggles and Clipboard (The Easy Implementation)

Android restricts standard apps from reading the clipboard in the background or toggling certain system-level settings. Currently, AirSync gets around this by having your Mac send an external ADB command over Wi-Fi to fetch that data.

If Shizuku were integrated, the AirSync Android app would simply ask Shizuku to run those shell commands locally on the device. The Android app would then securely relay the data (like copied text) to your Mac over their standard websocket connection. The Mac would never need to touch ADB.

2. Screen and App Mirroring (The Challenging Part)

AirSync relies heavily on scrcpy (Screen Copy) for its mirroring and desktop mode features. Currently, this relies on a traditional, remote ADB handshake:

  1. The Mac connects to the phone via Wireless ADB.
  2. The Mac pushes the scrcpy-server.jar file onto the phone.
  3. The Mac uses ADB to set up port forwarding and launch the video stream.

How Shizuku could bypass this:
Instead of the Mac orchestrating the connection, the AirSync Android app could use Shizuku's elevated privileges to locally execute the app_process command that launches the internal scrcpy-server. The Android app would then expose the raw video socket over your local Wi-Fi, and the Mac AirSync app would simply connect to that stream like a standard network video player.

Why hasn't it happened yet?

Using Shizuku to read the clipboard or send basic shell commands is a straightforward integration. However, rewriting the scrcpy pipeline to rely on a local Shizuku launch—rather than the standard Mac ADB connection—is a massive architectural change. It shifts the heavy networking and stream orchestration from the Mac desktop app over to the Android app.

That said, because Shizuku essentially acts as a local proxy for adb shell, anything AirSync currently does via Mac-to-Phone ADB could absolutely be done via Phone-to-Phone Shizuku if the developer writes the bridging code.

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