What is difference between platform tools and SDK tools in Android development?

Question

I can't get the difference between Android platform-tools and and Android SDK tools. can any one give my a brief?

Answer 1

SDK Tools is a downloadable component for the Android SDK. It includes the complete set of development and debugging tools for the Android SDK like emulator, sdcard, sqlite and apk builder etc.. Where as Platform-tools are used to support the features for the current android platform including adb which is acting like a bridge to communicate with emulator or device.

Answer 2

The Android SDK can be broken down into several components. These include:

1. Platform-tools
2. Build-tools
3. SDK-tools
4. The Android Debug Bridge (ADB)
5. Android Emulator

The most important parts of this package are in the SDK-tools. You will need these tools regardless of which version of Android you are targeting. These are what will actually create the APK – turning your code into an Android app that can be launched on a phone. These include a number of build tools, debugging tools, and image tools.

The Build tools were once categorized under the same heading as the Platform tools but have since been decoupled so that they can be updated separately. As the name suggests, these are also needed to build your Android apps (generating the final APK).

The Platform tools are more specifically suited to the version of Android that you want to target. Generally, it is best to install the latest Platform tools, after first installation though, you need to keep your Platform-tools constantly updated.

The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a program that allows you to communicate with any Android device. It relies on Platform-tools in order to understand the Android version that is being used.

The Android emulator is what lets you test and monitor apps on a PC, without necessarily needing to have a device available.

For more info here

Answer 3

In simple words:

Every time Google releases a new version of Android, a corresponding Android SDK is also released. To be able to write programs with the latest features, developers must download and install Android version’s SDK.

Android SDK is classified into 2 groups:

1. Android SDK Tools : Android SDK Tools is a component for the Android SDK. It includes development and debugging tools which all are essential for any Android app(or application) development. So complete kit for software development required for development of an Android app(or application).Its important tools are Android SDK Manager, Android Virtual Device Manager, Android Emulator, etc.
2. Android Platform Tools (or Android SDK Platform Tools) : Android SDK Platform-Tools is a component for the Android SDK. It is customized to support features of latest version of Android. It gets updated whenever we install a new Android SDK Platform. Each update of the Android Platform Tools is backward compatible. Android Platform Tools include aidl, adb, aapt, dexdump, and dx. And these tools are mostly called by ADT and Android build tools. So very rarely it is required to invoke these tools directly.

Note : Android SDK Platform Tools is a component of Android SDK not the Android SDK Platform. Android SDK Platform Tools just get updated by updating Android SDK Platform.