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PIDCAT for Android Bug Bounty Logging

A focused logcat wrapper for Android security researchers and bug bounty hunters — helps filter logs from a specific app instead of the entire device, making vulnerability analysis faster and cleaner.

A focused logcat wrapper for Android security researchers and bug bounty hunters — helps filter logs from a specific app instead of the entire device, making vulnerability analysis faster and cleaner.

Why Use PIDCAT?

adb logcat (Default behavior)

adb devices
adb -s <device-ip:port> logcat
  • Captures all logs from the device: system, apps, services.
  • Noisy and difficult to isolate logs for one app.

pidcat (Focused behavior)

pidcat -s <device-ip:port> <package.name>
  • Captures logs only from a specific app using its PID (process ID).
  • Automatically updates PID if the app restarts.
  • Filters out irrelevant system logs.

Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/JakeWharton/pidcat.git
cd pidcat

2. Run Directly

On Linux/macOS:

./pidcat.py -s <device-ip:port> <package.name>

On Windows:

python pidcat.py -s <device-ip:port> <package.name>

Make It Universal on Windows

To run pidcat from any directory:

  1. Move pidcat.py to a folder like C:\Tools\pidcat\
  2. Add that folder to the System PATH:
    • Open Environment Variables
    • Edit the Path variable
    • Add: C:\Tools\pidcat
  3. (Optional) Create pidcat.bat in the same folder:
    @echo off python C:\Tools\pidcat\pidcat.py %*

Now you can run:

pidcat -s <device-ip:port> com.target.app

Example Commands

For a remote device:

pidcat -s 192.168.0.101:5555 com.target.app

For a USB device:

pidcat com.target.app

Original Repository

https://github.com/JakeWharton/pidcat
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