[android] How to run a specific Android app using Terminal?

I installed Eclipse and Android SDK already. Everything is running fine.

I want to install an .apk file so I follow the instruction already. But the problem is, when I start the emulator, it doesn't run my app automatically.

Is there a command in the terminal that allow me to run the specific app that I ask for it?

I used all the above answers and it was giving me errors so I tried

adb shell monkey -p com.yourpackage.name -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1

and it worked. One advantage is you dont have to specify your launcher activity if you use this command.

You can Start the android Service by this command.

adb shell am startservice -n packageName/.ServiceClass

Use the cmd activity start-activity (or the alternative am start) command, which is a command-line interface to the ActivityManager. Use am to start activities as shown in this help:

$ adb shell am
usage: am [start|instrument]
       am start [-a <ACTION>] [-d <DATA_URI>] [-t <MIME_TYPE>]
                [-c <CATEGORY> [-c <CATEGORY>] ...]
                [-e <EXTRA_KEY> <EXTRA_VALUE> [-e <EXTRA_KEY> <EXTRA_VALUE> ...]
                [-n <COMPONENT>] [-D] [<URI>]
       ...

For example, to start the Contacts application, and supposing you know only the package name but not the Activity, you can use

$ pkg=com.google.android.contacts
$ comp=$(adb shell cmd package resolve-activity --brief -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER $pkg | tail -1)
$ adb shell cmd activity start-activity $comp

or the alternative

$ adb shell am start -n $comp

See also http://www.kandroid.org/online-pdk/guide/instrumentation_testing.html (may be a copy of obsolete url : http://source.android.com/porting/instrumentation_testing.html ) for other details.

To terminate the application you can use

$ adb shell am kill com.google.android.contacts

or the more drastic

$ adb shell am force-stop com.google.android.contacts

I keep this build-and-run script handy, whenever I am working from command line:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

PACKAGE=com.example.demo
ACTIVITY=.MainActivity
APK_LOCATION=app/build/outputs/apk/app-debug.apk
echo "Package: $PACKAGE"

echo "Building the project with tasks: $TASKS"
./gradlew $TASKS

echo "Uninstalling $PACKAGE"
adb uninstall $PACKAGE

echo "Installing $APK_LOCATION"
adb install $APK_LOCATION

echo "Starting $ACTIVITY"
adb shell am start -n $PACKAGE/$ACTIVITY