document updated 21 hours ago, on Feb 2, 2026

How do you use your laptop as an external keyboard and mouse, to control an Android phone?

The app is called scrcpy. It is installed on the WINDOWS side, not on the Android side. (Which is to say: Don't look in the Play store. And if you do, this app is a third-party fraud.)

Documentation — Setting up a connection

Scrcpy documentation
- How to run it from Windows
- How to connect over a wireless connection
Adb documentation
- How to connect using Windows, and either USB-OTG or Wi-Fi
- How to fix the problem that 'adb devices' shows "unauthorized"

Shortcut keys

Full documentation here.

On the Windows UI side — Scrcpy only:

Alt+F	Toggle fullscreen mode.
Alt+O	Turn Android screen off, but keep mirroring to the Windows side.
Alt+Shift+O	Turn Android screen back on.
Alt+Shift+V	Paste into Android from the Windows clipboard.

Keys that are forwarded to Android, though Scrcpy does some initial translation, even if it's bare-minimum.

Alt+H Middle-click	`Home`, which typically brings up the launcher.
Right-click Alt+B Alt+Backspace	`Back`
4th-click Alt+S	`App switch` [explanation]
5th-click Alt+N	Expand notification panel (press twice to show the Settings pull-down)
Alt+M	`Menu button` [explanation]

Keys that are only meaningful on the Android side, Scrcpy doesn't do anything with them.

Double-click+drag	Same as `Pinch in` or `Pinch out`
...

Keys that are only meaningful to specific applications:

Microsoft Launcher

Ctrl+A

Open app drawer