Google makes its essential Android modding tools easier to get

Android users have a long history of unlocking their phones, sideloading apps and installing custom OS builds -- but getting the tools to do all that has always been kind of a pain in the ass. Users who wanted to play around with their phone's backend had to download the entire Android SDK just to get access to two specific tools. Not anymore. Google has quietly released its ADB and Fastboot tools as lightweight, independent packages.

The company doesn't have a dedicated page for these tools, but Google software Engineer Elliot Hughes shared them on his Google Plus page. In total there are three links: one for Linux, one for Mac and one for Windows. It seems a little overdue to offer these tools now, as the craze for custom Android ROMs has died down considerably in recent years -- but it's still a nice gesture. Check out the original Google Plus post at the source link below.