Is there any way how to install just ADB without whole SDK?

I need to install just ADB on customer´s PC to connect to android phone and install apk there. And because of SDK size is it possible to do it without installing whole SDK?

Yes you can

Installing ADB in windows without Download Android SDK

> 1. Firstly, you'll need a program that can partially download contents of > zip files from the internet.

2. Once that's set up, go to the SDK > download page and grab the link to the SDK.
3. In the zip file, navigate > to "android-sdk-windows\tools"
4. From there, select only "adb.exe", > "AdbWinApi.dll" and "AdbWinUsbApi.dll"
5. Download.

Source: http://twigstechtips.blogspot.in/2011/07/android-downloading-adb-without-sdk.html

It is now available officially from Google as a separate tool. You can download it from here SDK Platform Tools Release

I got adb.exe and the required .dll files from: http://adbshell.com/downloads

Very minimalistic, but does exactly what it needs to do.

Unfortunately, due to platform tools being moved to a separate package the method above doesn't work any more.

Edit: The new page is here with no info: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Doc:_sdk_intro

But the old wiki is still available here: http://oldwiki.cyanogenmod.org/wiki/Howto:_Install_the_Android_SDK/Windows

You can download Minimal ADB and Fastboot from XDA developers following thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317790

just copy the following files from any existing android sdk/platoform-tools folder to your pc and it should work

AdbWinUsbApi.dll AdbWinApi.dll adb.exe

Platform tools are moved to different package so above listed methods are not working anymore. Method working on 04/04/2020 :

1. Download platform tools from : https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-windows.zip

2. Extract zip and open command prompt window from extracted folder having ADB binary.

3. Enable usb debugging on your device and connect it.

4. run command adb devices in command window, your device should be visible in device list now.

5. Setup path variable for adb. New Android Studio adb location is

   C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools

Add this path to Path environment variable.

Right Click My Pc -> click properties -> Advance System Settings -> Environment Variables -> System Variables. -> scroll to find Path variable and path C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools; with semicolon(do not remove existing path string from this textbox). click ok.

Now run command prompt from anywhere in computer location and run command adb devices and it will work!!

for more details you can visit official xda developers forum : https://www.xda-developers.com/install-adb-windows-macos-linux/

If you're on Ubuntu you can use apt

sudo apt install adb

Note the last part:

> This package recommends "android-sdk-platform-tools-common" which contains the udev rules for Android devices. Without this package, adb and fastboot need to be running with root permission.

meaning it may be worth it to just download the sdk. But the footprint for the sdk hosted on apt looks to be significantly smaller than the zip found on the android website.

$ apt show adb
Package: adb
Version: 1:8.1.0+r23-5~18.04
Priority: optional
Section: universe/devel
Source: android-platform-system-core
Origin: Ubuntu
Maintainer: Android Tools Maintainers <[email protected]>
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Installed-Size: 253 kB
Provides: android-tools-adb
Depends: android-libadb (= 1:8.1.0+r23-5~18.04), android-libbase, libc6 (>= 2.24), libgcc1 (>= 1:3.0), libstdc++6 (>= 6)
Recommends: android-sdk-platform-tools-common
Breaks: android-tools-adb (<< 6.0~)
Replaces: android-tools-adb (<< 6.0~)
Homepage: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core
Download-Size: 97.4 kB
APT-Manual-Installed: no
APT-Sources: http://jp.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe amd64 Packages
Description: Android Debug Bridge
 A versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator
 instance or connected Android-powered device.
 .
 This package recommends "android-sdk-platform-tools-common" which contains
 the udev rules for Android devices. Without this package, adb and fastboot need
 to be running with root permission.

$ apt show android-sdk-platform-tools-common 
Package: android-sdk-platform-tools-common
Version: 27.0.0+10~18.04.2
Priority: optional
Section: universe/devel
Source: android-sdk-meta (25.0.0+10~18.04.2)
Origin: Ubuntu
Maintainer: Android Tools Maintainers <[email protected]>
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Installed-Size: 50.2 kB
Download-Size: 12.2 kB
APT-Manual-Installed: no
APT-Sources: http://jp.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe amd64 Packages
Description: Tools for interacting with an Android platform - Common files
 The Android SDK includes a variety of tools that help you develop mobile
 applications for the Android platform. The tools are classified into 3 groups:
 SDK Tools, Platform-tools and Build-tools.
 .
 Platform-tools are customized to support the features of the latest Android
 platform.
 .
 This package provides common files of Android SDK Platform-tools. It also
 provides UDEV rules enabling adb and fastboot to work without root access to
 the host machine.