5 Ways to Boot Samsung Devices into Recovery Mode

Like all Android devices, Samsung phones and tablets have a Recovery Mode. It consists of options to perform a factory reset, wipe the system cache, sideload OTA zips, etc. If you want to hard reset your device, and fix bootloop, overheating issues, or performance lag, you can do it via Samsung Recovery Mode. Here are 4 methods to get into the Recovery Mode on your Samsung phone or tablet using the hardware key combination, the ADB AppControl tool, and ADB commands.

Similarly, you can boot into the Samsung Download Mode to flash firmware via Odin. If the hardware key combination doesn’t work, recovery mode tools or ADB can help you enter the Recovery Mode Below, I have explained all 4 methods in detail.

1. Samsung Recovery Mode Key Combinations

Before we check out the methods to boot into the Recovery Mode of Samsung devices without hardware keys, let’s look at the hardware key combinations.

On Samsung Galaxy S22 and Newer Phones

If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone to Tab released after 2021, using the old hardware key combination will not work. Here’s how you boot a Galaxy S22, S23, S24, or newer Galaxy devices into the Recovery Mode.

1. Turn off your Samsung device.
2. Connect your phone to your desktop or laptop using a USB cable and instantly press and hold the Volume Up and Power keys simultaneously.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy logo shows on your phone’s screen, release both keys and wait until the device boots into Recovery mode.

Alternatively, you can try the following method without turning off your phone.

1. Connect your Samsung Galaxy phone to a computer using a USB cable.
2. Hold the power button to bring up the Power Menu. You can also access the Power Menu from the Quick Settings screen.
3. Tap the Reboot option.
4. When the screen turns black, hold the Volume Up + Power buttons simultaneously.
5. Keep the buttons pressed until you see the Samsung Galaxy screen.
6. Release both keys and your Samsung phone will enter the Recovery Mode.

Samsung Devices with Volume and Power/Bixby Keys

On high-end Samsung devices like Galaxy S20, Note 10, Galaxy A80, etc., you can enter the recovery mode using the following hardware key combination.

1. Power off your phone.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up + Power buttons for 5 seconds.

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Samsung Phones with Power, Bixby, and Volume Keys

1. Power off your Samsung Galaxy device.
2. Hold the Volume Up + Bixby + Power keys simultaneously for about 5 seconds.
3. Keep the buttons pressed until the recovery menu appears.

Samsung Devices with Power and Volume Keys

If your Samsung Galaxy phone has only the Power and Volume buttons, here’s how to enter the Recovery Mode.

1. Turn off your device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up + Power keys together for about 5 seconds.

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2. Using ADB Command via aShell Terminal App

If you are an Android enthusiast and don’t use Shizuku, you are missing out on a great way to tweak and customize your device without root. Having set up Shizuku, you can execute ADB commands on your device without a computer.

1. Follow our guide to set up Shizuku on your Android phone.
2. Install the aShell terminal app from the Play Store (paid) or F-Droid (free).
3. Open aShell and allow it to access Shizuku.
4. Tap the aShell command box, type the following command, and tap the Send button or Enter key on your Keyboard.

   adb reboot recovery

   

5. Your Samsung device will reboot into the Recovery Mode.

3. Boot into Recovery Mode without Hardware Keys

ADB commands can perform various advanced tasks. They can also help you reboot Android devices into the Recovery Mode. Needless to mention you’ll need a PC or laptop to do this.

1. Download the latest Android SDK Platform-tools.zip for your Windows, macOS, or Linux computer and extract it on your desktop.
2. Navigate to the platform-tools folder that contains the ADB and Fastboot files.
3. Launch the command window from this folder by typing “cmd” in the folder address bar and pressing the Enter key.
4. Install the Samsung USB driver on your computer and enable USB debugging on the device.
5. Connect your Samsung phone or tablet to the computer via the USB cable that came with your device.
6. Execute the following command to check if your device is properly connected to the ADB server.

   adb devices

   

7. Now type the following command and press the Enter key on your keyboard.

   adb reboot recovery

   

8. Your Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet will reboot into the Recovery Mode without pressing the hardware keys.

Note: You can exit the Recovery Mode on Samsung devices by selecting the Reboot system now option.

Don’t forget to check out the complete list of ADB Shell commands and Fastboot commands to explore the full potential of the command-line tool for Android.

4. Enter Recovery Mode using ADB AppControl

If using the ADB method seems too complicated, there’s an easier way to reboot into the Samsung Recovery mode without hardware keys. You can use a multi-purpose tool named ADB AppControl for the purpose.

1. Install the free or premium version of ADB AppControl.
2. Launch the tool when it’s installed.
3. Click on Tools > Reboot and select ‘recovery‘ from the drop-down.
4. Click the OK button when prompted and your Samsung device will boot into the Recovery Mode.

That’s it!

5. Boot into Samsung Recovery Mode using WebADB

Do you know you can enter the Recovery mode on your Samsung and other Android devices from a web browser interface? Yes, a web app named WebADB leverages Chrome’s Automatic detection of WebUSB-compatible devices feature to connect to an Android device and manage and control it.

Here is how to use WebADB to perform ADB-related tasks on your Samsung device.

1. Open WebADB app in a Chromium-based web browser like Chrome, Edge, or Opera.
2. Go to Settings > Developer options on your Samsung phone and turn on USB debugging.
3. Connect your device to your computer using a USB cable.
4. When WebADB displays the serial number of your device, click the Connect button.
5. Keep an eye on your Samsung phone’s screen and authorize ADB connection by tapping Allow.
6. When the connection is established, click the Power Menu > Reboot to Recovery option in WebADB.

That’s it! Your Samsung phone or tablet will reboot into the Recovery Mode.

Android Recovery Mode Options Explained

Android Recovery Mode can help recover your device in tricky situations. It can perform a factory reset, wipe data, and cache partitions. These actions can help you fix some problems on your device. Moreover, you can also install the OTA update.zip package from Samsung to update your device software manually. The mode is designed to help troubleshoot and fix issues with your phone.

• Reboot to bootloader: You can use this option to enter the Download Mode on Samsung devices from the Recovery Menu.
• Apply update from ADB: By selecting this option, you can flash the OTA update.zip file using the ‘adb sideload <file name>‘ command on your computer.

  adb sideload ota.zip

• Apply update from SD card: This option lets you install an OTA zip saved on your Samsung phone’s storage. Just boot into the Recovery Mode, select this option, navigate to the update file, select it, and confirm.
• Wipe data/factory reset: As the name suggests, you can use this option to wipe all data on your Samsung device and reset it to the factory state. Before you perform a factory reset to fix some minor problem on your phone, you should try to diagnose the problem using Safe Mode on your Samsung Galaxy device.
• Wipe cache partition: The cache partition keeps all cache data and by selecting this option you can clean all the accumulated cache on your phone.
• Mount/ system: Using this option, you can mount the System partition on your Android and modify anything on this partition via your computer.
• View recovery logs: The recovery logs on Android devices keep a record of all activities done via the recovery mode.
• Run graphics test: This option lets you test the GPU (graphics processing unit) on Android devices. This option is not meant to be used by consumers. When I tried running a graphics test on my Galaxy Note S23, it started updating apps and erasing something. I thought it would wipe my phone but it didn’t.
• Run locale test: This, again, is not supposed to be used by normal users and is meant for app developers. This test helps developers “simulate the characteristics of languages that cause UI, layout, and other translation-related problems“.
• Reboot system now: Using this option, you can reboot your system in user mode.
• Power off: Select this option to turn off your Samsung phone or tablet.
• Repair apps: If any system app gets corrupted or you have issues using apps, you can use this option to repair the apps.

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