Thanks to the open-source nature of Android, there are a plethora of tweaks that could be carried out. For most of these customizations, accessing the Android Debug bridge environment is a must. And for that, you will have to enable USB Debugging from Developer Options. But here is the thing. If the screen of your Android device is broken, how will you enable USB Debugging? Let’s first take out all the false notions. To begin with, you could find tons of third-party apps and software on the internet that claim to enable USB Debugging via your Windows PC or macOS. However, they are bluntly lying- it isn’t possible to do so.
There was a tip earlier, around 7-8 years back that allowed for enabling USB Debugging via the Clockwork Mod Recovery, which surprisingly had a high degree of success rate. However, as you all might very well be aware of, we have already bid adieu to this recovery, and TWRP is the sole standing player in this domain. Unfortunately, enabling Debugging via this custom recovery isn’t possible, as of now.
There exists another method that results in somewhat success. It involves using a USB OTG cable and a Mouse. I tried it on a couple of devices but wasn’t able to enjoy much success. More often than not, the mouse failed to click on the USB Debugging popup that appears on our device when we connect it to our PC. Moreover, I doubt someone would spend a couple of bucks and wait for a few days just for this very purpose. So then how could one enable USB Debugging on an Android device with a broken screen? Well, there are quite a few tips and workarounds that I will be mentioning in this guide and should come in handy. Let’s check it out.
Table of Contents
How to Enable USB Debugging on a Broken Android Device Screen
METHOD 1
This method requires a USB keyboard, a USB OTG, and a Mouse [for mouse, even the laptop’s built-in one (trackpad) will get the job done, no need to bring in a new one]. The OTG is required to connect the keyboard to your phone.
- To begin with, connect your keyboard to your phone via USB OTG.
- Then hit the Windows+/ shortcut keys to bring up the shortcut list.
- Note them down somewhere, it will come in handy later on. Here are the shortcuts that I will be using [a Pixel device running Android 15]
Ctrl A= All apps Enter - accept Space- accept Arrow key and Tab- navigation Home- Windows Enter Back: Windows Backspace Recent: Alt Tab Keyboard Shortcut List: Windows /
- Now press the shortcuts to bring up All Apps [Ctrl+A].
- Then press the arrow keys/Tab to select the Settings app and hit Enter to confirm.
- Now use the arrow keys/Tab to go to About Device > Build Number.
- Then hit the Enter/Space key 7 times. This will enable Developer Options.
- Now use Windows+Backspace to go back. Then go to System > Developer Options.
- Go to USB Debugging via Tab/Arrow keys and enable its toggle. Then hit Enter in the prompt that appears.
- Now remove the OTG+Keyboard from your phone and connect your phone to the PC via a USB cable.
- After that, now download and extract the scrcpy tool on the PC.
- Go to that folder, type in CMD in the address bar, and hit Enter.
- Now, if you want to directly control your device via the mouse, then follow the below steps.
- On the other hand, if you want to mirror the device’s screen over to your PC and then control the device, then refer to the next section.
Control your Phone via Mouse
- First off, type the below command to initiate the USB OTG Mode:
scrcpy --otg
- Doing so should open a small scrcpy window on your PC.
- Likewise, a cursor will be displayed on your phone as well.
- You may now use this cursor to carry out the desired task.
Mirror your Phone Display
- Open the scrcpy.exe file and it should mirror the device’s display on your PC.
- You may use your PC’s mouse to control your device as per the requirements.
METHOD 2
UPDATE: This method will only work for those users who have at least an unauthorized USB Debugging enabled.
- To begin with, download and extract the scrcpy tool on your PC.
- Once that’s done, connect your device to your PC via USB cable.
- Go to that folder, type in CMD in the address bar, and hit Enter.
- Now type in the below command to initiate the USB OTG Mode:
scrcpy --otg
- Doing so should open a small scrcpy window on your PC.
- Likewise, a cursor will be displayed on your phone as well.
- You may now use this cursor to enable the USB Debugging.
Tweaks that you might not be able to use in the current state of your device:
- You will not be able to use the scrcpy tool in its default state because it requires USB Debugging to be enabled beforehand.
- Likewise, you might not be able to use a Bluetooth mouse because the Bluetooth should be enabled on your device beforehand.
- Using Wireless USB Debugging might also not be possible because the Developer Options should be enabled beforehand.
METHOD 3
The below workaround was written on Jul 12, 2020
So the bad news first- you cannot enable USB Debugging on any broken Android device [see METHOD 1], neither via any mod nor via the unlocked bootloader, root, or TWRP Recovery. But here’s the good news- you probably wouldn’t even require enabling USB Debugging. This is because all the works that depend on USB Debugging do have a substitute way of execution as well.
For the unawares, USB Debugging is required to carry out tons of ADB commands and associated works. However, for each of the ADB Commands, there exists a perfect substitute as well. More importantly. Fastboot Commands always occupy a higher position when it comes to usefulness. Any day of the week Fastboot Commands > ADB Commands. Furthermore, for executing any of the Fastboot Command, you don’t require USB Debugging. Yes, all the fastboot commands are USB Debugging independent.
So the command to unlock the bootloader, boot TWRP Recovery, permanently flash TWRP Recovery, or flash any and every type of ZIP and IMG files doesn’t require USB Debugging. But don’t we use the adb reboot bootloader command to boot our recovery to fastboot? Well, we do. So doesn’t the adb reboot bootloader command itself require USB Debugging in the first place?
Again, it does. But, you don’t even need this ADB Command in the first place to boot your device to Fastboot or Bootloader Command. If your Android device’s screen is broken and you cannot enable USB Debugging and you still wish to boot your device to Fastboot, well you don’t even require touching your screen. All that is needed is the hardware keys.
First of all, turn off your device. When that is done, long-press the Power and Volume UP or Volume Down keys (check OEM-specific hardware keys combo) for a couple of seconds and your device should be booted to Fastboot/Bootloader mode. Now just connect your device to PC via USB cable, launch Command Prompt or Power Shell inside the platform-tools folder, and execute the desired fastboot commands. When everything is done, you could reboot your device to the system via fastboot reboot or simply use the hardware key for the same.
So with this, we have dealt with all the Fastboot commands. Now let’s turn our attention towards some useful ADB Commands and their substitutes. The most important ADB command, adb reboot bootloader, is used to boot device to Fastboot. Now we have effectively overcome this issue, and you don’t even require this command any more to boot to Fastboot. Next up, the adb push, adb pull, adb install, and adb uninstall are some of the commands that you could easily live without for a few days. Well, if you don’t end up uninstalling an app from your device, you aren’t going to have a bad couple of days.
One important command that comes to my mind is the adb command to boot your device to TWRP Recovery. Again, you could easily boot your device to TWRP Recovery even without touching your device. Simply power off your device and then use the Power and Volume Up or Down keys (check OEM-specific hardware keys combo) for a few seconds and your device should boot to TWRP Recovery. Or you could boot your device to Fastboot mode and then boot to TWRP Recovery using our guide.
So this was all from this guide on how to enable USB Debugging on any broken Android device. As you might have understood by now, there ain’t no direct workaround for this, but you probably don’t require one in the first place. There exists a substitute for every task that you used to perform via USB Debugging and could now be performed without that. Mentioning each of them is going to take ages. This is where the comments box should come in handy.
Just let us know which of the tasks or commands you aren’t able to execute on your broken Android device, and we will provide you with an alternative solution. We wouldn’t be making use of any third-party apps, unlocked bootloader, root, or anything else. All that is used would be a few lines of command and Google’s Android SDK and Platform Tools. That is it.
