How to Enable USB Debugging on Android with Broken Screen

When your Android phone’s screen is broken and replacement is expensive, the first thing that comes to mind is backing up your files. But how will you do that if you can’t touch the screen to make the backup?

Well, you can connect your phone to a computer and get your files there, right? Hold your horses! That will only work if the USB debugging feature is enabled before the screen becomes unresponsive.

While that seems like the end of the road, it’s not. In this article, we will show you how to enable USB debugging on Android with a broken screen. Check them out!

Method 1: Enable USB Debugging on Android with Broken Screen via OTG

Your phone is like a small PC. Thus, there are peripherals (mouse, keyboard, etc.) that you can use to compensate for the loss of touch screen due to a broken screen. Yes! You can connect a mouse to control the phone via USB OTG (On-The-Go) and access the Settings to enable USB Debugging.

Requirements:

• USB-C/B to USB-A (Female) or OTG Adapter
• USB-A Mouse

However, OTG is only available on Android phones that are running on OS version 3.1 or later. For some brands, OTG is available for Android 4.1 and up.

Step 1

Connect the OTG adapter to your phone’s USB port. Then, attach the mouse to the OTG port. You should see a tiny arrow/cursor on your phone’s screen.

Step 2

Then, click and slide up on your phone’s lock screen. Then, draw or enter your pattern/PIN/passcode. Use the mouse to click on the keyboard.

Step 3

Once unlocked, go to Settings and scroll down to About Phone. Then, tap on the Build Number seven times. You should see a prompt that says you are a developer now.

Step back to the main Settings and you will find the Developer Options below the About Phone.

Step 4

In there, make sure that the Developer Options toggle is toggled on. Then, look for USB Debugging and enable it.

After that, you can use your phone with a broken screen to make a backup to your computer or for whatever purpose you need it.

Method 2: Enable USB Debugging on Android with Black Screen via ADB

Sometimes, a broken screen could lead to a black screen, which renders OTG useless. But there is still hope to enable USB debugging if you use ADB or Android Debug Bridge. It’s a tool that you can download on your computer and it can send commands to your Android with a broken screen.

Requirements

• USB cable for your phone
• ADB tool
• Windows computer

When you have all the requirements, these are the steps you need to follow:

Step 1

On your computer, download the ADB Tool and then unzip it to a new folder. For ADB to work, USB Debugging should be enabled. Since you can’t do it due to the black screen, boot the phone into Recovery Mode instead.

Step 2

To enter the Recovery Mode, press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons together for 10 seconds. You should feel a sudden vibration when it works.

Step 2

Then, connect your phone to the PC using the USB cable. Launch the Command Prompt. You can do it by clicking on the search bar near the Windows icon and search type in “Command Prompt”.

Step 4

In the Command window, enter “adb devices”. Your phone should be on the list to confirm the connection. Then, type in the commands below individually:

• adb shell
• mount data
• mount system

Step 5

After entering those commands, you need to get the “persist.sys.usb.config” file from your phone to your computer. You can do this by using this command:

• adb pull/data/property/persist.sys.usb.config C:\Users\[PC Username]\Desktop\

Once the file is on your desktop, open it using a text editor and change it to “mtp,adb”. After that, push the modified file back to your phone by running the same code in reverse:

• adb push ”C:\Users\[PC Username]\Desktop/persist.sys.usb.config”/data/property

Step 6

Next, download the file: build.prop from your Android phone. Use the command below to do it:

• adb pull/system/build.prop C:\Users\[PC Username]\Desktop\

Then, open the build.prop file on a text editor. Add the codes below and save the changes.

• persist.service.adb.enable=1
• persist.service.adb.debuggable=1
• persist.sys.usb.config=mtp,adb

You need to put back the file to your phone by using this command:

• adb push “\C:\Users\[PC Username]\Desktop/build.prop” /system/

Step 7

Finally, restart your phone by entering the command “abd reboot”.

The USB Debugging should be enabled after that, and you should be able to have access to your phone using your PC.

Conclusion

If the methods above don’t work for your Android with a broken screen, it’s time to consider visiting a professional technician. They can replace the screen so you can enable USB Debugging normally. And if you decide to discard the phone, they can also make the backup for you using advanced tools.