Safe Mode

OuncE718 · Jan 22, 2014

For those of you who don't know, Safe Mode is similar to what you find on a Windows computer. If your phone seems to have some sort of Malware, Virus or even an annoying bootloop then you can put the phone in Safe Mode to remove the app that you suspect is causing havoc. Its a great tool for anyone with major software issues.

HOW TO GET INTO SAFE MODE: Press and hold the POWER button then you will see 3 options (technically 5 but who's counting). Press and hold POWER OFF until the Safe Mode option pops up and your phone will reboot in Safe Mode. Once in Safe Mode you will see a water mark that indicates that you've successfully done it correctly.

HOW TO GET OUT OF SAFE MODE: Simply POWER DOWN your phone like you normally would and then POWER ON and your good to go.

sent from my neXus 5

Johmama · Jan 22, 2014

Hey, this is very interesting. As Nexus users, I trust most of us shouldn't need to use it due to recent nandroid backups we should all be keeping, familiarity with adb we should all have, acute awareness of sketchy looking apps we should all possess, and the end-all fix of factory image installation readily available.

But still, this is interesting. I booted up in to it to experiment. I tried launching Pandora and it worked at first. It got to the splash screen and even a screen after that; one telling me about a new feature of Pandora, but then it force closed after about 3 seconds. I was kind of surprised it even got that far. I wonder how far, programmatically, it got. That feature screen I saw might have been downloaded prior to me booting up into Safe Mode, was cached, and meant to be seen the next time I launched the app. Either way, it was interesting. I also noticed all non-system apps were removed from the app drawer. The only way I could launch Pandora is because it left the icon on the tray at the bottom of my home screen. I find that interesting because it was programmed to remove the icons from the app drawer, but not from the home screen? Also: its claim of all third-party apps being disabled is technically incorrect. It just disables all non-system apps. I have SuperSU, Cerberus, and AOSP browser installed as system apps and they are intact in Safe Mode. Under normal circumstances, I suppose the claim could hold some substance. Although, with carriers and their bloatware apps, the term "third-party" kinda gets skewed...

Anyway, whoa. Back to the original post. Nice find, OP. It's pretty cool that Android has such a state.

OuncE718 · Jan 22, 2014

Johmama said:
Hey, this is very interesting. As Nexus users, I trust most of us shouldn't need to use it due to recent nandroid backups we should all be keeping, familiarity with adb we should all have, acute awareness of sketchy looking apps we should all possess, and the end-all fix of factory image installation readily available.

But still, this is interesting. I booted up in to it to experiment. I tried launching Pandora and it worked at first. It got to the splash screen and even a screen after that; one telling me about a new feature of Pandora, but then it force closed after about 3 seconds. I was kind of surprised it even got that far. I wonder how far, programmatically, it got. That feature screen I saw might have been downloaded prior to me booting up into Safe Mode, was cached, and meant to be seen the next time I launched the app. Either way, it was interesting. I also noticed all non-system apps were removed from the app drawer. The only way I could launch Pandora is because it left the icon on the tray at the bottom of my home screen. I find that interesting because it was programmed to remove the icons from the app drawer, but not from the home screen? Also: its claim of all third-party apps being disabled is technically incorrect. It just disables all non-system apps. I have SuperSU, Cerberus, and AOSP browser installed as system apps and they are intact in Safe Mode. Under normal circumstances, I suppose the claim could hold some substance. Although, with carriers and their bloatware apps, the term "third-party" kinda gets skewed...

Anyway, whoa. Back to the original post. Nice find, OP. It's pretty cool that Android has such a state.

Yeah, the SAFE MODE feature should only work for SYSTEM APPS and not 3rd party ones. Its a great feature for anyone having bootloops with apps such as SETCPU (if you mess with the minimum CPU speed and you run into constant bootloop).

I'm glad I could contribute my find with others in this community.

sent from my neXus 5

danarama · Jan 22, 2014

I've learned something today, thanks

-----------------------
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I do NOT reply to support queries over PM. Please keep support queries to the Q&A section, so that others may benefit

EddyOS · Jan 22, 2014

I'd heard of Safe Mode but never knew how to get into it. Thanks a lot!

Citizen_Snips · Jan 22, 2014

I Knew about this since my Droid X. Never had to use it though. Thanks for sharing.

OuncE718 · Jan 22, 2014

rootSU said:
I've learned something today, thanks

-----------------------
Sent via tapatalk.

I do NOT reply to support queries over PM. Please keep support queries to the Q&A section, so that others may benefit

EddyOS said:
I'd heard of Safe Mode but never knew how to get into it. Thanks a lot!

RoyJ said:
I Knew about this since my Droid X. Never had to use it though. Thanks for sharing.

You all are very welcome. Remember each one teach one!

sent from my neXus 5

ldubs · Jan 23, 2014

Cool I had heard about this also but didn't know how to get into it... Thanks!

sent from my hammerhead

varuntis1993 · Jan 24, 2014

new way

This trick I knew from before but day before yesterday I found a new one....here it is
so just power off you device and then power it on, then let the google logo go and after the boot animation starts just keep pressing the volume down button until u get back to the lock screen and there it is.

Ruki_Uki · Jun 16, 2014

Question, Im in a bootloop and my Nexus wont go past it. I can get to recovery mode. Tried a few things and still in a boot loop. Anyway to get to safe mode if my phone wont turn on to get to the power menu?

OuncE718 · Jun 16, 2014

Ruki_Uki said:
Question, Im in a bootloop and my Nexus wont go past it. I can get to recovery mode. Tried a few things and still in a boot loop. Anyway to get to safe mode if my phone wont turn on to get to the power menu?

I'm honestly not sure how to do SAFE MODE unless the phone is booted up. If you can get into recovery then your best bet would be to WIPE the data & CACHE.

I'm not sure what even caused your boot loop since you posted limited information. If that doesn't work then tell me more and maybe I can help solve your issue.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

GuestK00399 · Dec 14, 2014

Hello, I'd like to solve a problem with the annoying google search widget on recents @Lollipop and a user says in order to solve it I need to jump into safe mode and hit the recent button once, after that the widget should be gone.

I followed the instructions to get into safe mode, but I went into bootloop ?
I had to restore my backup afterwords

Why this could happen? Thanks for reply!

howard bamber · Jan 3, 2015

Thanks! Somehow I managed to trigger this on my standby HTC 610 and had no idea what it was. Had the same watermark in the bottom corner so it's built in to android

Ankur X · Jun 24, 2015

bro does it really work???

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Safe Mode

OuncE718

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Johmama

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OuncE718

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danarama

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EddyOS

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Citizen_Snips

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OuncE718

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ldubs

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varuntis1993

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Ruki_Uki

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OuncE718

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howard bamber

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