SOLVED! How to Enable USB Debugging on Android with Black Screen

It’s not uncommon to see Android users asking how to enable USB Debugging on Android with black screen. Depending on the situation, USB Debugging is able to take care of many issues that plague Android devices. Read to the end to bring your Android phone back to normal and get the most out of it.

Causes of Black Screen on Android Mobile

There are several reasons why your Android phone wakes up with black screen. The most common reason is hardware issues. Or, it could be that you have installed an incompatible app with bugs and viruses. The problem will also arise if you keep on overcharging your phone. Lastly, it could be that you’re using an older battery.

You know your phone is still alive because the lights are turning on (on the home button and at the top). No matter how hard you push the Power button, you can’t make the screen turn on. So, to troubleshoot the problem on your Android phone, you need to connect it with your computer. You need to enable USB debugging feature of your phone to communicate with your computer.

What is USB Debugging?

USB Debugging is a developer feature you can use to communicate your phone from your computer. You can’t see this option plainly from your phone’s Settings unless you activate Developer Options. The Developer Options isn’t something you can plainly see, either. If your phone is working properly, you can activate it easily by following these simple steps:

1. Tap on Settings.
2. Go to About Phone (System>About Phone).
3. Look for the Build Number.
4. Tap it for around seven (times) or more until you see a notification that you are now a developer.
   Once you have activated the Developer Options, it’ll give you further options including the USB Debugging.
5. Tap on Developer Options.
6. Look for Debugging. Under this section, you can see USB Debugging.
7. Toggle the switch on to activate this feature.

When you activate this feature and you connect your phone via USB cable to your computer, you can easily send commands, and eventually, fix some problems like the black screen. Although the process isn’t that straightforward as you need Android Software Development Kit (SDK) installed on your computer, it’s still advantageous. Yet, if you haven’t activated the USB Debugging, and your phone display turns black, that doesn’t mean you can’t enable USB debugging.

How to Enable USB Debugging on Android with Black Screen

When your phone screen turns black for some reason, there’s only one way to activate the USB debugging feature — use a computer. If your phone screen is still responsive, you are lucky. But, if the screen isn’t responding to taps, you can still enable USB debugging, but it may take longer.

Windows 10 with Connect Feature

Most of us have laptops/computers running on Windows 10. It has a Connect feature that allows you to connect your mobile phone wirelessly — through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Likewise, if your phone has Screen Mirroring or Cast feature, you don’t need to connect your phone via USB. However, you might still need to have a USB cable to ease the process — take screenshots.

As mentioned earlier, there is a process in enabling the USB debugging on your phone. Even if you connect your phone to your computer via USB, that doesn’t mean you can now communicate with your phone. Since your phone screen is black, the only way to know where you’re at is the screenshot.

Access your phone storage from your computer and go to the Screenshots folder. You must know the shortcut for taking screenshots — usually pressing the Power and Volume Down buttons at the same time. Once you take a screenshot, it’ll be automatically saved in the Screenshot folder which you can see on your computer. In this way, you can easily navigate through and enable Screen Cast/Screen Mirroring. Once you activate this feature, you can now navigate through, by tapping on your phone’s screen — since you can see the display on your computer. Follow the steps laid above.

Enable USB Debugging by Touching the Screen

If your phone is responsive and you are using a Windows 10 computer, simply refer to the steps above. But if you don’t have the Screen Cast or Connect feature. You might need to continue taking screenshots until you will reach the Settings and activate the USB Debugging. The steps are still similar to the procedure above.

Enable USB Debugging without Touching the Screen

The problem could be more serious if you don’t have a responsive phone screen. This means, you need to use a mouse to navigate through your mobile phone — this isn’t a straightforward process. You need a USB OTG and a mouse. USB OTG (On-the-go) is a technology that lets you connect a mouse, keyboard, and other devices to your phone.

However, for black screen, you might need to also connect it to your computer. Hence, you need a splitter. This means, you can connect a mouse to your phone and you can also connect it to your computer. You might need to follow the process of getting screenshots since it’s the only way to navigate through if your Android phone displays black screen.

Enable USB Debugging Directly on Computer

A risky process, but can help you if you need to enable the USB debugging — through the computer’s command prompt. Your phone is packed with a tool SDK to debug some faults on the device. This has tool named ADB that allows you to connect to your computer and eventually enables USB debugging. This isn’t recommended, but do this at your own risk.

1. Download ADB for your PC and launch it only when you connect your broken Android phone to your computer.
2. Since you have a phone with a black screen, you can’t manually activate the USB debugging. So, boot your device through ClockworkMod Recovery mode (Press Power button + Home + Volume Up/Down). Different Android phones have different shortcuts.
3. Once your phone is in Clockwork Mod Recovery, launch the ADB tool and then type in the command prompt: adb devices.
4. Then, type the command to back up your phone’s data: adb pull / data / media / clockworkmod / backup ~ / Desktop / Android-up.

This procedure will back up all your files to your computer. If you’re not a developer or you don’t know anything about fastboot and other technical processes on Android, you might end up bricking your phone. So, you must be careful.

The Final Say

There are many reasons why your Android mobile phone display turns black. Sometimes it’s a hardware issue or it’s because of a virus. You can troubleshoot your phone through your computer via the USB debugging feature. But, how to enable USB debugging on Android with black screen? There are a few methods, which we laid out here.
You have to know that USB debugging is a feature reserved when you opt to access Developer Options. And, this has some risks. Before you will activate USB debugging make sure that you know what you’re doing. Or, better yet, backup your files to ensure you still have your files should worst case happens — when your phone becomes com