If you have problems with your Android device and need to do some troubleshooting, you may have no clue which of your two hundred apps is causing the issue. You can use this trick to boot into safe mode—on Android this means that the OS will load without any third-party apps.
For a complete tutorial including step-by-step images, see the How-To Geek article. Here are the basics:
Jellybean (Android 4.1 or later)
The How-To Geek shares two methods to boot your Android device into safe mode: If you have Jellybean (4.1 or later) long-press the power button until the power options menu appears and then long-press the power off button. You should be asked if you want to reboot your phone into safe mode.
Older Phones
On older phones (or Jellybean phones whose UI doesn’t work with the previous technique like my Samsung Galaxy Note II) simply reboot your phone and hold down both the volume up and volume down buttons while the phone is booting. The words safe mode should appear on the bottom of your screen.
Troubleshooting
If your phone doesn’t have the same issue (crashing, freezing, battery life problems, etc.) then you can be reasonably sure it was caused by a third-party app. Try uninstalling your most recently added apps first and you should eventually find the culprit. If you’re still having the same issue in safe mode you may want to restore your phone to factory settings. For more details, check out the How-To Geek article.
