How to turn off Samsung phone without touch screen

Decipher Tools > Blog > How to Turn Off a Samsung Galaxy Without the PIN

I just got a Samsung Galaxy S8+ from my awesome brother in law, for testing and development work. But, when I charged it up and it turned on automatically, it was still set up with all his data, his PIN, etc, so I was locked out. I could have sent him a text to ask him for the PIN info, but not only was it 6am, it would also be a missed opportunity to see if I could factory reset the S8+ without the lock screen PIN.

Unfortunately, to factory reset an Android device, you need to boot to the system menu, but booting to the system menu requires the device to be powered off. But, to power off, you need the lock screen PIN. If I had the PIN, I probably wouldn't need to factory reset it!

How to turn off a Samsung Galaxy without the PIN:

1. Hold the volume down + power buttons for 10-15 seconds, until you feel it vibrate. I held it a lot longer than necessary, that's ok. The galaxy will then show a system menu with instructions how to use the menu. For my phone, it was to use volume up down to change menu selections, and the Bixsby key to select.

2. Use the volume down button to move the selection down to the "Power down" choice.

3. Use the Bixsby button to select/confirm "Power down".

Then the Samsung Galaxy S8+ turned off, and I was able to then boot to the system menu, which we'll cover in another blog post.

Depending on the current phone configuration, you may see a factory reset option in this maintenance menu as well, which may be a quicker choice if that is your goal.

Another reader with a Samsung Galaxy A5 (Thanks Richard!) provided his steps to successfully power down the A5. I found a video demonstrating most of these steps in case that is helpful as well.

How to turn off a Samsung Galaxy A5 without the PIN:

1. Hold power + volume down buttons to do a hard reset, until you feel the phone vibrate.

2. Quickly switch and hold volume up + power + home.

3. You should see a blue Android screen saying "updating".

4. When you see the Android "no command" screen, hold power and press volume up to boot into recovery mode.

5. Use the volume down button to move the selection down to the "Power down" choice.

6. Use the Power button to select/confirm "Power down" or "Factory reset" if resetting is your goal.

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Nobody needs a tutorial to learn how one can turn a phone on or off. However, if the Power button or the screen of your device is broken or not functioning for some reason, you might end up looking for a guide like this. In this tutorial, we’ll be exploring all possible ways to restart and turn off an Android phone or tablet without the power button or the volume buttons. If you want to just wake up your phone’s screen and make it sleep without the power button, read my tutorial.

The power button of a phone might break or stop being responsive due to an accidental drop, overuse, mishandling, and poor build quality. If you have been using your phone or tablet for many years, the power button may become non-functional. The ultimate solution to this hardware problem is to visit a service center to get it fixed. Alternatively, you can use one of the tips given below to turn off your phone without the power button. Whether you own a phone from Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo, Realme, Nokia, or any other Android device, these tips will work on all Android devices.

Turn Off Phone without Power Button

There are several ways to power off an Android phone or tablet if power the button is broken. The tips will also help you restart the phone without the power button and volume button.

• Using an ADB command
• Via Android Accessibility Menu
• Using a reboot app
• Via Quick Settings menu (Samsung devices)

Before you learn to turn off your Android device, don’t forget to check out my detailed article describing 8 ways to turn on an Android phone without the power button.

ADB Command to Turn Off Phone

I won’t say that it’s the most convenient method to turn off Android devices when the power button is broken or the screen is damaged. However, it is possible to switch off and reboot an Android phone or tablet into Safe Mode, System Mode, Bootloader Mode, or Recovery Mode using ADB commands without using the Power and Volume keys.

To be able to run ADB commands on your Android device, you’ll need a laptop or PC. One more thing, USB debugging must be enabled on your device. Anyway, let’s see how to switch off an Android phone without the Power button and volume button.

1. Download the latest Android SDK Platform-tools for Windows, or set up ADB and Fastboot on macOS.
2. Enable USB debugging on your Android device if you don’t have it enabled already. You might not be able to do this if your phone’s touch screen is not working.
3. Launch the Windows Command Prompt or Mac Terminal.
4. Connect your device to your computer via a compatible USB cable.
5. Issue the following command to ensure that your phone and computer are connected properly. adb devices (on Windows) ./adb devices (on Mac)
6. Now, execute the following ADB command to turn off your Android phone. Here, ‘p‘ stands for ‘power off’. adb shell reboot -p
   

7. Your Android device will power off without using the Power button.
8. In case you just want to restart your phone without using the power button, you can use the following command. adb reboot

The ADB method can allow you to switch off your phone when the touch is not working.

ADB Command to Power Off Android via Power Menu

ADB commands can be a great help in certain tricky situations. You can trigger the long-press Power menu on your Android phone or tablet using ADB Shell commands.

Just launch the command window, connect your phone to the computer and execute the following command:

This will make the Android Power menu appear and you can then select the Power Off or Reboot option as per your choice.

Power Off Android via Accessibility Menu

All Android devices have a set of Accessibility settings to help physically and visually impaired people. Among the key features of Android’s Accessibility are Talkback and Accessibility or Assistant Menu. By enabling this menu, you can add an Accessibility shortcut in the navigation bar of your Android phone or tablet or get a floating menu icon. You can enjoy quick shortcuts to launch Google Assistant, Recents, Power Menu, Screenshots, and so on simply by tapping the Accessibility Menu icon.

Don’t Miss: How to Uninstall Android Bloatware without Root

Let’s see how we can turn off an Android phone or tablet without the Power button via Accessibility Menu.

1. Open Settings on your Android device and tap on Accessibility. On the devices from Chinese OEMs like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus, Realme, Huawei, etc.,  you’ll find Accessibility under Additional settings.
2. If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone or Tab, select Interaction and dexterity and tap on the toggle icon in front of the Assistant menu. A floating icon for the Assistant menu will appear on the screen as shown below. If you find that floating icon irritating, you can change its size, appearance location, etc. by tapping on the Assistant menu option.
   
3. Just tap on the floating Assistant menu icon to access the Power off menu. You can now turn off your Samsung Galaxy device without using the Power button.
   
4. If you have a phone from Xiaomi, Redmi, Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus, Realme, or Huawei, you are supposed to enable the Accessibility menu from Accessibility. As soon as you enable it, the Accessibility menu icon will appear on the navigation bar. Just tap it to access the option to Power off your phone without using the Power button.
   

Turn off  Android Phone Using Apps

The Google Play Store is overloaded with apps for everything. You can find hundreds of apps that can let your power off and reboot a phone with a broken Power button. All such apps require either Accessibility permission or root privilege and offer similar options like the Accessibility menu shown above.

I tested some of the most rated and popular apps that offer the option to turn off and reboot Android devices without pressing the Power key. Below, I am going to list the ones that are worth a try.

Phone Lock + Volume Control (OFF+)

Phone Lock + is a minimal app with no regular user interface as most apps have. Nonetheless, the app does its job and doesn’t require root.

When Phone Lock is installed on your device, launch it from the app drawer. It’ll prompt you to select one of the 2 lock modes. Make your choice and grant Accessibility permission to the app when asked to do so. Now, whenever you want to access the Power Menu to switch off or restart your phone, just tap and hold the Phone Lock app icon. Please note that just taping the app icon will lock your device either immediately or after 5 seconds.

Power Menu is another simple app that lets you launch the Power Menu with a single tap without holding the Power button. Of course, it will ask you to grant Accessibility permission under Installed Services for the first time.

Assistive Touch for Android

If you prefer to have a persistent floating button to access the Power Menu and lots of other things quickly without using the Power button, volume buttons, and the navigation bar keys, Assistive Touch for Android is a great option for you.

Just tap on the floating touch icon and tap on the Power menu icon to turn off your Android phone or tablet if the Power button is broken or not working. One thing that I hate about this app is that it has too many irritating ads.

Turn off Phone via Quick Settings (Samsung)

Well, older Samsung devices didn’t have it, but if you have a Samsung Galaxy phone or Tab released in 2019 or later, you must have seen the Power Menu icon located on the Quick Settings screen. Phones like Galaxy Note 10, Note 20, Galaxy S10, S20, Galaxy A70, Galaxy A51, etc., have this shortcut.

You can tap on the Power Menu icon to select the option to reboot or turn off your Samsung Galaxy device without the Power button.

Turn off Samsung Device via Bixby

Samsung Galaxy users can also turn off their phones without using the Power key using a Bixby voice command. I tried this using Google Assistant commands as well but it did not work.

Launch Samsung Bixby and use “Turn off/Power off the phone” command.  Bixby will ask you to select the Power off option. Just tap on it to shut down your Samsung device.

Schedule Power Off Time via Android Settings

Another way to turn off an Android phone without the Power button is by scheduling the power-off time via your device settings.

1. Open Settings on your device.
2. Tap the Search icon or bar on the settings menu page and type “schedule” in it.
3. You’ll get a list of items that can be scheduled. Tap on Schedule power on/off.
4. On the next page, you can set the time when you want to power on or off your Android device automatically without using the Power key.
   

That’s all for now about turning off an Android device when the Power button is broken, the screen is black and the touch is not working. I hope the tips given here will also let you restart the phone without the power button. If you think I have missed any working method, please let me know.

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