How to turn off Safe Mode on Android

While putting your phone in Safe Mode isn’t very hard, it’s not always clear how to get your device out of it. That can be very frustrating, particularly for those who aren’t intimately familiar with their devices.

If you’re stuck in Safe Mode for whatever reason, fear not! Here’s our step-by-step guide on how to turn off Safe Mode on your Android device.

Also read: How to enter Safe Mode on Android

Editor’s note: All instructions in this tutorial were compiled using a Pixel 4a with 5G running Android 12. Remember, steps may differ depending on your phone and its running software.

Restart your device

Restarting can fix other issues with your device, so it makes sense that restarting can turn off Safe Mode.

How to restart your Android phone:

1. Press and hold the Power button on your device until several device options pop up.
2. Tap Restart.

Suppose you don’t see a restart option; press and hold the Power button for about 30 seconds. The phone will force a restart when you do this.

Take care of offending apps

Unless it happened by accident, chances are you entered Safe Mode for a reason. You might be having issues with one of your apps, and this is the right time to find the culprit. You can turn off Safe Mode later.

Even though you can’t use third-party apps while in Safe Mode, the cache and app data aren’t blocked off within your device’s settings. That’s good, since there’s a chance an app is causing issues with your device. In that case, it’s best to deal with the app itself instead of constantly restarting your phone.

First, you need to find the offending app. If you already know which app is misbehaving, deal with it directly. If not, you can follow the instructions below for each recently downloaded app. There are three ways to tackle this: wiping the cache, wiping the app data, and uninstalling the app.

Let’s start with wiping the cache:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Apps, then tap See all apps.
3. Select the offending app.
4. Tap Storage & cache.
5. Hit Clear cache.

If that doesn’t do the trick, it’s time to go a step further. Be warned: deleting an app’s storage clears the cache and your user data for that app. You will have to set the app up again after this, but it may help you fix the app to get out of Safe Mode.

How to delete an app’s storage:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Apps, then tap See all apps.
3. Select the offending app.
4. Tap Storage & cache.
5. Hit Clear storage.

How to uninstall the app:

1. Find the offending app in the app drawer or home screen.
2. Tap and hold onto the app.
3. Drag it over to the Uninstall section.
4. Confirm by hitting OK.

More: A complete guide for deleting apps

Check the notification panel

Some devices let you turn off Safe Mode from the notification panel. This isn’t the case with the Pixel 4a with 5G, which is the device we’re using, but you can try the following steps and see if they work on your device.

How to turn off Safe Mode using the notification area:

1. Pull down the notification panel.
2. If your phone supports this feature, there will be a Safe mode enabled notification.
3. Tap the Safe mode enabled notification to turn it off.
4. Your phone will automatically restart and turn off Safe Mode.

Also read: How to remove Google account from your smartphone

Use hardware buttons

If none of the aforementioned steps worked for you, some have reported success using hardware buttons. This could get you out of Safe Mode.

Use hardware buttons to get out of Safe Mode:

1. Turn off your device.
2. Once your device is off, press and hold the Power and Volume down buttons.
3. This will open up recovery mode.
4. Once in, use the volume buttons to navigate to Start.
5. Press the Power button, and the phone will restart.
6. This should get rid of Safe Mode.

The nuclear option

Your last option to fix whatever issue that might be forcing you into Safe Mode is to do a factory reset on your device. Doing so will delete all of your internal data, so ensure you’ve tried everything else before resorting to this step. Also, back up all of your data before doing a factory reset.

How to do a factory data reset:

1. Open the Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap System.
3. Tap Reset options, then tap Erase all data (factory reset).
4. Tap Erase all data at the bottom.
5. If needed, enter your PIN, pattern, or password.
6. Tap Erase all data.

Next: Common Android OS problems and how to fix them

FAQs

What is Safe Mode?

Safe Mode is an Android feature that allows your device to start loading only its core features and applications. Most other apps and services will not start automatically.

Why should I launch Safe Mode?

Safe Mode is commonly used as a troubleshooting method. If your phone is running into issues, you can use Safe Mode to see if it operates correctly with most other elements turned off. If it does, chances are the problem is a rogue app.

What will Safe Mode get rid of?

Safe Mode will disable third-party apps and widgets. This includes background operations.

Why is my Android phone stuck on Safe Mode?

An Android device shouldn’t boot into Safe Mode unless requested to. If your phone is, there is a bigger problem to deal with. The most common one is stuck buttons, which could be triggering a press you’re not performing.