How to use recovery mode to fix your Android phone or tablet

If your Android phone or tablet isn’t acting right, or may have a virus, you should try entering Recovery mode.

Recovery is an independent, lightweight runtime environment that’s included on a separate partition from the main Android OS on all Android devices. You can boot directly into recovery mode and use it to factory reset the device, delete the cache partition, or apply software updates. That’s a bunch of geek talk for: it can help you fix your device.

Use Recovery mode to factory reset the device, delete the cache partition, or apply software updates.
You can enter Recovery mode by using the hardware keys, so it’s often a last resort for people troubleshooting a device, especially if the screen is unresponsive. Not every device has the same method, we’ll run through a couple of popular models, but you can generally find this information for every device via the relevant manufacturer or carrier website.

How to boot into recovery mode on a Google Nexus device
If you have a device like the Nexus 5 or Nexus 7 running stock Android then these are the steps required to boot into Recovery mode:
Hold down the Power key and select Power off. If the touchscreen is unresponsive then you can simply keep holding down the Power key for several seconds until the device turns off.
Press and hold the Power key and the Volume down key. You should see the Android mascot on his back, a bunch of information about your device, and Start at the top right of the screen.
To navigate through the menu options you use the Volume up and Volume down keys. The Power key is used to make a selection. Press Volume down twice and you should see Recovery mode in red up at the top right, press the Power key to select it.
The white Google logo will pop up followed by the Android mascot on his back again with the words No command underneath.
Press and hold the Power key and the Volume up key for around three seconds and then let go of the Volume up key, but keep pressing Power.
You should see the Android system recovery options pop up at the top of the screen. Use the Volume keys to highlight the options and the Power key to select the one you want.