How to enable USB debugging mode on all Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and higher devices (Nexus 4, Nexus 10, Nexus 7, etc.) [Guide]

Ashraf November 15, 2012 23

If you like playing around with your Android device (e.g. rooting or installing custom ROMs), then you probably are familiar with Android’s ‘USB debugging mode’. However, USB debugging mode is really intended only for developers and people who don’t know what they are doing may accidentally enable it and put their device at risk. This is why starting in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Google has hidden the ability to enable USB debugging mode. If you want to know how to enable USB debugging mode in Android 4.2 and higher, this guide will show you exactly how to do that.

The following steps work on all Android devices running Android 4.2 and higher. That includes Nexus 4, Nexus 10, Nexus 7, Galaxy Nexus, and any other device.

How to find and turn on USB debugging mode in Android 4.2 and higher

To see the option for USB debugging mode in Android 4.2 or higher, do the following:

Open up your device’s “Settings”. This can be done by pressing the Menu button while on your home screen and tapping “System settings”
Now scroll to the bottom and tap “About phone” or “About tablet”.
At the “About” screen, scroll to the bottom and tap on “Build number” seven times.
- Make sure you tap seven times. If you see a “You are now a developer!” message pop up, then you know you have done it correctly.

Done! By tapping on “Build number” seven times, you have unlocked USB debugging mode on Android 4.2 and higher. You can now enable/disable it whenever you desire by going to “Settings” -> “Developer Options” -> “Debugging” ->” USB debugging”.

Conclusion

That was easy. The best part is you only have to do the tap-build-number-seven-times once. After you do it once, USB debugging has been unlocked and you can enable or disable at your leisure.

POSTED IN » Android Hacks

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About the author: Ashraf View all posts by Ashraf

Happily married to the most beautiful woman ever, Ashraf is the founder of dotTech. Ashraf spends insane hours on dotTech (usually writing articles but sometimes doing absolutely nothing except staring). Yes he is weird, but he is also very friendly.

23 Comments »

Gaspar November 21, 2012 at 4:04 AM (comment permalink) -

Thanks!!! Works fine!

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Ricardo November 21, 2012 at 4:14 AM (comment permalink) -

Thank you! That worked like a charm! :)

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Mayura November 21, 2012 at 2:17 PM (comment permalink) -

Thanks for info :) Works perfectly…

Cheers…

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Ashraf November 21, 2012 at 3:56 PM (comment permalink) -
Mr. Boss

@Gaspar: @Ricardo: @Mayura: You are welcome!

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Roy November 21, 2012 at 4:44 PM (comment permalink) -

Almost got an heart attack!! Thanks for that!!!

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Giuseppe November 24, 2012 at 12:36 PM (comment permalink) -

Great, work very well!

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Ashraf November 24, 2012 at 4:58 PM (comment permalink) -
Mr. Boss

@Roy: Did we help in recovering from the heart attack or causing it? :-P
@Giuseppe: Glad you found our tip to be useful!

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zalmoxiss January 3, 2013 at 6:13 AM (comment permalink) -

brilliant, master of a ton of thanks for this info..cheers

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Ian January 8, 2013 at 2:57 PM (comment permalink) -

I was wonder where my Developer’s option went.
Thanks for this info!

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Nitin January 19, 2013 at 9:10 PM (comment permalink) -

thanks

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Ashraf January 30, 2013 at 3:23 PM (comment permalink) -
Mr. Boss

@zalmoxiss: @Ian: @Nitin: Welcome!

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ksk674 March 5, 2013 at 7:05 AM (comment permalink) -

Thank…work great. :)

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heath March 13, 2013 at 6:27 PM (comment permalink) -

In my old tablet i could swap the internal sd with the external is there still a way to do this with jelly bean because that is what is on my new tablet

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alaister March 24, 2013 at 12:45 PM (comment permalink) -

Afraid it didn’t work for me on my Note 2, any suggestions?

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galaxy fit March 28, 2013 at 10:28 AM (comment permalink) -

thanks a ton. have been searching to and fro about two days. i wanna buy you a beer come over :D :D. live long.

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News April 1, 2013 at 4:49 AM (comment permalink) -

Hi my family member! I want to say that this article is amazing, nice written and include almost all important infos. I would like to peer more posts like this .

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stuchl4n3k April 6, 2013 at 2:21 AM (comment permalink) -

OK, I definitely have an issue with Google’s xenophobic attitude now, thanks for the advice though!

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Bibblode April 18, 2013 at 6:38 AM (comment permalink) -

[@stuchl4n3k]

They aren’t truly Xenophobic they just don’t want incompetent people accidentally ruining their phones then run crying to google for help because they released 4.2 on the Nexus 4 which was only sold through google same with the Galaxy Nexus.

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Thomas Will April 25, 2013 at 12:43 PM (comment permalink) -

Hello,

thank you for this 7x tapping the build number, it works of course.

*****
Now the question of the day:
I can deactivate USB debugging in the menu, ok so far but how can I get rid off the developer mode again?
*****

7x tapping build number does not work.

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Jaydee Dusenberry April 30, 2013 at 8:24 AM (comment permalink) -

opposite problem, after Jellybean auto update, every time I plug into PC to charge, USB debugging was auto turned on. Finally found developer options slider, and after verifying that usb debugging was turned to off, turned off Developer options too. Now every time I plug into PC, Dev options stays off, but usb debugging turns back on. I absolutely never want usb debugging on, but apparently my phone thinks otherwise

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Rod Nine May 9, 2013 at 12:10 AM (comment permalink) -

Hi everyone,

I was on the same case but i find something on XDA.
You need to use TERMINAL EMULATOR for this action :
launch terminal then :
SU
setprop persis.sys.usb.config mass_storage
reboot
at the end of each line, press enter.
After that you should be able to launch usb on your phone.

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santosh May 16, 2013 at 4:18 AM (comment permalink) -

hi,

any idea how to enable this through command line.

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bhawani148 May 16, 2013 at 11:45 AM (comment permalink) -

Hi all,
I switched the developer mode on by mistake..
I need to completely switch it off so is there any way out to that ??
Also, does switching the developer mode on void any parts of the warranty ??
Thanks :)

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