What to do when your Android phone won’t turn on

⚡ Fast fix

• Leave it plugged in. A deeply drained battery may need 30 minutes or more before showing signs of life.
• Use the original charger. It rules out a bad cable or charging brick.
• Force restart it. A frozen phone can look completely dead.
• Getting hot or still completely unresponsive? Stop there—it may be time for a repair.

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When an Android™ phone won't turn on, it's tempting to jump straight to "it's dead."

Sometimes that's true. More often, we're trying to answer a simpler question first: is the phone out of power, is it failing to charge, or is it actually on with a screen that isn't responding? Once we know which of those we're dealing with, the next steps become much more straightforward.

Asurion Experts have seen it all, and can fix it all. Here's where we'd start first to bring an Android phone back to life.

Step 1: Make sure the phone is actually charging

This sounds obvious, but we've seen plenty of phones that looked completely dead simply because the battery had been drained lower than expected.

Some Android phones display a battery icon almost immediately after you plug them in. Others can sit on the charger for quite a while before showing any sign of life, especially if the battery has been completely depleted.

Instead of checking it every few minutes, plug the phone into its original charger and give it time.

While it's charging, watch for clues:

• A battery icon.
• A charging animation.
• A vibration.
• Any change on the display.

Even a small response tells us the phone is receiving power, which changes where we'd troubleshoot next.

Step 2: Try a forced restart

If the phone has been charging for a while but the screen still hasn't come on, the next thing we'd try is a forced restart. Sometimes Android freezes so completely that it looks like the phone has died when it's really just stuck.

The button combination depends on your phone.

Samsung®

• Press and hold the Volume Down and Side buttons together for about 15 seconds.

Google Pixel™

• Press and hold the Volume Up and Side buttons together for about 15 seconds.

A forced restart won't erase your data. It simply tells the phone to reboot if the operating system has stopped responding.

Step 3: Watch how the phone behaves

At this point, we're paying attention to everything the phone is trying to tell us.

If charging is unusually slow—or doesn't seem to be happening at all—we start thinking about the battery or charging system. If the phone becomes unusually hot while it's plugged in, that's another clue we take seriously because it often points to something more than a drained battery.

If the phone gets hot, unplug it and let it cool down. Continuing to charge it usually won't solve the problem, and it may make things worse.

Step 4: Rule out a black screen

One thing we don't want to mistake for a dead phone is a bad display.

A phone with a black screen may still vibrate, ring, or make notification sounds even though nothing appears on the display. A phone with a dead battery usually behaves differently—it often starts showing a battery icon after spending some time on the charger.

Knowing the difference helps narrow down what failed instead of replacing parts that aren't actually causing the problem.

When it's time to stop troubleshooting

There comes a point where more button presses aren't likely to change the outcome.

If the phone won't respond after several hours on the charger, never reacts to a forced restart, and doesn't show any signs of charging, it's probably beyond what you can fix at home. That's when we stop trying to wake the phone up and start looking at hardware like the battery, charging circuitry, or other internal components that need professional testing.

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FAQ

Why won't my Android phone turn on even after charging?

If several hours on the charger doesn't change anything, the battery or charging hardware may have failed.

How do I force restart an Android phone?

Samsung and Pixel phones use different button combinations, but both require holding two buttons for about 15 seconds.

How do I know if my Android battery is completely dead?

A deeply drained battery may take a while before showing a battery icon. No response after several hours usually points to something else.

Why is my phone getting hot but not turning on?

Heat during charging often signals a battery or charging problem. Unplug it and let it cool before trying again.

Can a black screen make it look like my phone won't turn on?

Yes. If the phone still vibrates, rings, or receives notifications, the display may be the problem instead of the phone itself.