How to Boot the Galaxy Note 10 into Download Mode?

Samsung doesn’t have a Fastboot Mode on its smartphone and instead opts for what is called Download Mode. The two share some similarities but offer vastly different features and experiences. So today I will be walking you through how we can boot the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 as well as the Galaxy Note 10+ into and out of Download Mode.

When someone wants to boot an Android smartphone or tablet into Fastboot Mode it’s because they want to execute a Fastboot.exe command. There are a number of things we can do with this tool but it is generally used for flashing firmware image files (boot.img, system.img, etc.) or unlocking the bootloader.

Samsung uses Download Mode instead, but it can do some of the same things that Fastboot Mode does.

From a user perspective, the main differences here are the tools we use to interact with that special boot mode. For Fastboot Mode, we (naturally) use Fastboot.exe which is a command-line tool With Samsung’s Download Mode though, we’re using a Windows program called Odin instead.

I’ll get into how you can use Odin to do various tasks in the future. But first, let’s go ahead and dive into the step by step tutorial.

Those who are familiar with Download Mode on Samsung devices will likely know the methods to boot into them have changed quite a few times over the years. For a while though, things were consistent but then Samsung removed the fingerprint scanner button, followed by adding a 4th Bixby button and now removing the extra hardware button.

With each of these hardware changes, we have seen changes in the way we boot into special boot modes.

We can look at the Galaxy S10 Download Mode tutorial to see how things have changed in 2019 alone. Thankfully, we don’t need the USB cable but we are going through Android’s Recovery Mode in order to access Download Mode. Just keep in mind that you’ll likely be looking for Fastboot or Bootloader options.

Android’s stock Recovery Mode is a great example of this as the second option in the menu is for rebooting into Bootloader Mode. Remember, Download Mode, Bootloader Mode, and Fastboot Mode are essentially interchangeable when it comes to Samsung’s smartphones and tablets.

So rebooting into Bootloader from Recovery Mode here is going to take us into Download Mode.

Boot into the Galaxy Note 10 Download Mode with a USB Cable

The method listed above will be good enough for most people but there are some who will actually need to get to the splash screen of Download Mode. See, when you follow the step by step tutorial above you are taken directly into Download Mode and are bypassing its splash screen.

We need to actually boot into the splash screen in some situations though. For example, I just wrote a guide that shows you how to unlock the Galaxy Note 10 bootloader. One of these steps instructs you to boot into Download Mode so you can initiate the bootloader unlock process.

If we bypass this splash screen though, then we can’t start the bootloader unlock process.

So, to boot the Galaxy Note 10 to the Download Mode splash screen we need a computer with a USB cable plugged into it. We need this because plugging in the USB cable is part of this method. So let me break down the whole thing for you here.

1. Power off the Samsung Galaxy Note 10
2. Then press and hold the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons
3. Continue holding these two buttons down and then plug in the USB cable mentioned above
4. Let go of these Volume buttons once you see the blue Download Mode splash screen

How to Boot the Galaxy Note 10 Out of Download Mode?

I shouldn’t even need to write this out because the instructions are right there in the middle of the screen when you’re in Download Mode. As long as you see the green/blue screen with the big Downloading… text at the top, you can do the following to reboot back into Android.

1. Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons for 7+ seconds

Again, it’s right there on the screen but I will inevitably be asked how to do this. Which, to be honest, is understandable since being in Download Mode can be dangerous if you are doing things with Odin that you shouldn’t be doing. It’s also understandable because there’s text on the screen that tells you to NOT turn off the device.

You should be aware that as long as the Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy Note 10+, Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, or Galaxy Note 10 Lite are not connected to the computer then you are safe to follow those steps to reboot back into Android. If you are connected to the PC with a USB cable, then just make sure you’re not flashing something with Odin when you force the reboot.