Galaxy S5: How to Boot into Download Mode

Some Android OEMs add a Download Mode to their device as a way to allow low-level communication between the device and a certain PC program. Since this is a vital process needed to modify your Samsung device, I’m going to show you how to boot into the Galaxy S5 Download Mode.

For Samsung devices, Download Mode can also be called Odin Mode. This is because the Windows program that we use to flash certain firmware and recovery images is called Odin. A custom recovery is generally the way to install certain custom ROMs onto your Galaxy S5 but first we need to get the custom firmware onto the device.

Then again, some people don’t like to use custom recoveries or custom ROMs, so for them, Odin is how they flash various TouchWiz based ROMs.

Either route you choose, booting your Galaxy S5 into Download Mode is required for those who like to modify our device.

Using Odin is also a great way to flash a brand new Samsung firmware without having to wait for the OTA update to be pushed to your device. If you own a certain model of the Galaxy S5 but the latest Android update hasn’t been released for your device, you would typically be stuck waiting for the update. However, if someone in another part of the world, with the exact same model of the Galaxy S5, has received the update then they could upload it to the internet. This way thousands or millions of other people within the Android community(again, with the same model of the Galaxy S5) could install that firmware onto their own device.

As you can see, Download Mode(and Odin) is very useful and very powerful. If something bad happens while you are modifying your smartphone, booting into Download Mode will almost always allow you to flash the stock firmware onto your device. You’ll lose all of your data since it will be as if you had just pulled it out of the box, but at least the Galaxy S5 would be working again. To me, a wiped smartphone is better than a bricked one so it is very nice that some Android OEMs have allowed Download Mode on their devices.

Galaxy S5 Download Mode

1. Power Down the Galaxy S5
2. Press and Hold the Power Button, Home Button and Volume Down Button at the Same Time
3. Continue Holding These Buttons Until You See a Special Download Mode Menu
4. Once You See that Download Mode Menu, Immediately Let Go of These Three Buttons
5. You’ll Need to Press the Volume Up Button to Accept the Warning

Explanation

If you read the last tutorial on how to boot the Galaxy S5 into Recovery Mode then you’ll be somewhat familiar with this type of boot process. In order to get your Galaxy S5 into Download Mode, you first need to power it down. If it is frozen or in a bootloop or something, then simply take the backing off and then pull the battery out. When you put the battery back in, it should continue to stay in a powered off state. So, once the Galaxy S5 is powered down, you will need to press the Power button, Volume Down button and the Power button at the same time and continue holding these three buttons during the initial boot process.

Once you see the Download Mode/Odin Mode menu, you can let go of these three buttons. Make sure to let go of them once you see this because if you continue holding them down, you might make the Galaxy S5 reboot. When you get into Download Mode, you will be greeted with a warning. It will tell you to press the Volume Up button to accept the warning or press the Volume Down button to reboot back into the standard Android system. Go ahead and press the Volume Up button and you’ll be taken to the Galaxy S5 Download Mode menu.

From here, you’ll want to connect your Galaxy S5 to the computer and launch Odin for whatever you plan to do with it. I will do into further discussion about what to do in Download Mode and what to do with Odin in a future article. You can reboot your Galaxy S5 back into the regular Android mode by doing a variety of things. Pressing and holding the Power button might trigger it, there might be a menu option that will tell it to reboot too. If not, then you can always pull the battery, put it back in and then powering it back on will take you back to the regular Android system.