Moto G4: How to Boot into Recovery Mode

If for some reason you cannot boot up into the Android operating system, let me show you how to boot into Recovery Mode on the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus.

Recovery Mode is just like it sounds, a way to recovery your smartphone or tablet if you come across certain issues. In extreme cases, you may find your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus is unable to boot into the Android (from a bootloop or something), and if that is the case then you need to perform a factory data reset.

There’s a way to reset the device from within Android, but that’s not possible if you cannot get past the boot sequence.

The Recovery Mode for Android also has a number of other options as well. We can apply an OTA update from ADB, we can apply an OTA update from the microSD card, we can wipe the cache partition, we can mount the /system partition and we can view the recovery logs. These things can be very useful to complete certain tasks and troubleshoot certain issues, but most people will likely just want to do a factory reset or wipe the cache partition from the Moto G4 Recovery Mode.

Whatever your reason for needing to get into Recovery Mode on the Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus, you can follow these directions to complete the task.

Moto G4 Recovery Mode

1. Boot the Moot G4 into Fastboot Mode
2. Press the Volume Down button twice
3. Press the Power button when you see the ‘Recovery’ option selected
4. Wait until the Moto G4 boots to the Android on its back screen
5. Press and hold the Power button
6. Then press the Volume Up button once you begin holding the Power button down
7. Let go of both the Power and Volume Down buttons once you see the Android recovery screen

Explanation

As you can see, the process isn’t as simple as booting the Moto G4 into Fastboot Mode, but it’s not that hard to do either. To begin, we actually need to boot the Moto G4 into Fastboot Mode. If you’re unfamiliar with how this is done, then be sure to click the link in step 1 above and follow those directions. As soon as you get the Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus into Fastboot Mode, then you can press the Volume Down button a couple of times.

It should take two presses before the Recovery option is highlighted in the middle of the screen. When you see the Recovery option selected, go ahead and press the Power button to choose this option. You will see the Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus shut down and then begin to boot back up. Except this time, instead of booting into Android or Fastboot Mode, you’ll be taken to the splash screen of the Recovery Mode.

The splash screen looks like the image above. It’s just an Android figure laying on its back with the chest door open and an exclamation mark inside a red triangle. You’ll need to get past this screen and to do that, you need to press and hold the Power button. About one second after you start holding the Power button down, go ahead and press the Volume Up button too. The idea is to press the Volume Up button after you have started holding the Power button down.

This should take you directly to the Moto G4 Recovery Mode and you’ll want to let go of these two buttons as soon as you see that menu screen. If you end up holding the Power button down too long, you’ll end up rebooting the Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus. If you’re confused about this process, you should check the video embedded directly below the step by step guide. I will walk you through the entire process from start to finish.

Just like Fastboot Mode, when you get to the Moto G4 Recovery Mode, you will need to navigate through the menu with the physical buttons on the side. Volume Up and Volume Down will control the highlighter, and then you press the Power button to selected the highlighted option. As shown in the video, once you are ready to go back to Android you should select the Reboot System Now option and wait for the boot sequence to finish.