Nexus 6P: How to Boot into Fastboot Mode

Some know this as Bootloader Mode but whatever you call it, let me show you how to boot the Nexus 6P into Fastboot Mode.

I talk about a lot of different modifications here on Android Explained and in order to do some of these, we need to know how to boot into special modes. Yesterday I showed you how to boot the Nexus 6P into Safe Mode to help figure out if a 3rd-party application is causing trouble on your device.

Today I want to go a little deeper and talk about a special boot mode that we’ll need in order to do some of these modifications in the future.

If you ever need to boot into Recovery Mode so that you can do something like a factory reset, wipe the cache partition or sideload an OTA update then we first need to know how to boot the Nexus 6P into Fastboot Mode. Booting up into Fastboot Mode will also let you execute certain ADB and Fastboot commands from your computer.

Nexus 6P Bootloader Mode

Just like I said, Fastboot Mode is also known as Bootloader Mode to some people. When you boot the Nexus 6P into Fastboot Mode, you’ll see that text on the screen as shown below. However, when you get in Recovery Mode, there will be an option titled ‘Reboot Bootloader’ that will reboot your Nexus 6P and take you right back into Fastboot Mode. So if you’re looking at a tutorial and you see Fastboot Mode or Bootloader Mode, just know that they are essentially the same thing but with different names.

Now that we understand what this special boot mode is for, let’s talk about how to boot the Nexus 6P into Fastboot Mode.

Nexus 6P Fastboot Mode

1. Power Down the Nexus 6P
2. Once the Device is Off, Press and Hold the Power Button and Volume Down Button at the Same Time
3. Continue Holding These Two Buttons Until you See the Special Fastboot Mode Screen
4. When You are in Fastboot Mode, You Can Let Go of These Two Buttons

Explanation

Just like I showed you yesterday for booting the Nexus 6P into Safe Mode, we need to hold down a certain combination of buttons in order to boot into Fastboot Mode as well. So just like before, we need to first power down the Nexus 6P into an off state. Once the screen is black and the device is not on, then we’ll need to press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons at the same time. We need to continue holding these two buttons until we see the special Fastboot Mode screen with all of the text details.

While you are in the Fastboot Mode, you’ll need to navigate using the Volume Up, Volume Down and Power buttons because the touch screen will not work. Pressing the Volume buttons will change which option is highlighted at the top and pressing the Power button will select the option that is highlighted. When you’re done with Fastboot Mode, there are two ways that you can get back to the regular Android OS. The first is to use the Volume buttons and highlight the ‘Reboot’ option before pressing the Power button to select it.

Alternatively, you could press and hold the Power button for a few seconds to force the Nexus 6P to power down and reboot. As long as you’re not holding any combination of buttons during the reboot process, you will be taken back to the typical Android lock screen.