How to enable or disable cell phone USB debugging and why do it

USB debugging expands our possibilities when we connect our Android with the PC through the USB cable. It is not necessary to do this if we only want to transfer files between both computers, but it is necessary to use the ADB software and to be able to send commands from the PC. This is more important than it seems, because when there is a problem with the cell phone, this procedure can allow us to create a backup of the device, install APKs, restart or restore the cell phone, control it from the PC if the screen is broken and much more.

Turning on USB debugging is a really simple process. You just need to go to the Android system settings and do a few taps here and there. After activating it and after connecting the cell phone to the PC with the USB cable, you will see a window on the mobile “Allow USB debugging” that you must accept for the connection to be established correctly with that PC. Let’s take a closer look at it.

Enable developer options

USB debugging is found in the developer options, a hidden menu in the system settings. Consequently, to activate USB debugging it is first necessary to make the Programmer menu visible as follows:

1. Go to the Android system settings.
2. Tap on «About phone» or «About tablet»
3. On the next screen, tap “Build number” seven times in a row.
4. Upon completion of this sequence of taps, a message should appear stating “You are now a programmer.” The “Developer options” menu should already be visible in the main Settings or Configure menu of the Android system.

Enable USB debugging

As I said, after doing the above, the menu “Options for developers” or “Options for developers” should already appear in the System Settings. So do the following:

1. Go to the settings and tap on “Developer options.”
2. Just toggle the “USB debugging” switch so it’s on.
3. When you connect your device to the PC with the USB cable, you must “Allow USB debugging”, as indicated in the image above. In other words, in the application window, click on “Accept”.

Note: On some devices, when entering the “Programmer Options” you may see its options inactive, disabled or grayed out, including the mentioned “USB debugging” option. This is because this developer options screen is disabled. You simply have to activate it from the switch that is usually at the top of this screen.

Disable USB debugging

By keeping cell phone USB debugging disabled, you can prevent the entry of viruses in the form of malicious APKs.

At the beginning I explained that USB debugging allows you to do advanced things and you will probably want to leave it activated, in the event that the cell phone screen breaks. In this way you would have the possibility of connecting it to the computer and managing it using multiple apps that are available for this task.

However, USB debugging also allows you to install an APK from your PC without having to touch your phone. The downside of this is that you are going to leave an “open door” and with it the possibility of a virus getting into your Android device. This is perfectly possible and in fact there are viruses that are passed from the computer to the cell phone simply after connecting via USB.

From the above, you may want to keep USB debugging disabled and only enable it when necessary. And based on the same, avoid connecting your cell phone to any public computer. Obviously, turning off USB debugging is as simple as turning off the same switch used to turn it on. You don’t need to disable the developer options, just the debugging option.

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