If you bought a shiny and amazing Galaxy S6 recently. You might need to get its screen protector and side covers. Accidents don’t ask before coming and you don’t want to be in a situation where your new phone fell out of your hands or while getting out of the car you dropped it on the floor and its screen broke up. Ask those who have been in this situation, you surely don’t want to end up with a Galaxy S6 broken screen.
Well If you broke the screen of your Samsung Galaxy S6 and you are looking for ways to recover data from it before you can claim insurance and get a new phone as a replacement. We have some useful method for you to recover data from broken Galaxy S6.
I am assuming you have already tried using USB debugging method and KIES, but you can’t access the phone because you have a security code for unlocking and your fingerprint scanner is not working because the phone just rebooted.
If you have the above problem, I am glad to tell you that I have a legit method that can help you to recover data from your S6 broken screen. It is not a technical method. Its 100% working and most people don’t even know about it. Using this method you can recover all the data including contacts, videos, and pictures.
Tip: It is always great to keep a backup stored on your PC, accidents can happen to anyone at any time.
Recover Data From Galaxy S6 Broken Screen:
Moving on to the method to recover data from Galaxy S6 Broken screen. Just follow the easy steps below and you will get all your data back. Follow the below method to remotely unlock your S6 broken screen using your Samsung Account.
Note: You must have a Samsung account on your S6; If you want this service to work. It is the same service like Apple’s Find my iPhone. Find my mobile has a number of other features as well which can be used remotely. For this service to work, you must have enabled Remote controls on your phone
- First of all, you have to log in from your Samsung account credentials on Samsung’s Find my Mobile service.
- Once you have logged in, You will see all the actions you can remotely perform on your S6 broken screen.
- You will see an option “Remotely unlock my phone or Unlock screen remotely”.
- Unlock your phone using it.
- Now connect your S6 broken screen with your MAC or PC and recover the data using KIES or Smart Switch. You can also use standard copy paste to transfer your files to PC.
- If you have tried the above method but no luck in unlocking your Galaxy S6 as you didn’t have Samsung account on it. Then before you send it for replacement or claiming the insurance. You might want to erase all the personal data present inside it, so that no strangers can get their hands on your personal data. Use this guide to erase all the contents of your Galaxy S6 before you send it for replacement or claiming insurance.
Also Checkout: How to Backup and Restore Galaxy S6
Third Method to Recover Data from Samsung Galaxy S6 Broken Screen:
Well if the above method didn’t work for you as it has a number of privacy constraints, so many people are unable to unlock their Galaxy S6 to recover data from it. Use this method. It is a bit time consuming and you get frustrated at time. But in the end, you will be able to unlock your S6 to recover data from it. So I guess it’s worth it.
Let me give you an overview before we proceed further. In the method mentioned below, we will connect a mouse to S6 broken screen using an OTG cable. After connecting mouse, a cursor will appear on the screen, although you won’t see it because your screen is broken but you will be able to enter your passcode using the clicks. So let’s move on to the guide without further ado.
Only Condition of this guide is that even if your screen and digitizer aren’t working but the rest of the phone should be functional and it should be powered on.
Prerequisites:
You will need following things to perform this guide:
- OTG Cable.
- USB Mouse.
- Pencil and a Paper.
- USB Data Transfer Cable
Well at one end of OTG cable, there is a female USB port where you can connect USB mouse and the other end of OTG cable connects to your Galaxy S6.
UPDATE: Instead of following the whole procedure below. Just get a USB Keyboard. Use it on a working Galaxy S6 and learn the pattern of keys you will have to follow to get to the backup password. Then connect USB keyboard to your Samsung Galaxy S6 broken screen using OTG cable and use the same button combination on your Galaxy S6 broken screen to enter the backup password to unlock it.
Optional scenario to practice use of a mouse on working Galaxy S6 to prepare for entering passcode without seeing anything on the screen.
After you have got the mouse and OTG cable. You might also need a Galaxy S6 from a friend or acquaintance. This is to prepare for using the mouse with no visual aid. On the working Galaxy S6 connect the mouse using OTG cable and perform the following steps.
- Move the cursor to the top right or any corner of the screen and then move it to the keys and determine the speed and direction to get to a specific key.
- Another option: To get an idea of the interface. Take a thin paper like tissue paper and put it on display of working S6. Now go to lock screen. You will be able to key through the paper. Draw the keys on paper. This will help you to remember the place of keys when you will have no visual aid.
- Recommended option:
- Draw a square on paper.
- Move the cursor to any corner of the screen.
- Put the mouse in the middle of the paper.
- Now reach to specific key on your phone using the mouse.
- Draw the route that you used to reach the specific key on paper.
- Mark it with a letter or alphabet.
- You can also draw the whole scenario of entering the passcode on paper. Once you have made the pattern to enter the passcode on paper. We will use this paper in the next part of this guide to enter the passcode on the Galaxy S6 broken screen.
Once you have mastered the skill of using a mouse and moving around on the lock screen and you have made a map in your mind. Move forward to the actual guide where we are going to recover data from broken screen Galaxy S6.
Now Follow the steps to unlock Samsung Galaxy S6 broken screen to recover data.
- First of all, connect OTG to your phone and connect USB mouse to other end of OTG cable.
- Now that you have connected mouse on your phone, a cursor will be present on the interface. Although you won’t be able to see it. Now is the time to use your skills and expertise of using the mouse with no visual aid which we practiced before.
- The lock screen pattern you made on tissue paper. Put it on display screen of broken S6. and you can also use the pattern you made on paper mapping the directions to reach a specific key.
- Increase the volume to full using the volume keys.
- Once you are all prepared. Press the power button to take your phone to lock screen. (If you are not sure whether the phone is at lockscreen or not. Wait for a minute or so. Your phone will go to sleep, now press the power button to take it back to lock screen).
- Now move the cursor to the far end of your screen. Now with concentration visualise the location of cursor and keypad in your mind and gradually take the cursor to the Backup Password option and click on it, so that your phone displays keypad to enter the password.
- Using the same technique. You will have to reach each key on and click on it to enter your password. You will get an audio signal from the phone as you will enter each key.
- Move the cursor to the far end and bring it back to the next letter or alphabet of your password. If you are lucky. You will be able to unlock your phone in 3-5 attempts.
- If you somehow messed up the route to get to a specific key or entered a wrong letter. Then use the power button to put the phone to sleep and wait for few seconds then press the power button again to get back to lock screen. Now start the process of entering a letter on the Galaxy S6 broken screen again.
- DONT GIVE UP. Yes it is a frustrating process and it will consume a lot of time, but as a result, you will recover data from your broken Galaxy S6 including all the pictures, WhatsApp data and everything from your cracked screen S6.
- When you have successfully unlocked your Galaxy S6 with cracked screen. You will hear an unlocking sound. Now is the time to get the data.
- Remove the OTG cable and connect your phone to PC or laptop using USB data transfer cable.
- Now you will be able to access the data present in your phone using your PC or Laptop.
Keep in mind that phone automatically locks after 30 seconds or 1 minute. So use the volume keys to keep it awake all the time. To prevent the phone from locking, press the volume key after every 10 seconds or so. Although once data transfer has started, don’t worry if the phone gets unlocked again.
That is it, I hope this method works out for you guys.
Third Method to Recover Data from Broken Galaxy S6:
Even if the above method didn’t work for you, this method is last hope for your to recover data from Broken Galaxy S6. In this method, we will use a software named as SmartSwitch to get all of your data. This software is used to install new firmware on Samsung smartphones, if they are bricked or somehow now working.
We will use smart switch to backup data from broken Galaxy S6. Once you have got your phone fixed then you can restore it. OR you can restore your data in some other Samsung Galaxy S6.
- Download and Install Smart Switch on your PC.
- Connect your broken Galaxy S6 to your PC.
- Make a Backup of your phone using Smart Switch.
Note: If your phone is not recognised by your PC and your phone asks for permission then you won’t be able to make a backup. But if you previously had connected your phone to PC and given the permission then you will be able to make a backup of your Galaxy S6 broken screen.
Note: The backup of your broken phone is stored in your PC. I dont know if it’s encrypted, you can locate it in your files and check if the pictures and all the other data is saved without encryption. Also if you are unable to find a working Galaxy S6. You can borrow it from a friend, make a backup of it on your PC using smartswitch. Restore the backup of your broken phone. Copy all that data on your pc. And then again restore data of your friend on his Galaxy S6 and then hand him over his phone.
If you have any issue regarding anything in this guide, let me know in the comments. If it worked out for you and you got your data back, feedback would really cheer me up. I help people because it makes me happy. You can share this post with your friends or on your social networks, so that this guide stays up for a long time and helps other people as well.
Smartphones are very vulnerable to damage. Make sure you always keep your phone backed up on cloud or PC. You never know when these devices decide to give up on you.
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST!! YOU SAVED MY PICTURES!! 🙂
Glad that it helped.. 🙂
Hi I had a samsung galaxy s6 edge plus and my significant other broke my phone in half. My motherboard is fine but the rest of the phone is totally gone. Is there any way for me or anyone else torecover my photos from the motherboard?
looking to see if you can help my s6 screen is totallbroken and i cant see anything is there any way i can get my contacts music etc from old phone to new phone
If you synced your contacts to Gmail then you can access your contacts.
If your phone was synced with Gmail. All your contacts will be visible there.
Lifesaver! 3000 photos of my childrens whole lives recovered 🙂 thank you
Does it take time to unlock the phone?? Tried it and didnt work
No it doesnot takes time to unlock.. Try again.. It should work.. Worked out for many people
Hi Abdullah, I have managed to get into my Samsung Account but am unable to unlock the screen. Once pressed I press unlock, a short while later I receive a pop up saying ” The device is offline or network connection is unstable. Within 24hr of implementation, the function will be run when the device is connected to the network.”. I still have the sim in my phone, and am at home in wifi (although I don’t remember if I had wifi on when I broke the screen). Is there any other way to remotely access other features of the… Read more »
I dont know any other feature that can help you to recover data, try ADB recovery or Changing the screen method as in this link https://itechify.com/2015/05/23/s2-s3-s4-broken-screen-heres-how-to-recover-data/ …
Hi wondering if you know how to completely wipe the s6. I have my data as it was connected to one drive but itstill connected to my Amazon account etc. Is there anyway I can wipe all this before I get it fixed/sell it cheap for someone else to fix
Yes. There are two ways to do so.
Either you can erase all the content present in your phone using Google Device manager.
Or you can use the service mentioned above. Samsung Find my Mobile. It allows you to erase all the content present in your phone remotely.
Both services will remotely erase all your data present inside it whenever that phone is turned on. Even after getting its display screen fixed.
I ave a samsung galaxy s6 and i dropped it today i also have a samsung account that i logged in to but it says that there is no device registered after i signed in which is weird idk is there some other way that i can unlock my screen please help.
After the recent update. Only devices which have remote control turned on from settings work on Samsung Find my Mobile.
Use the 2nd method or use USB keyboard to enter password using OTG cable. Practice on working phone before.
Make sure it’s not showing another phone of yours I realized that after trying it for mine. Also thanks a lot Abdullah! This was a life saver!
Hi! I don’t have a Samsung account on my S6 and it doesn’t turn on. It just has a blue light blinking all the time on the top of the screen. Is there anything I can do to recover my data? :'(
Try the second method.
Where is the unlock? I only see an option to lock the screen. Am I missing something?
Try again, There is an option to unlock, or may be your phone is already unlocked.. Try connecting data cable to access your data.
i can’t seem to unlock my phone i can turn it on but my screen is smashed so i have it on and it says my phone isn’t connected but it was because i brought up all my call logs on find my phone and even rang my phone but when i try to unlock it it says its not connected so what do i do now?
I have no clue whats the problem here .. Sorry.. Let me know if you find its fix..
hello i am having trouble with KIES; it starts to download but then i get an error message stating that is has encountered an fatal error: KB2918614 in the miscrosoft upadate. help please.
I happened to come across a link that said it is a result of Microsoft security update KB2918614. I went to.. control panel>programs and features>view installed updates. Then search for KB2918614 and uninstall. Reboot when prompted and try download again, should work this time.
It appears KB2918614 broke the Windows Installer Service. Go to your Windows Update History and remove that update (it will have been installed near the time you began having this problem). Then reboot and try again.
Please help! Hi my phone does not turn it broke from the inside the screen looks fine, can I still retrieve my pics somehow?
Have you tried connecting it to PC?
I am afraid of your motherboard is gone, you can no longer recover pictures….
How can this help me if I can’t even see my screen because it’s broken?. I need to download my notes and voice recorder.
Once you unlock your phone screen, you connect it with your laptop or PC and then you can find your data there. if your notes were synced with gmail, you can locate them after you sign in on your gmail and on the left bar you will see notes.
hey Abdulla, I got my phone unlocked and was able to transfer all of my photos but what I need most is my contacts, I was using the manual transfer method onto a flash drive but can’t seem to find the folder with my contacts..any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!
Hey Andrew, I have heard of this app named as Samsung Smart Switch, Install it on your PC and try to recover contacts from your phone,(I have not tried this method, But I have read about it).
If that doesnot works, only possible way seems to be using third party apps that are used to recover data from Android phones..
Best of Luck…
Let me know if you accomplish recovering contacts.
Abdullah, You gave me hope for a bit, and then I ran into a problem… Both Smart Switch and Kies only support MTB connection, and the current set up on my mobile device is in a USB mode. Since my screen is broken (flashing green), I am not able to change to MTB mode, and therefore not able to transfer the photos. I logged in the Find My Device, and was able to unlock the phone and retrieve call logs. When I connect my device to the laptop, the folder shows as empty. I highly doubt that my hard drive… Read more »
Only way to know if your data is still in there which seems possible, is to change the broken LCD with a working one and retrieve it like in this post https://itechify.com/2015/05/23/s2-s3-s4-broken-screen-heres-how-to-recover-data/
although I am not sure if its gonna work with S6 and have no clue how to open up a S6, It might take some time and bit of YouTubing, One thing that might motivate you, is that you can hurt an already broken phone, you cant do more damage to it, Only if its not in warranty, Warranty will be void if you try to open it up..
Hi again!
I actually got really lucky and was able to view a very fuzzy screen for just enough time to be able to switch to the MTP mode. I heated up my cell phone a bit and the screen came back for a few minutes…. I think it was a new year’s day miracle!
I now have my data backed up to my laptop, and am waiting on my phone replacement tomorrow so I can transfer it.
Thanks for helping me get to the point where I was able to unlock the phone and back up the data… 🙂
Great 🙂
My Samsung is broken from dropping it into the toilet…it won’t switch on at all…can I retrieve my
Photos etc using this method under those circumstances? Many thanks.
samsung s6 active broke my screen, i used samsung smart switch and it transferred almost everything except my private folder is there a way to access through laptop, or anyway to get into it with unusable screen?
how do i get to the photos?? all it is allowing me to retrieve from my phone is the call logs:(
really appreciate your help here! I’m on holidays overseas and my phone screen just turned black!! I freaked out as I’ve been using my phone as my camera capturing our honeymoon!!
this saved me big time – can’t thank you enough!
I am glad it worked out for you.. 🙂
which process should i try if i was able to already unlock my phone and remove security code/PIN, but now it turned purple/black so I can’t see anything? I would like to back up my photos and the ones that were in google photos on my phone have already been backed up. I have photos in CM QuickPic and would like to back those up – it states that they h ave been, but when I check the CM Cloud, nothing there. Help please! Thanks.
If you are able to unlock your phone. Connect your phone to your PC or MAC using data cable and transfer all your data to your PC by copy paste.
I tried doing that earlier and i received the message: no new files or pictures. I attempted to do the smart switch as well and it did not pick up my phone either, stating “this phone does not allow file transfer”. It had instructions to click on my phone to allow this, however, my phone is now just black so I can’t see anything… anymore suggestions before I give up and have them replace the screen for $250? I also have insurance that would just send me a new phone for $112, but what about my recent files and photos?… Read more »
Hey Thanks for this awesome tutorial. I do have a little bit problem about that.
I have Samsung S6 with broken screen. I did exactly what did you tell on there but the thing is after unlocking my screen I am not able to connect my phone to my MAC or Linux with USB port. Could you please help me? Thanks
I guess the settings of USB connection is not set for Data Transfer.. Is your phone being detected by the MAC or Linux.. Make sure you have required drivers on your system. If nothing works try on Windows OS. It should connect.. And then use Smart Switch or KIES to transfer data.
I was very hopeful, but my phone would not unlock. Can’t access the files in the phone (broken touchscreen).
Tried several times.
were you able to successfully login to your Samsung account?
Thank you SO MUCH! I thought I lost all my pictures and videos of my kids but this solution worked. 🙂 So happy!
Thank you sooo much!!!
I have a Samsung account and it will not let me sign in….I really really want my pictures!!!! I have to turn my phone in asap. Any suggestions.
Thank You SOOOOOO Much!!!!!
Pleasure 🙂
I tried the find my phone option, however my wifi was not connect it before breaking, so everytime I try to unlock the phone it cannot find it can you help me !!!!
I have an S6 with a broken screen that seems to be alive on the back end. My problem is that I can’t unlock it via Find My Remote, and I’m wondering if it’s because it’s no longer on the network? I switched my account to an old iPhone that a friend had. Most of my pictures are in the cloud, but I have some contacts and password files that are on the phone itself. I got an adapter to connect the phone to my TV via HDMI, but the adapter has an 11-pin USB and doesn’t fit the phone.… Read more »
Excellent tip Bro
my password is a swipe password … but the only option in find my samsung is the key password with numbers and letters? any ideas?
my screen wont light up so I cant see it and I’ve tried to plug it in but my computer says it has no data I don’t want to lose all the stuff on my phone how can I get all my data off my phone
First remotely unlock your phone then you will be able to see data present inside the phone.
When your phone is locked, you cant access its data using USB cable.
My partner’s galaxy s6 broke this weekend. The screen has cracked and so she is unable to use it. Also the charger port is damaged and she is unable to plug the charger into it. Is there any way of retrieving the data/photos that are on the phone?
THANK YOU
managed to get all my client contacts onto my replacement S6
i cracked my screen and it stopped working all together, nothing was visible though the phone was clearly on, have been trying to recover all day this is the first method i found that allowed me to do anything, all other programs etc didn’t work for my S6 Edge
Thanks again 😀
Hello, my replacement phone has already came and is activated but i desperately need the pictures videos and messages from my phone with the broken screen. The broken one does come on screen just cracked and i cant see anything but black and white but screen does work. Please further explaim to me what needs to be done ASAP i have to mail the broken phone back within 10 days so they wont charge me.
Thank you
I managed to sign in to my Samsung account and when i click on unlock my device i am still unable to view the files on my phone even though the phone appears on my computer could you please help me.
If the screen is unlocked, you will be able to see the data present inside your phone.
hey my phone is broken my dad took it and throw it many times on the walls so it is died but the led lamp is working and giving me red light so how to take my photos and videos back?
please answer quick
Use the above guide to retrieve data from your broken S6.
Hello, my dog bite my phone and cracked the screen so now it is totally black and can’t tell if it is on or not. Before it would flash but nothing now, the blue light lit up and at times it would be orange. I went and already got a replacement before realizing all my pics didn’t go to clouds and they are very important. Hooking it to the ocean isn’t recognizing it. Please help
PC not ocean
Now that you have got a new phone as replacement. And other phone is already gone. I don’t think there is a way to recover pictures now. If you still have that broken phone then you can try from the above method. But as you said. The phone is gone and you have got a replacement then I think there isn’t any way out.
I have a Galaxy S6 Active, that has the black screen of death, but the motherboard is not damaged. I received my replacement phone but I REALLY WANT my photos from the old phone. I connected the keyboard to the replacement phone but I can’t figure out how to use the keyboard to unlock the phone, even the one with the working screen. (I was able to unlock it with the mouse, but was unsuccessful doing it on the broken phone.)
I am so sorry to hear all this. I will personally get a S6 and OTG keyboard. and test this procedure and tell you the keys which can be used to unlock a dead screen S6.
Hi I have managed to unlock my screen (phone is fine but swipe screen function is totally dead) but it pops up with allow or deny access to data and as I can’t swipe the screen I can’t click on allow.
Help! Is there any other way to get around this?
Use OTG mouse to click on allow. When you will connect a USB mouse via OTG cable to your phone. You will see a mouse pointer on the screen of your phone. You can then use mouse to click on Allow.
Help! My swipe function is dead on my S6! I can unlock the screen but when it asks me to allow or deny the connection I can’t click on it to allow the data transfer. Is there any other way around this?????
Use OTG mouse to click on Allow when it asks you.
But when I disconnect cable from computer and trying to use OTG cable with mouse the Allow/Deny message disapears. How about USB Hub, for connecting PC and mouse together with my phone, do you know if it works, before I buy one?
Thanks
Do let me know if it works. I have heard about it but never used myself.
Let me know if it works.
Thanks and Best of Luck.
it didnt, pc is not able to detect phone via otg cable
What if my phone is locked with the 9 dot square draw pattern lock. Am I able to use the mouse somehow? That would be amazing and I would pay you.
I am not sure about it. You can try using mouse, click on one of the 9 dots and drag it to draw the pattern.
Best of Luck.
You can go to find my mobile and reset the password (default password will be swipe)
I can’t seem to get smart switch to work. As soon as I enter the model number and serial number, it closes.
I got the OTG adapter, but how does it work with a keyboard and I had a pattern as my lock. I can’t seem to find the keys on the keyboard that coincide with the pattern lock.
I am using 3rd method to recover data from my broken Samsung Galaxy S6 and it is asking for model no. and serial KEY and I insert model no. but there is no method to find serial key in S6 as battery is fixed not openable. How to find serial key?
Serial key is mentioned on the back of your phone’s box.
There is another method to find the serial number from the download mode.
I tried this on my galaxy s6 active did not work
Any way to turn on the USB file transfer cause no program will connect to my phone until that is switched on
I am having the same problem. Smart switch says I have to enable USB transfer on my phone, but since the screen is black I can’t see what to do to turn it on. I was told the S6 does not have any video out capability so I can’t use MHL to see the screen on another monitor or screen. I just want my photos on my phone.
My samsung galaxy S6 fell-down and broken screen.
display won’t come at all.
so there are very important pictures family, messages and contact details I want to get.
How can I do this?
Without coming display on the phone how can I recover my data from the phone to PC?
please send me an email.
hi, recently i broke my phone and the screen is completely smashed and the touch screen no longer functions, i am able to unlock my phone by using find my mobile but when i unlock i am presented with the problem of the usb files not being able to transfer, any thoughts??
I have no clue. May be you have to give permission on your phone for your PC to access the files. Try smart switch.
It worked! This has saved my photos. I am super happy !!!
After upgrading to Marshmallow I broke the screen before changing the USB transfer options to MTP from charging only. So when I use smartswitch I am getting the error “Unsupported USB Connection, change connection mode to file transfer and connect again”. Any options to roll back the firmware or make this change with a broken screen? Thanks in advance.
I dont know any method with which you can change USB connection type with screen not working. Although you can flash the previous firmware via ODIN.
Hi,
My galaxy s6 screen stopped working and I want to retrieve my documents and music from my phone. Is there a way to do so?
Stopped working? can you elaborate more please? It is stuck on Logo or does not even turns on?
The screen is completely black.
Connect it with charger and then try turning it on.
It’s connected, but I have no access to the files because I can’t unlock it
This just didn’t work. The screen is broken. We can get numbers in the car but not the computer. went to your third option over and over for two days because we had to keep emptying the computer, and then it would just crash. Changed to a tablet and it was slow but seemed to be working, but then just stopped. It kept on saying the screen was locked. Have now tried attaching the new working phone, and it is still saying the screen is locked, when it’s not. Gremlins. Appreciate the help but at wits end, trying to get… Read more »
If you were using Google account on your phone and your contacts were synced to your gmail account then you can find the contacts by going to gmail account and clicking on contacts.
Hope this helps.
i have usb file transfer turned off so smart switch wont let me do it and my screen is broke so i cant turn it on but i can unlock my phone because i dont have a password and hitting my active button then home unlocks it. and the sensors for the screen are broke so i cant touch anything on it. you know of anything i can do to get the photos off my phone
If display of your screen is working but the touch isint. You can connect USB OTG mouse to your Galaxy S6 and use it to turn on USB MTP from the settings.
When you will connect USB OTG mouse a pointer will appear on your S6’s screen which can be used to perform clicks and others functions on broken Galaxy S6.
I tried smart switch but the newest version skips the backup process when doing the software update.
Does anyone have a link to an older version that does the backup?
Thanks
Is smart switch portable version is available for windows ?
Hello Abdulla, i could unlock the phone through Find My Mobile, but what can i do if usb data transfer is disabled?
Thanks in advance.