Using Android is easy, since the operating system is prepared for precisely that, that is, so that anyone can use it without prior knowledge.
But of course, there are more sophisticated parts such as the hidden menu of developer options which are more specific for people who are more knowledgeable about the system, like you are going to be yourself by the time you finish reading this article.
As the name suggests, these features are useful for developers building Android apps, but they are not that important for the average user.
We are talking about this menu, because it is where the protagonist of our article comes from, which is none other than the usb debugging modeof which, surely you have heard of, but you do not know exactly what it is, what it is for and how it is activated.
Index of contents:
What is USB debugging mode in Android?
The first thing we must know is that, if we are going to develop Android applications, we must install the Software Development Kit (SDK) in the computer.
This software gives developers the tools they need to build applications for a certain platform. The normal thing is to install SDK together with Android Studiowhich is a development environment for Android applications.
He USB debugging mode allows an Android device to communicate with a computer running the Android SDK to use advanced operations.
If we enable USB debugging what we do is allow the phone to fully communicate with the computer so that they can take advantage of these tools.
It should be clear that at no time is debugging mode necessary to synchronize our phone.
how to enable
We must start from the menu Developer Options is hidden on Android, so the first thing to do is “bring it out”.
If we want it to appear in our options we must perform a few simple steps.
We open the Settings of the phone and scroll down to About of the phone. We go down again until we see the build number of our system. We must touch this callsign a few times, until we see a notification that informs us that now we are already developers.
Next, we return to the Settings and we enter the menu System. Then we enter Advanced and finally we will see how a new entry titled appears developer options.
Depending on the Android version and the customization layer, these steps may vary, especially where the new Developer Options menu is placed, since in some terminals it is one more part of the Settings menu options directly.
Wherever it is, once we already have the Developer Options menu, what we must do is enter it, look for usb debugging in the header Debugging and tap the slider to enable it and then confirm Android’s warning that we understand what this feature is for.
From now on we will see how when we connect a phone to a computer with a USB cable, It will ask us if we want to authorize USB debugging for that connection.
What exactly does this debug mode do?
Let’s explain it in an easy way. Without USB debugging, we can’t send any advanced command to phone via a USB cable.
This means developers need to enable USB debugging so they can push apps to their devices for testing and interaction with.
USB debugging is also often used to root Android terminals. Not all methods to perform this action, but most of them, since you usually use some program that runs from your desktop, which means that you need the smartphone and the computer to connect in a deeper way to get Superuser.
We also need to enable USB debugging to use the commands Android Debug Bridge (ADB). Thanks to them we can install APK files stored on our PC, move files from one place to another and see the device logs to detect debugging errors.
It is safe?
If we connected our Android with USB debugging enabled to a public loading port, we might have risksbut just like if we connect the computer to a public WiFi.
That is why we should never connect to a computer that we do not know. We must always keep debugging disabled and only give it access when we need it.
Another reason to have debugging disabled it is that the terminal is stolen or you lose it, whoever might have it, if they have sufficient knowledge, could connect to the device with the computer, without needing to know the PIN or another security system of the lock screen.
Unless we use ADB regularly and connect our Android to Windows computer on a regular basis, it is convenient to leave USB debugging unconnected.
Now you know what it is, how it is enabled, what its mission is and the possible risks of the debugging mode of your Android terminal, so you can decide whether to enable it or not.
