Nobody is ever prepared for a broken phone but these things do happen no matter how careful we are. Maybe your toddler mistakenly pushed your Android or iPhone off a high surface or it dropped from your hands while you were trying to catch the morning bus. At the moment, such an event can be quite upsetting especially if you have important document and files stored on your device.If the broken phone is an iphone click how to access a broken iPhone,, and if you are an android user, please follow this link how to access a broken android phone.
If you are in such a fix, not to worry. You can still access your favorite tools, apps, and even documents before heading down to a repair shop. In this guide, we will answer the question, how can I access my shattered phone?
How to Access Broken Phone
A broken phone could either be that the display is no longer visible or the touchscreen is not functioning properly. While this might be frustrating, you can still gain access to all relevant information and even use some apps on your phone with little to no worries. How do you go about this? Through a personal computer (PC) or a laptop. How can I access my broken phone from my computer? Follow us through a list of methods we would be exploring for both Android and iPhone devices below.
How to Access Your Android Phone
We will be exploring different methods of accessing your broken Android phone. This would start from mid to high level based on the severity of the damage to your phone.
1. USB File Transfer Mode To The Rescue
The File Transfer Mode is the easiest means of accessing any damaged Android device. This is basically a mid-level crisis and to a large extent your phone screen is still relatively visible. Also, your touchscreen is not too severely damaged from the fall. To try out this method, follow these short, quick steps:
- Power on your PC or laptop and pull out your USB cable.
- Plug the USB cable to the PC and then to your phone to pair both items
- The default setting is meant for charging the device. Switch this configuration to File Transfer or MTP.
- This would automatically pair your phone to the PC and allow you to go through your documents
- Open the ‘File Explorer’ icon at the base of your Windows PC and browse through the documents on your phone.
2. Enable USB File Transfer Via Developer Options
However, some falls are just too critical for continued use. If your phone is badly damaged and you can’t use the touchscreen, then option B should come in handy. You can still access your Android phone using developer options. Before getting started, however, you would need a wired mouse and a USB On-The-Go (OTG).
Once these two items are available, follow these steps to access your Android device:
- Get the wired mouse and OTG adapter ready
- Connect the OTG adapter to your Android phone and then to the wired mouse
- Unlock your device, then navigate to Settings using the wired mouse.
- Proceed to ‘System’ and then to ‘Developer Options.’ An alternative would be to directly search out the Developer Options toolkit but this would not be possible due to the damaged touchscreen.
- Locate ‘USB File Configuration’ in the Developer Options menu and then tap on it
- Then switch the default mode to ‘File Transfer’ then reconnect your phone to your PC
- Open the ‘File Explorer’ icon and browse through the device
3. Using Phone Apps on Windows PC
In the happenstance that you don’t want to only access documents on your phone but need to use your mobile apps as well, you can still go about this using your PC. The first step is to download the ‘Phone App’ desktop application on the Microsoft Store. This enables users to directly connect to their device and keep up with their conversations, view recent photos, as well as view their phone notifications on their PC.
However, this option only works if your Android phone is still relatively visible and the touchscreen is not too damaged. This is because you will also need to download the ‘Phone App’ onto your mobile device from the Google Play Store for this to work. Once both devices are installed, start them and follow the on-screen commands to pair them.
Voila! You can now successfully make and receive phone calls, keep in touch with your conversations and even view notifications popping into your Android phone all on your PC.
4. Casting Your Phone Screen
The last option on how can I access my broken phone on my computer is ‘Casting.’ This is a technical term for screen mirroring or amplifying your phone screen to a larger display. The great thing about casting is it is not as difficult as it sounds.
All you need to do is a Windows 10 PC and a compatible Android device. No need for extra software or making extra space for use. To cast your phone screen to your PC, follow these steps below:
- Connect your PC and smartphone to the same Wi-Fi network. You can use your smartphone hotspot and connect your PC to it.
- Tap the ‘Notifications’ tab on the far bottom right-hand corner of your Windows laptop and select ‘Connect.’
- Drag down the ‘Notifications’ tray of your Android phone and click on Settings > Connections > Cast.
- Tap on the three-dotted vertical lines on the top right-hand corner and click on ‘Enable Wireless Display.’
- Your PC should pop up in available devices soon after and then you can click on it to display your phone content to your PC.
How to Access My Broken iPhone
The world does not end if your iPhone is broken or damaged from either a fall into liquid or a hard surface. Despite this setback, iPhone users can still retrieve their valuable files and photos using a computer. This is largely based on two possible scenarios. One is if your iPhone has a trusted computer assigned to it another is if it doesn’t. Below, we explore both circumstances and show you how to access my broker iPhone on computer.
1. iPhone Has a Trusted Computer
If you previously enabled ‘Trust’ on your iPhone device, then this step should be easy to get through. All you need to do is insert the device into the USB dongle of the trusted computer and then you can access your shattered phone.
2. Recover With iTunes
Another option to recover files from a broken iPhone is to go the iTunes route. To do this, follow the steps below:
- Connect the faulty device with a lightning cable to the PC
- Open iTunes on the PC and tap on the icon on the left side of the window
- Click on ‘Summary’ on the sidebar and select ‘This Computer’ from Automatically Backup
- Then tap on ‘Back Up Now’ to kick-start the backup process. The backed up file will then be saved locally to your PC for future use.
3. iPhone Has No Trusted Computer
If your iPhone became faulty before you got round to attaching it to a ‘Trusted’ computer, then try out this option. Meanwhile, trying to recover with a iTunes backup might not work due to the fact that the computer won’t recognise the device.
To recover your files from a broken iPhone, follow these steps:
- Insert an external keyboard to your iPhone using a USB cable and tap on the ‘Spacebar’ twice
- The lock screen would automatically pop up. Insert the lock code using the external keyboard
- Long press the ‘Home’ button to summon AI assistant Siri. Then issue a command prompt by saying ‘Turn on VoiceOver.’
- Once this command is executed, use the arrow keys to navigate on the iPhone.
- When prompted to ‘Trust This Computer’ reply Yes.
- To enable iCloud backup, hold on to the ‘Command + Spacebar’ button to activate it. In the search bar, type ‘backup’ and use the arrow keys on the keyboard till you get to it. Move the arrow keys till you get to the ‘iCloud Backup off – double tap to toggle the setting.’ Hold on to the up and down arrow keys simultaneously to switch it on.
Conclusion
While these methods give you access to your phone in emergency situations, they are still means to an end and are temporary. It would usually be inconvenient most times and you may not have your PC with you while on the move. We recommend visiting a nearby phone repair shop to change the damaged screen in order to restore the full functional use of your mobile device.
