Like all Android devices, Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL devices also come with recovery mode which you can use to rescue your device from a bootloop or softbrick. You can also use recovery mode to install OTA updates manually via adb sideload command.

And if you happen to have a custom recovery like TWRP installed on your Pixel or Pixel XL phone, then you can flash/install custom ROMs, MODs and other similar stuff easily to your phone. You can even root your Pixel phone with SuperSU zip or Magisk if you’re on a custom recovery.

Basically, recovery mode on your Pixel phone has many uses. And you should know how to boot into it.

Google Pixel and Pixel XL Recovery Mode

  1. Power off your Pixel phone.
  2. Press & hold Power + Volume down button for a few seconds.
    └ This will boot your phone into bootloader mode.
  3. Press Volume down button twice to highlight Recovery mode (in red) on screen.
  4. Press Power button to boot into recovery mode.

Seeing a broken Android picture? If you’re on stock recovery, you’ll see a broken Android picture on a blank screen. To pass this, Press & hold Power button and then press the Volume UP button once to boot into stock recovery.

That’s the hardware buttons way of booting into recovery mode on your Pixel phone. If you have adb and fastboot setup on your PC, you can also boot into recovery mode by using the adb reboot bootloader command on your PC’s command line.

Happy Androiding!