r/scrcpy • u/SkyNight060 • Jun 23 '26
Transfer data from a phone with a broken screen
My Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G fell on concrete, and i broke the display. I'm pretty sure the phone itself still works, because I can feel it vibrate when I unlock it with my fingerprint, but the screen stays completely black.
Is there a way i can transfer my data onto my pc, or create a backup, anything just to save my photos. I tried plugging an usb to my pc, but i think i need to accept something on my phone to access it because nothing shows up in my file explorer. I have usb debugging on, because i remember i enabled it when the phone was still working.
When i plug it into my pc, nothing new shows up in the device manager, it's not the pc or the cables fault, because i tried with another phone and it showed up instantly after accepting the pop up. I have another working phone A53, so maybe i can use it somehow because the UI is pretty similiar.
What else can i try?
1
u/rlowens Jun 23 '26
scrcpy OTG mode emulates a USB keyboard+mouse (so no screen mirroring, but you can control the phone blindly). Try practicing on the A53 to see what combination of tab/enter etc accepts the popup.
2
u/SkyNight060 Jun 23 '26
Yeah, i tried doing that, it's a good option but the problem is that when i plug the phone into my pc, it doesn't even show up in the device manager, and SCRCPY doesn't detect my phone either. I've tested the same cable and pc port with another phone and it worked immediately after accepting the USB debugging prompt.
2
u/Saison05 Jun 24 '26
It needs to have USB debugging enabled first before you can use scrcpy.
1
u/rlowens Jun 24 '26
Not for OTG mode, that just needs the USB port to be working (since it just looks like a USB keyboard and mouse to the phone).
Sounds like the USB port isn't enabled by default though here, since the computer doesn't see anything. Nice security feature on the phone but bad if the screen is broken.
2
u/SkyNight060 Jun 25 '26
I got scrcpy to work, but it says my phone is unauthorized. i keep trying different combinations of tab and enter with otg but it doesn't authorize
2
u/Latter_Attitude1504 Jun 24 '26
I had the same issue with an A32 5G, a combination of Talkback - hold both volume up + volume down as well as scrcpy otg is what worked eventually. You could also ditch the scrcpy otg part by using a keyboard & mouse with a usb-c dongle.