When you send your Android phone in for repair, you want to give the specialists involved as much access as possible to perform diagnostics and figure out what the problem is. At the same time, you don’t want them browsing through your photos and videos or posting on any of your social media accounts.

That’s where a special Repair Mode comes in: if you have a compatible handset, this mode creates a new partition on your phone, separate from the one where you sign in to apps and store all your personal files and data. The phone can still be used and inspected, but it’ll be in a “factory-fresh” state. You’ll find it on some Pixel phones (where it’s actually called Repair Mode) and some Samsung phones (where it’s called Maintenance Mode).

It doesn’t take long to enter repair mode. However, the usual precautions still apply: even when you enter repair mode, you should still back up everything on your Android device beforehand, in case a full reset is needed to get the gadget working again. We also recommend removing your SIM card.

The repair methods we discuss here will work regardless of where you get your phone repaired: through the official Google or Samsung channels, your local Best Buy, or another place you trust your phone.