What can happen if I pull out the battery without switching off the device?

Question

I just want to know what can happen if the battery from an Android device is pulled out without switching off the OS.

Will any serious or irreversible harm occur to the software or hardware? What can happen?


— Puspam | Sources

Answer

Things that may go wrong:




  1. If you were working on files that were not saved, they will be lost.

  2. No proper shutdown means that the OS and other apps opened and were using some files, plus the file system was in use. They can become corrupted. Worse scenario will be the OS itself to get corrupted. For example, if you were updating the OS, and for whatever reason, you had to remove the battery. The consequences could lead to losing your data (files), even brick the device.

  3. Some phones (mine included) lose the date and time. (Not that serious but hey...).


— Reddy Lutonadio | Sources

Q & A

Does TWRP make backup of recovery partition when backing up ROM?
How do you install TWRP after rooting?
open multiple URIs with one click (similar to desktop Firefox "open all in tabs")
How to ensure a factory reset wipes /data/media?
Cannot Get This Disk Image To Mount!
Uninstall marshmallow updates
How can I take on-device screenshots of "secure" apps?
ARP-Scan / aNmap alternatives on Android?
SP Flash tool mediatek - cannot add download agent
Verify if apps are fully compatible to the intended Android version upgrade
Force Google Chrome to load background pages
Does 'LOCK AND ERASE' in Android Device Manager delete all the data in a lost phone?
Huawei ascend p7: no USB connection methods
Disabling Samsung Applications without root permissions?
How to remove camera shortcut on lock screen?
Updating phone-firmware based on phone carrier
Fast Charging by Qualcomm 3.0- impact on battery?
How to remap device's sensors to touch screen?
Can I have two separate minecraft apps on my sole account?
How can I install Google Apps on Cyanogenmod for the Samsung Galaxy S2 (i9100)?

Topics

2D Engines   3D Engines   9-Patch   Action Bars   Activities   ADB   Advertisements   Analytics   Animations   ANR   AOP   API   APK   APT   Architecture   Audio   Autocomplete   Background Processing   Backward Compatibility   Badges   Bar Codes   Benchmarking   Bitmaps   Bluetooth   Blur Effects   Bread Crumbs   BRMS   Browser Extensions   Build Systems   Bundles   Buttons   Caching   Camera   Canvas   Cards   Carousels   Changelog   Checkboxes   Cloud Storages   Color Analysis   Color Pickers   Colors   Comet/Push   Compass Sensors   Conferences   Content Providers   Continuous Integration   Crash Reports   Credit Cards   Credits   CSV   Curl/Flip   Data Binding   Data Generators   Data Structures   Database   Database Browsers   Date &   Debugging   Decompilers   Deep Links   Dependency Injections   Design   Design Patterns   Dex   Dialogs   Distributed Computing   Distribution Platforms   Download Managers   Drawables   Emoji   Emulators   EPUB   Equalizers &   Event Buses   Exception Handling   Face Recognition   Feedback &   File System   File/Directory   Fingerprint   Floating Action   Fonts   Forms   Fragments   FRP   FSM   Functional Programming   Gamepads   Games   Geocaching   Gestures   GIF   Glow Pad   Gradle Plugins   Graphics   Grid Views   Highlighting   HTML   HTTP Mocking   Icons   IDE   IDE Plugins   Image Croppers   Image Loaders   Image Pickers   Image Processing   Image Views   Instrumentation   Intents   Job Schedulers   JSON   Keyboard   Kotlin   Layouts   Library Demos   List View   List Views   Localization   Location   Lock Patterns   Logcat   Logging   Mails   Maps   Markdown   Mathematics   Maven Plugins   MBaaS   Media   Menus   Messaging   MIME   Mobile Web   Native Image   Navigation   NDK   Networking   NFC   NoSQL   Number Pickers   OAuth   Object Mocking   OCR Engines   OpenGL   ORM   Other Pickers   Parallax List   Parcelables   Particle Systems   Password Inputs   PDF   Permissions   Physics Engines   Platforms   Plugin Frameworks   Preferences   Progress Indicators   ProGuard   Properties   Protocol Buffer   Pull To   Purchases   Push/Pull   QR Codes   Quick Return   Radio Buttons   Range Bars   Ratings   Recycler Views   Resources   REST   Ripple Effects   RSS   Screenshots   Scripting   Scroll Views   SDK   Search Inputs   Security   Sensors   Services   Showcase Views   Signatures   Sliding Panels   Snackbars   SOAP   Social Networks   Spannable   Spinners   Splash Screens   SSH   Static Analysis   Status Bars   Styling   SVG   System   Tags   Task Managers   TDD &   Template Engines   Testing   Testing Tools   Text Formatting   Text Views   Text Watchers   Text-to   Toasts   Toolkits For   Tools   Tooltips   Trainings   TV   Twitter   Updaters   USB   User Stories   Utils   Validation   Video   View Adapters   View Pagers   Views   Watch Face   Wearable Data   Wearables   Weather   Web Tools   Web Views   WebRTC   WebSockets   Wheel Widgets   Wi-Fi   Widgets   Windows   Wizards   XML   XMPP   YAML   ZIP Codes