Bricked
Adjective · Verb · Slang & Abbreviations
Definitions
Bricked describes an electronic device that has become completely nonfunctional, typically after a failed software update, firmware flash, or modification gone wrong, rendering it as useful as a brick. The term is most commonly applied to phones, routers, gaming consoles, and IoT devices that fail to boot after an interrupted or corrupted firmware update. A hard brick means the device shows no signs of life at all, while a soft brick means it powers on but cannot complete the boot process (often stuck in a boot loop or showing an error screen). Soft bricks can usually be recovered through recovery mode, bootloader access, or JTAG debugging. Hard bricks may require physical chip reprogramming or are sometimes truly unrecoverable. The fear of bricking is one of the main risks associated with rooting Android phones, jailbreaking iPhones, or flashing custom firmware on embedded devices. Manufacturers sometimes use the risk of bricking as a deterrent against device modification.
In plain English: When a device (phone, router, etc.) is so broken by a software error that it's as useful as a brick — it won't turn on or do anything.
Originally exclusive to hardware (phones, routers, game consoles), now used loosely for any system rendered useless by a bad update. 'Soft-bricked' means recovery is possible through special boot modes; 'hard-bricked' means the device is genuinely dead.
Example: 'The OTA firmware update failed mid-write and soft-bricked 10,000 smart locks. Customers were locked out of their homes.'
Source: severity distinction