Android file transfer: How to move data between your phone and calculator

Moving files between your Android device and a Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook doesn't have to be hard — or dependent on any deject services.

Contributing Editor, Computerworld |

Table of Contents
  • Android file transfers for Windows computers
  • Android file transfers for Mac computers
  • Android file transfers for Chrome OS computers
  • Don't like cables?

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Your smartphone is a powerful computer in your pocket — and with Android, part of that PC-like musculus means being able to plug your phone into any Windows, Mac, or Chrome Bone system and so drag and driblet files either fashion.

Unlike iPhones, Android devices allow you to access their file systems directly from a desktop, without the demand for any cumbersome interfaces or complicated procedures. In fact, transferring files to or from an Android device is basically no different than plugging an external difficult drive into your figurer and moving data to or from it.

All you need is your phone, your calculator, and a cablevision to connect 'em — with micro-USB or USB-C on the phone side and USB-A or USB-C on the computer side, depending on the specifics of your devices. (Most current Android phones utilize USB-C, whereas most pre-2016 devices have the older micro-USB standard. USB-A, meanwhile, is the traditional connector port you're used to seeing on computers, though more and more models now also offer USB-C.) At that place'due south a decent chance that the aforementioned cable that connects your phone to its wall charger will work.

Got information technology? Adept. Here'south what you need to do next, depending on whether you take a Windows, macOS, or Chrome OS system:

Android file transfers for Windows computers

With Windows, things are every bit simple as tin can exist. Just plug your phone into any open USB port on the computer, then turn on your telephone's screen and unlock the device.

Swipe your finger down from the top of the screen, and you should run into a notification about the current USB connection. At this betoken, it'll probably tell you your phone is continued merely for charging.

android file transfer usb notification JR Raphael/IDG

Afterwards you connect your phone to your computer, a notification will permit yous ready it for transferring files.

Tap the notification and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer" in the menu that appears. If media files are all you're planning to move, you could also use the "Transfer photos" (sometimes listed as "PTP") option, which'll treat your phone similar a digital camera. One time you lot've made your selection, go to your desktop and open a File Explorer window using the method that makes the most sense for your Windows configuration:

  • Click the File Explorer icon in your taskbar
  • Open the Start menu and click This PC or Estimator
  • Click the This PC, Figurer, or My Calculator icon on your desktop

Then look for an icon representing your phone alongside other portable devices and drives. Click or double-click that icon, and ta-da! You're staring at your Android phone's internal storage. You lot can at present click effectually and browse folders, drag and drop files between your phone and PC, or manipulate the data in whatever way you lot want.

android file transfer windows JR Raphael/IDG

Your Android phone's storage looks similar any regular difficult bulldoze when viewed from a computer.

Android file transfers for Mac computers

Got a Mac? The Android file transfer procedure is a fleck more complicated for you — but fearfulness not, for it'south nevertheless pretty darn easy.

The main departure is that before things will piece of work, you'll demand to download and install an official Google program chosen Android File Transfer. To use the program, your Mac must be running macOS ten.7 or after, and your Android device must accept Android three.0 or later — something that should pretty much be a given with any reasonably recent Android production.

Once the program's in place on your Mac, just plug your telephone into your computer, turn on your phone'southward screen and unlock the device, so expect for the same USB status notification described above.

Tap the notification and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer." The Android File Transfer plan should then automatically open on your Mac, and y'all should be able to browse your telephone'south storage and transfer files to your heart'southward content.

If the official Android File Transfer program doesn't work well for you — a vexingly mutual complaint amid Mac users these days — consider the favorably reviewed 3rd-political party Commander 1 Pro equally an alternative. It costs $xxx for a unmarried license, $100 for a five-user squad license, or $150 for a 50-user visitor license.

Or — well, skip down to the final section of this story for one other choice.

Android file transfers for Chrome Os computers

You'd expect file transfers betwixt Android phones and Chromebooks to exist as simple as can be, considering that Google's the driving force behind both of those operating systems — and past golly, you lot'd be absolutely correct.

Just similar on a Windows organization, all you've gotta do to connect your Android phone to a Chromebook is plug information technology into whatever open up USB port, and then tap the USB charging notification on the phone and select either "Transfer files" or "File transfer" from the prompt that appears — or select "Transfer photos" or "PTP" if yous desire your phone to be treated like a photographic camera, with a focus exclusively on multimedia files.

In one case yous do that, the Chrome Bone Files app should automatically appear on your Chromebook with your telephone nowadays every bit ane of the storage options. The system will probably even prompt yous to dorsum upwards all of your phone's media files to Google Drive; you can allow that, if you lot'd like, or dismiss it and simply drag and drop files in either direction every bit needed.

android file transfer chrome os JR Raphael/IDG

Pulling upwardly your Android phone'south storage on a Chromebook is easy equally can be — and typically includes a one-click choice to copy all your device's media files likewise.

There's really non much to it — nor should there exist.

And if you want an fifty-fifty simpler way to have intendance of business organisation...

Don't like cables?

Hey, look a minute — aren't at that place apps and cloud services for this sort of thing? Sure there are, and nosotros've got you lot covered there, too. Check out "Transferring files wirelessly between devices" in our in-depth Android file management guide for everything in that location is to know.

This article was initially published in Baronial 2017 and updated in October 2019.

Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves upwardly tasty morsels nigh the human side of technology. Hungry for more? Join him on Twitter or sign upward for his weekly newsletter to get fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Fri.

Copyright © 2019 IDG Communications, Inc.