The best Android file transfer apps for Mac in 2026

If you just want a few photos off the phone, you may not need an app at all: Image Capture is already on your Mac, and recent Pixel and Galaxy phones can now send to a Mac with AirDrop. If you move files often, or want other apps to open files on the phone, you want the phone mounted in Finder, and for that you need an app.

We make one of these apps, SideMount, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to say plainly where something else is the better pick, and every price and requirement below was checked on 16 October 2026.

All of them at a glance

The phone in Finder, as a drive

This is what most people mean when they ask for an Android File Transfer replacement that works: the phone in Finder's sidebar, files you can open, drag, rename and save straight from any app.

SideMount

Ours. It mounts the phone as a volume over adb, the protocol of Android's developer tools, which it speaks itself, so nothing else is installed on the Mac or the phone. Several phones mount at once, SD cards appear as folders, a phone on Android 11 or later can mount over Wi-Fi, and macOS never leaves ._ files on it. It needs USB debugging on the phone and macOS 26 on the Mac. Seven day trial, no card.

MacDroid

The longest-standing Finder option, from Electronic Team. It has an MTP mode that needs no USB debugging, an adb mode and a Wi-Fi mode, and runs on macOS 11.5 or later, so it suits older Macs that SideMount cannot. The free version copies from the phone to the Mac only. SideMount and MacDroid compared.

FreeDroid and mtpfs

Two free, open source projects from 2026. FreeDroid puts phones in Finder's sidebar through Apple's File Provider framework, over adb or MTP, on macOS 15.4 or later. mtpfs is an MTP file system built on FSKit for macOS 26. Both are at version 0.1 or 0.2, so expect rough edges; we have not tried them.

A window of its own: OpenMTP

OpenMTP is the free, open source successor in spirit to Android File Transfer. It speaks MTP, so the phone only needs its USB notification set to File transfer, and it shows the Mac and the phone in two panes. It handles files over 4 GB and runs back to macOS 10.14. Other apps cannot open files on the phone through it: you copy them across first. SideMount and OpenMTP compared.

Already on your Mac: Image Capture

Image Capture imports photos and videos from the phone's camera roll over the cable. Set the phone's USB notification to PTP or Transfer photos, open Image Capture, pick the phone and import. It is free and reliable, but it sees only the camera folders and goes one way. Nothing can be copied to the phone with it.

Without a cable

AirDrop, from Quick Share

Since November 2025, Quick Share on Android can send to Apple devices over AirDrop. It works from the Pixel 8a and later and from some Samsung, OnePlus, OPPO, Xiaomi, Vivo, Honor and Motorola models. On the Mac, set AirDrop to Everyone, then share from the phone. It is the quickest way to send a handful of photos, and there is still no official Quick Share app for macOS.

LocalSend, NearDrop and QuickDrop

LocalSend is free and open source, needs its app on both ends, and sends over your own network with no account. NearDrop and QuickDrop speak Google's Quick Share protocol on the Mac, so the phone sends as it would to another Android phone. NearDrop is free; QuickDrop is free with a paid upgrade for full speed. All of them are limited by your Wi-Fi, which suits a few files rather than a whole camera roll. More in moving files from Android to a Mac without a cable.

Through the cloud: Google Photos and Drive

If your photos already back up to Google Photos, they are on photos.google.com from any Mac. Mind the setting: Storage saver shrinks photos to 16 MP and videos to 1080p, and only Original quality keeps them as shot. Drive takes files up to 5 TB each. The free 15 GB is shared with Gmail, and everything goes up to Google's servers and back down, which takes as long as your internet allows.

What happened to Android File Transfer

Google stopped offering it. Its old page, android.com/filetransfer, now shows Quick Share for Windows, and Google's own help covers only Windows and Chromebooks. The last version, 1.0.12, is an Intel app that runs through Rosetta, and it could not copy a file over 4 GB. What to use instead.

Which one to choose

• A few photos, now and then: AirDrop from a recent phone, or Image Capture over the cable.
• Regular copies, free, any macOS: OpenMTP.
• The phone in Finder on an older Mac: MacDroid.
• The phone in Finder on macOS 26, for every app, Terminal and rsync: SideMount, or try the free newcomers if you are happy to test early software.
• Everything, always, off the phone: a cloud backup, plus a cable copy now and then. See backing up an Android phone to a Mac.

Questions