How to transfer files from Android to a Mac
Updated 5 October 2026
A Mac and an Android phone have no AirDrop between them, and Google's own tool for this, Android File Transfer, is no longer offered. These are the ways that do work, from the fastest to the most hands off. All of them work the other way too, from the Mac to the phone, except where it says otherwise.
Which one to use
| You want to | Use |
|---|---|
| Copy a big folder or a video library | A cable and SideMount |
| Import camera photos, installing nothing | Image Capture, built into macOS |
| Use a Mac older than macOS 26 | A cable and an MTP app |
| Send a file or two without a cable | Wi-Fi, with SideMount or LocalSend |
| Have photos everywhere, automatically | Google Photos |
1. A cable and SideMount: the phone in Finder
SideMount mounts the phone as a drive in Finder. You drag files and whole folders both ways, as you would with a USB stick, and any app can open a file on the phone in place. On a USB 3 phone it writes at 147 MB/s and reads at 111 MB/s, close to what the cable itself can carry.
- Download SideMount and turn on its file system extension. The app walks you through it.
- Turn on USB debugging on the phone. This is a one time switch.
- Plug the phone in with a data cable, unlock it and tap Allow.
- Open the phone in Finder and drag what you want.
Photos and videos from the camera are in DCIM/Camera. Screenshots are in Pictures/Screenshots or DCIM/Screenshots, depending on the phone, and downloads are in Download.
It needs macOS 26 or later, and it is paid after a seven day trial with no card.
2. Image Capture: camera photos only
Image Capture comes with every Mac and can import photos and videos from the phone's camera roll. Plug the phone in, pull down its notification shade, tap the USB notification and choose PTP, which some phones call Transfer photos. Open Image Capture, select the phone, and import.
It is free and installs nothing. It only sees the camera roll, though, and it only goes one way: you cannot copy anything onto the phone with it.
3. A cable and an MTP app
This is how Android File Transfer worked, and apps such as the free OpenMTP still do it. On the phone, choose File transfer in the USB notification, and the app shows the phone's storage in its own window.
It needs no USB debugging and runs on older versions of macOS. The files stay inside that one app, though, Finder and other apps cannot see the phone, and MTP is slow with large copies.
4. Over Wi-Fi
On Android 11 or later, SideMount can also mount the phone over your own Wi-Fi, after pairing it once with a six digit code. It is the same drive in Finder, with no cable, but much slower: roughly a twenty-eighth of the cable's speed in our measurements. That suits documents and a handful of photos.
LocalSend is a free app for sending files between devices on the same network. Install it on the phone and the Mac, and send files from one to the other. It is good for a file or two, not for browsing the phone.
5. Through the cloud
Google Photos can back up every photo and video from the phone, and you then open photos.google.com on the Mac. Google Drive, Dropbox and the like do the same for documents. It is hands off once it is set up, but everything goes up to the internet and back down again, it is limited by your connection, and it counts against the storage on your account.
Mac to Android
With SideMount, drag the files into a folder on the phone's drive in Finder, for example Download or Music. With an MTP app, drag them into its window. LocalSend and the cloud work in both directions too. Image Capture is the only one of these that cannot.