How to Move Data Between your Mobile Phone and Computer

You don't have to worry about moving files or connecting to a cloud service between your Android device and a Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Your smartphone may be a powerful computer in your pocket — and with Android, a part of that PC-like muscle means having the ability to plug your phone into any Windows, Mac, or Chrome OS system then drag and drop files either way. Android file transfer app

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

All you would like is your phone, your computer, and a cable to attach 'em — with micro-USB or USB-C on the phone side and USB-A or USB-C on the pc side, counting on the specifics of your devices. (Most current Android phones use USB-C, while most previous 2016 devices have the old Micro-USB standard. USB-A, meanwhile, is that the traditional connector port you're wont to seeing on computers, though more and more models now also offer USB-C.) there is a decent chance that an equivalent cable that connects your phone to its wall charger will work.

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Got it? Good. Here's what you would like to try next, counting on whether you've got a Windows, macOS, or Chrome OS system:

Android file transfers for Windows computers

With Windows, things are as simple as are often. Just plug your phone into any open USB port on the pc, then activate your phone's screen and unlock the device.

Swipe your finger down from the highest of the screen, and you ought to see a notification about the present USB connection. At now, it'll probably tell you your phone is connected just for charging.

Tap the notification and choose "Transfer files" or "File transfer" within the menu that appears. If media files are all you're getting to move, you'll also use the "Transfer photos" (sometimes listed as "PTP") option, which'll treat your phone as sort of a camera. Once you've made your selection, attend your desktop and open up a File Explorer window using the tactic that creates the foremost sense for your Windows configuration:

Click the File Explorer icon in your taskbar

Open the beginning menu and click on This PC or Computer

Click the This PC, Computer, or My Computer icon on your desktop

Then search for an icon representing your phone alongside other portable devices and drives. Click or double-click that icon, and ta-da! You're watching your Android phone's internal storage. you'll now click around and browse folders, drag and drop files between your phone and PC, or manipulate the info in any way you would like.

Android file transfers for Mac computers

Got a Mac? The Android file transfer app process may be a bit more complicated for you — but fear not, for it's still pretty darn easy.

The main difference is that before things will work, you will need to download and install a politician Google program called Android File Transfer. To use the program, your Mac must be running macOS 10.7 or later, and your Android device must have Android 3.0 or later — something that ought to just about be a given with any reasonably recent Android product.

Once the program's in situ on your Mac, just plug your phone into your computer, activate your phone's screen and unlock the device, then search for an equivalent USB status notification described above.

Tap the notification and choose "Transfer files" or "File transfer." The Android File Transfer program should then automatically open on your Mac, and you ought to be ready to browse your phone's storage and transfer files to your heart's content.

If the official Android File Transfer program doesn't work well for you — a vexingly common complaint among Mac users lately — consider the favorably reviewed third-party Commander One Pro as an alternate. It costs $30 for one license, $100 for a five-user team license, or $150 for a 50-user company license.

Or — well, skip right down to the ultimate section of this story for one other option.

Android file transfers for Chrome OS computers

You'd expect file transfers between Android phones and Chromebooks to be as simple as are often, considering that Google's the drive behind both of these operating systems — and by golly, you would be absolutely right.

Just like on a Windows system, all you've gotta do to attach your Android phone to a Chromebook is plug it into any open USB port, then tap the USB charging notification on the phone and choose either "Transfer files" or "File transfer" from the prompt that appears — or select "Transfer photos" or "PTP" if you would like your phone to be treated sort of a camera, with attention exclusively on multimedia files. Android file transfer app

Once you are doing that, the Chrome OS Files app should automatically appear on your Chromebook together with your phone present together of the storage options. The system will probably even prompt you to copy all of your phone's media files to Google Drive; you'll allow that, if you want, or dismiss it and easily drag and drop files in either direction as required.

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How to Move Data Between your Mobile Phone and Computer

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