How to transfer files from Android to Mac over USB

Updated September 2026 · by the developer of Plugged

Macs do not see Android phones the way Windows does. There is no Finder sidebar entry and no drive icon. You need three things: a data cable, the right USB mode on the phone, and a Mac app that speaks MTP, the file-transfer protocol every Android device uses.

Step 1: connect and unlock

Use a cable that carries data (the one in the phone's box does). Plug it into the Mac directly, not a hub, and unlock the phone. Android keeps its storage hidden while locked.

Step 2: choose “File Transfer” on the phone

Swipe down from the top of the phone's screen. You will see a notification like “Charging this device via USB”. Tap it, tap it again if it says “Tap for more options”, and choose File Transfer (also called MTP or “Transfer files”). On Samsung phones the option lives under “USB controlled by: This phone” → “Transferring files”.

Do not choose “Transfer photos / PTP”: that mode only exposes the camera roll and Finder will treat the phone as a camera.

Step 3: open an MTP app on the Mac

With Plugged, the phone appears the moment it is in File Transfer mode: a Finder-like window with Internal Storage and the SD card in the sidebar. From there:

• Phone to Mac: drag files or folders to a Finder window or the desktop, or select them and click Download.
• Mac to phone: drop files anywhere in the window to copy them into the current folder, onto a folder row to copy them into that folder, or onto the Plugged icon in the Dock.
• Look before you copy: press Space to Quick Look a photo, video or PDF still on the phone.
• Large batches: drop several batches in a row; they queue and run one after another with real progress and speed.

Where things are on the phone

• DCIM/Camera – photos and videos you shot
• Pictures/Screenshots – screenshots
• Download – files saved from the browser
• Movies, Music, Documents – what they say
• WhatsApp/Media or Android/media/com.whatsapp – WhatsApp photos, depending on the phone

The phone doesn't show up

1. Check the cable carries data and the phone is unlocked.
2. Set the USB mode to File Transfer (step 2). This is the one most people miss.
3. Quit Preview, Photos, Image Capture and any Finder window showing the phone. On macOS 26 the system holds the phone as a camera as soon as one of them touches it.
4. Quit Android File Transfer, OpenMTP, Samsung Smart Switch or any virtual machine that may have claimed the USB device.
5. Unplug, wait two seconds, plug in again.

Plugged detects each of these situations and shows the matching step on screen, including the name of the app that is holding the phone.

Wireless instead of USB?

For a few files, a wireless tool such as LocalSend (free, needs an app on both sides) is convenient. For a camera roll or a movie folder, the cable wins: MTP over USB does 20–40 MB/s on USB 2 phones and more on USB 3, and it does not depend on your Wi-Fi.