How To Transfer Files Between Android And Mac

Android File Transfer: The Easy Way

Android File Transfer is a free Mac app from the Android team. With it installed, you’ll see a window like this every time you plug in your device:



From here you can transfer files to and from a separate Finder window. Simple.
You might notice that my Android’s file system is a bit of a mess. Guilty. I should probably get around to cleaning that up. Happily it’s easy to do with this tool: I can CMD- or right-click any file and click “Delete”.



I point this out only because there doesn’t seem to be many other features. Seriously: copy-paste doesn’t work, there’s no search, and you can’t use quick look to preview your files. Pretty much all you can do is transfer and delete files.

This is your best option for the quick transfer of files. If you want full integration with your Mac’s Finder (or one of its alternatives), you’re going to need to try a third-party tool.

The WiFi Alternative: DroidNAS

If you want to browse Android files using the Finder, you won’t find a USB option. You can, however, acquire your files over the network — and a program called DroidNAS is the simplest way to set that up. It’s one of many ways you can access your Android device wirelessly.



In just a few taps, you can make your Android’s various folders, including the entire SD card, shared on the network. This gives you full access to your files from Finder, assuming both devices are on the same network.



In my tests, browsing folders was a little slow, but everything worked. I transferred a half-gig file to my Android device without any hiccups.

In theory DroidNAS is supposed to make your Android device visible from Finder, so you need only click an icon to start browsing your files. If you’re using Mavericks or later, however, that won’t work.

DroidNAS hasn’t fixed this problem, instead offering this workaround:
Press Cmd+K in Finder and enter IP address AND share:
smb://IP_ADDRESS:Port/Share

for example:

smb://192.168.1.101:7777/SD Card
Here’s what that looks like:



It’s a bit of extra work, sure, but after setting it up once, you’ll get the hang of it.
It’s not a perfect solution, and it’s a lot slower than Android File Transfer’s wired connection. But if you’d rather not fuss around with wires, it’s a good approach.