Hello, I’m looking for an app or software which help me to transfer files from android smartphone to my macbook. Please recommend me some free and secure options to do this.
Thank You :)
Bluetooth file sharing works in both directions, although slowly for large files.
Google Drive might also be an option, although the files wouldn’t be physically present on the other device right away, but should be visible quickly.
Although I don’t use it on Android, look into Blip.
1 Like
I would suggest a USB cable. Most Android phones can be configured to appear as a USB storage device. Plug your phone’s USB cable into one of your Mac’s USB ports. When the phone prompts you, tell it you want to enable file-transfer access (different builds of Android will use different names for this).
You should then see your phone appear as a drive on your Mac’s desktop.
Android security probably won’t let you access every folder (e.g. those that contain the operating system), but you should have no problem accessing the DCIM folder (where the camera app usually puts its pictures) or the Downloads folder (where web browsers usually put downloaded content).
There are probably many other folders you can also access as well.
That’s putting it lightly. Bluetooth’s “BR” (basic data-rate) is 1 Mbit/s. The “EDR” (extended data rate) extensions can push it to 2 and 3 Mbit/s, if supported by hardware (most devices support 2, 3 is less common). In 2019, Apple added an “HDR” (high data rate) extension to support 4 and 8Mbit/s, for high quality audio. (There are also “coded PHY” connections that sacrifice bandwidth for reliability, which are either 1/2 or 1/8 speed - 512 or 128 Kbit/s)
But even at that maximum HDR speed, we’re talking about a theoretical maximum of 1MB/s (probably a real-world maximum more like 750KB/s actual file-transfer speed, given protocol overhead).
And that’s assuming both devices can connect at the 8Mbit HDR rate. If your devices only support BR or EDR, then we’re looking more like 100 or 200 KB/s throughput.
This is why Apple’s AirDrop only uses Bluetooth for signalling. The actual data transfer always takes place using an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network connection, which is orders of magnitude faster than even the fastest Bluetooth speeds.
A great cross platform solution (but not without its quirks) for sharing files on a LAN between Mac/Linux/PC/Android/iOS etc is LocalSend.
The github repo at GitHub - localsend/localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop describes the app as “An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop”.
Note the ports you may need to open on your firewall if it isn’t working for you. This doesn’t seem to be an issue on the Mac and iOS clients I’ve been using.
LocalSend transfers are TLS encrypted.
2 Likes
Thank You all for your helpful replies. @rory thanks man I have install LocalSend on my android and Mac, and I’m able to transfer files so smoothly and quickly. Thank You once again :)
Great to hear!
1 Like
I installed LocalSend on an iMac, and it was easy to set up and use; works like a charm!
Thanks for the suggestion.
1 Like