Android Manager For Mac Archives

One of the many great things about Android is that you can easily copy and paste files to and from a desktop PC or laptop just by connecting your phone via USB. Unfortunately, things aren’t quite as simple if you have an Android phone and a Mac.

The official solution is Android File Transfer — a Google-made app for macOS that lets you browse and transfer files between your Android device and a MacBook or iMac. The problem? It’s buggy, inconsistent, and generally a bit awful.

Below we’ll walk you through how to use Android File Transfer, but stick around and we’ll also show you a couple of options that will make moving and copying stuff from Android to Mac much easier!

How to transfer files from Android to Mac using Android File Transfer

Want to stick with the official method? That’s not a problem! Here’s how to download and use Android File Transfer:

1. Download Android File Transfer for Mac from the Android website here. Note that you’ll need to be running macOS or higher to use the app.
2. Open www.spearpointsecuritygroup.com.
3. Drag and drop the Android File Transfer app into the Applications folder in the Finder pop up.
4. Double click Android File Transfer. You’ll likely be prompted that the app was downloaded from the internet as a quick security check. Click Open to continue.
5. Connect your phone to your Mac via a USB cable and Android File Transfer should open automatically. If it doesn’t, check your notifications bar and change the USB settings to File transfer/MTP mode.
6. In Android File Transfer, find the folder and/or file(s) you want to transfer and drag and drop it to your desktop. That’s it!

How to transfer files from Android to Mac: The smarter way

Those six steps listed above make Android File Transfer sound nice and easy to use, but anyone who has attempted this ostensibly simple process will know that it usually takes several attempts and many error messages to just get the app to recognize your phone. It’s been well overdue a complete overhaul for years, but as it stands there are legacy bugs that keep popping back up.

It’s also awkward to have to browse through your phone’s files in the app’s custom explorer with no previews and no quick access to your desktop folders. This is much easier on a Windows machine where you can use the native file explorer complete with shortcuts and the like.

10 best cloud storage services and apps for Android!

We're not in an era where having cloud storage is a good idea. It's efficient, doesn't take up your internal storage, and it's far more convenient than carrying a hard drive around everywhere. it also …

You can circumvent Android File Transfer if you’re willing to use cloud storage like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and similar, but then you’re relying on a strong and stable internet connection for decent upload speeds. There’s also the excellent Pushbullet which lets you “push” files remotely, but it’s still nowhere near as fast or reliable as a physical connection. Thankfully, there are better system-local alternatives to Android File Transfer out there from third-party developers.

If you’re only a casual user then Handshaker is a great option with a simple, user-friendly interface and it’s completely free. However, if you’re planning to transfer files to and from your phone on a regular basis you’ll want something a little more comprehensive. If that’s the case, your best bet is Commander One by Eltima, which has an Android mounting feature inside the $ Pro pack.

We recently got to try out Commander One for review and it’s without a doubt the simplest and most intuitive tool for shifting files between your Android devices and a Mac computer. Here are a few reasons why!

Dual pane mode

Commander One’s signature feature is its default dual pane layout which gives you immediate access to two folders or drives. With the Pro version, one of those panes can be used for mounting your Android devices. That means you can drag and drop files between your phone and Mac all in a single window.

You can actually add further tabs in each pane too, so if you want to fling various files into different folders or another storage device that’s quick and easy too.

In addition, there are myriad minor bonuses you get within the two panes that blow Android File Transfer out of the water. For starters, you can actually preview your files in Commander One so you know which precious photos you want to save to your desktop without checking file names. While you unfortunately don’t get mini previews, you can see a quick preview by double clicking and using Quick Look.

Commander One also shows you more info about each file, including the size, extension, permissions, date created, and more. You can also turn on/off viewing hidden folders to avoid clutter or delve deeper into your phone or Mac’s innards.

iOS mounting too

If you’ve got a Mac already you’re probably not averse to the idea of owning iOS devices (I’ve got an iPad and an iMac, but just try prying my Pixel away from me!). Usefully, Commander One supports mounting iOS devices too, though it should be noted that the function only works with the version from Eltima’s official website, not the Mac App Store version.

Cloud services and remote servers all in one place

Commander One’s remit doesn’t stop at your phone or Mac’s drives. With the Pro version, you can fill a pane or tab with cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, and/or OneDrive. Not only that but it also supports connections with remote servers via FTP, SFTP, or FTPS, Amazon S3 storage, WebDAV clients, OpenStack, and more.

Comprehensive search tools

Android File Transfer doesn’t have a search bar. That means you’ll be arduously locating files manually. Meanwhile, Commander One has a search function that puts the Finder search tool to shame with support for Regular Expressions, Spotlight, and the ability to search for keywords that are inside documents and compressed archives.

Finder, but better

All of these things make Commander One a superior alternative to Android File Transfer, but in all honesty if you just want to transfer a few files over every now and again, the $ Pro upgrade required for Android mount support is perhaps a little steep.

What Commander One really shines at, though, is being a full replacement for Apple’s Finder file manager. Finder has improved a lot over the years with macOS upgrades, but it’s still not great for power users.

Android File Transfer sounds easy to use, but there are better alternatives out there.

On top of dual pane mode, there’s a litany of other upgrades that give Commander One the edge over Finder if you’re willing to pay the asking price. These include hotkeys, root access, in-app access to Terminal commands and process management, a built-in archiving tool, and much more that you can find listed here.

Thankfully, you can try out most of these features in the free version which you can download via the button below. For more on the difference between the free and Pro pack version there’s a feature checklist right here.

That’s it for our guide on how to transfer files from Android to Mac and a quick Commander One review! We’ll update this article in the future if there are any new ways of easily moving your Android files to macOS systems or if Android File Transfer gets a long overdue update (fingers crossed!).

Screenshots

• 

  Family Sharing

  With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.

These days there are many kinds of computing devices, desktops and laptops running various operating systems. We would like to think that it is us who after weighing pros and cons of each operating system make a decision on what phone, tablet or laptop to purchase. We hate to break the news, but in most cases it is big technology companies who decide for us. By making a dialogue between different operating systems difficult they push us to play safe and stick to one OS. Sure, it is much easier for devices running the same OS to talk to each other.

But, what if you are happy with your Mac but still want to use an Android phone or a tablet? Do you really have to follow the rules set by big corporates? How to access files on Android from your Mac if, as they say, Apple products and Android devices just do not get along. Do not worry, all you need is a third party solution – an Android file explorer Mac owners could make use of. Commander One is an excellent Android file explorer for your Mac, read on to find out more.

Try for Free

Meet Commander One

This Android file manager for Mac owners features a dual-pane interface that has become classic since the times of Norton Commander. File management operations such as creating, deleting, copying and moving files and folders are done in a very convenient way as two panes display two locations at a time. Apart from it the application enables exploring Android file system directly from your Mac.

Work with Commander One

This is what you have to do to see Android file structure and its contents – download and install the application on your Mac, connect Android to Mac – use a USB cable to do it – and you can view files on Android as if they were on your Mac’s hard drive. Movies, pictures and other media, documents in various formats stored on your Android are now easily accessible to you. You can transfer them to your Mac if required.

This Android file manager app has other handy features too:

• Work with archived data in ZIP format – compress and extract files.
• Preview files – multiple formats are supported, including Hex and Binary.
• Locate computers and devices in the network.
• Make most of root access – this Android root file manager gives you all the privileges to take full control over your Mac.
• Customize hotkeys – this will save you a lot of time and effort.
• Choose a Theme for your app to customize its looks.
• Search files using advanced parameters, the search feature is capable of going through archived data.
• History & Favorites will open recently visited and folders saved as favorites.

The above is available to users of this explorer for Android for free.

However there is more to Commander One, make sure to check the paid version – PRO Pack. This Android file browser features built-in FTP client to transfer data online and supports a larger number of archive formats. Apart from Android devices, Commander One can mount cloud storage services on your Mac and you can access their contents as if they were additional hard drives. Only if you choose to open a particular file it is copied on your Mac. Else, they remain where they are, without occupying your precious disk space. PRO Pack has a process viewer, i.e you can see what processes are currently running on your machine and end them, if necessary.

As you see Commander One’s functionality is not restricted only to Android file management, there is so much this application can offer you.

This Android explorer works with OS X starting from version