For a while I could not get file transfer to work from an Android phone. Tried:

  1. Take a movie and use Google Photos to upload, this was incredibly slow trying to get 4GB up there.
  2. Same with a OneDrive upload
  3. Airdroid uses Bluetooth to do the same and it was way too slow
  4. Trying Android File Transfer had never quite worked, but I gave it another try and it did!

So here are the tips:

  1. After you download, when you connect your USB cable, you have to set “File Transfer” enabled. Otherwise it just draws power. The only place I’ve seen this come up is by swiping down and looking for an Android System notification about USB state. Not easy to find and it doesn’t seem to be sticky so you enable it each time.
  2. Also if it draws too much, the Mac will shut it down, I’m not sure how to prevent this.
  3. Now with that set, run Android File Transfer and you see a window open up that shows the Android file system. The photos live in the super obvious DCIM/Camera folder.
  4. Also do *not* delete from the Android File Transfer application, this causes the phone’s Photo application to be super confused since you do not delete the meta data about the files.

I’m Rich & Co.

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