Android File Transfer not working on Mac? What works in 2026

Google stopped updating it in 2024 and it often can't connect on current macOS; use RollFerry for photos and videos, and OpenMTP for other files.

Updated October 6, 2026

Short answer: most of the time the phone is still in charging-only mode, or Preview, Image Capture or Photos has claimed it first — fix those two and try again. If it still fails, the app itself is the problem: Google stopped maintaining Android File Transfer in 2024, and no version fixes it.

The usual symptoms are one of two messages. Either “Could not connect to device. Try reconnecting or restarting your device.” or “No Android device found” — and then the phone shows a charging notification and nothing else happens.

Common error messages and what they mean

“Could not connect to device”

The full message is “Could not connect to device. Try reconnecting or restarting your device.” The usual causes, most likely first: the phone is not in File transfer mode (step 1 below), or something else on the Mac has already claimed it (step 2). If both are ruled out, it is the app itself failing on current macOS (step 4).

“No Android device found”

The Mac has no phone it can talk to. Check the USB mode (step 1), then the camera service that grabs phones first — most apps report a phone it has claimed as “no device found” (step 2) — then the cable, because charge-only cables look identical to data cables (step 3).

“Can’t access device storage”

The phone is connected, but the app cannot read its storage. The message’s own advice is the first thing to try: unlock the phone’s screen, then unplug it and plug it back in. If it keeps happening, work through steps 1 to 4 below.

ptpcamerad

This is not a message Android File Transfer shows; it is the name you will meet in fixes for all of the above. It is the macOS camera service that claims a phone the moment it appears and locks other apps out. Step 2 covers what starts it and how to free the phone with killall -9 ptpcamerad.

Work through these in order. The first two fix most of it, and they are worth checking whatever app you end up using.

1. The phone is not in File transfer mode

This is the cause more often than anything else, and it is invisible: the cable is in, the phone is charging, so it looks connected.

Android defaults to charging-only. You have to say otherwise, every time on some phones:

1. Plug the phone into the Mac.
2. Pull down the notification shade on the phone.
3. Tap the USB notification — it usually says Charging this device via USB.
4. Choose File transfer (some phones call it MTP or Transferring files).

If the phone offers PTP or Transfer photos, that is a different mode: it makes the phone look like a camera, which Image Capture can read but a file browser cannot.

Three phone-specific traps worth knowing:

• Xiaomi and Redmi: turning on USB debugging takes the phone out of File transfer mode. If you enabled developer options recently, set the USB mode again. More in transferring photos from a Xiaomi phone to a Mac.
• OnePlus: after an unplug and replug, some models come back in a different mode on their own, including MIDI. Check the notification each time. More in transferring photos from a OnePlus phone to a Mac.
• Samsung Galaxy: the mode goes back to charging only every time you plug in. More in transferring photos from a Samsung Galaxy to a Mac.

2. Something else on the Mac has already claimed the phone

macOS runs a camera service called ptpcamerad. It grabs a phone the moment one appears, and whichever program claims the phone first keeps it until it lets go. If the service wins, every other app is locked out, and most of them report that as “no device found”.

The service only runs when an app that reads cameras is open. Quit these and try again:

• Image Capture
• Photos
• Preview — the surprising one. It reads cameras, so any document open in it is enough to start the service in the background.

If you cannot quit whatever is holding it, this frees the phone at once:

killall -9 ptpcamerad

The service starts again the next time something needs it, which does no harm.

3. The cable

Plenty of cables that come with cheap accessories are charge-only: two wires, no data. They charge the phone perfectly and carry nothing else. The cable that came in the phone’s own box is the safe test.

While you are there, try the other USB ports, and if you are going through a hub or a monitor, go straight into the Mac instead.

4. Android File Transfer itself

If the phone is in the right mode, nothing else is holding it, the cable is good, and it still fails, the app is the problem.

Google discontinued Android File Transfer in 2024 and removed the download. It was never updated for Apple silicon in any serious way, it has a 4 GB ceiling on a single file, and on recent macOS releases it often cannot complete the handshake at all. There is no version that fixes this, because nobody is working on it.

Two error messages that mean “stop trying to fix this app”:

• The window opens and immediately says it cannot connect, with the phone demonstrably in File transfer mode and visible to other tools.
• It connects, lists the folders, and then hangs on a large video.

What to use instead

For photos and videos: RollFerry. It talks to the phone directly, shows only what is not on your Mac yet by month, copies each file and then verifies it byte for byte with SHA-256 before it will ever offer to delete anything. If the phone is busy it says so, in those words, and tells you what to quit — rather than reporting it as a missing device. It can include WhatsApp media too (off by default), which lives outside the camera roll — see saving WhatsApp photos from Android to a Mac.

It has been driven end to end on a OnePlus Nord CE 2 (709 files, 9.8 GB, at about 35 MB/s) and a Xiaomi Redmi 12C. Pull the cable mid-transfer and it loses at most the file that was in flight. If you are moving everything off because the phone is full, phone storage full: move the photos to your Mac has the safe order.

For general files both ways: OpenMTP, free and open source, is the honest recommendation. It is a two-pane file browser, not a photo tool. If you are weighing it against MacDroid, see MacDroid vs OpenMTP or MacDroid alternative for Mac.

The order to try things

1. Phone in File transfer mode.
2. Quit Preview, Image Capture, Photos — or killall -9 ptpcamerad.
3. The cable that came with the phone, straight into the Mac.
4. Stop using Android File Transfer.

If your phone still will not show up after all four, write to

says. Every phone that gets reported gets a fix or an honest answer.

Questions

Is Android File Transfer safe for Mac?

It was an official Google app, so the app itself was never the worry. But Google stopped maintaining it and removed the download in 2024, so any copy you find today comes from a third-party site — only use one you trust. Even a genuine copy may not connect on current macOS, for the reasons above.

More: Android File Transfer alternatives for Mac, and if the phone is a Pixel, transferring photos from a Google Pixel to a Mac.