If you've searched for this, you already know the drill — Google's official app drops the connection, freezes mid-copy, or just doesn't mount. PhoneDesk sends files straight from your phone to your Mac without MTP at all.
Android File Transfer mounts your phone as an MTP device — a USB protocol built for browsing a file listing, not for sustained transfers. On macOS specifically, that connection is fragile: it drops when the Mac sleeps, when a USB hub renegotiates, or sometimes for no visible reason mid-copy, leaving you to force-quit, unplug, replug, and start over.
It's also USB-only and one-directional in practice — there's no share-sheet integration, so getting a single photo or PDF off your phone means opening a file browser, hunting for it in the mounted volume, and dragging it out.
The deeper issue is that Google effectively abandoned it. Android File Transfer was never updated for Apple Silicon, so on an M-series Mac it runs through Rosetta and fails to mount far more often than it did on Intel. If it worked fine on your last Mac and broke after upgrading, that's almost always why.
Before replacing anything, it's worth ruling out the two causes that account for most "no Android device found" reports. Neither is a bug — they're easy to miss.
Switch the phone off "Charging only"
Android defaults to charge-only when you plug in. Pull down the notification shade, tap the USB notification, and select "File transfer" / "MTP". This is the single most common fix.
Rule out a charge-only cable
Plenty of USB-C cables carry power but no data — especially ones bundled with battery packs. Try the cable that came with the phone.
Skip the hub or dock
Plug directly into the Mac. USB hubs renegotiate connections and MTP rarely survives it.
Quit and reopen Android File Transfer
It holds a stale device handle after a disconnect and will not reconnect on its own. Force-quit it, then replug.
If you've been through all four and it still drops mid-transfer, the problem is MTP itself — no amount of troubleshooting fixes that, and it's the point at which a different approach is worth considering.
Photos are the most common thing people are trying to move, and the method matters — some routes silently recompress your images. Here's how the options actually compare:
| Method | Full quality? | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| Android File Transfer (MTP) | Yes | Only if the connection holds; USB only |
| Google Photos | Yes | Full upload, then re-download — slow on big libraries |
| Messaging apps / email | No | Recompresses images; hard size limits |
| Bluetooth | Yes | Extremely slow for anything above a few MB |
| PhoneDesk | Yes | Phone → Mac only (no Mac → phone yet) |
The thing to avoid is sending photos to yourself through a chat app — it's the fastest route and also the only one that degrades the file. Everything else preserves the original; the difference is just how much waiting is involved.
PhoneDesk skips MTP entirely. Its Android companion app opens a direct connection back to your Mac over the same USB or Wi-Fi link already used for desktop mode and second display — so there's no separate mode to switch into, and no drive to mount or eject.
Share from any app
Photos, PDFs, downloads — anything with a share button. PhoneDesk appears as a "Send to Mac" target right in the share sheet.
Or pick files in the companion app
Browse and select files directly if you'd rather not go through another app's share sheet.
Or drag and drop during desktop mode
Drop files onto the companion window — handy with two windows side by side.
It lands in Downloads, instantly
No mounting, no ejecting. A notification confirms it's there.
Transfer is one-directional — phone to Mac. If you need to push files from your Mac onto your phone, PhoneDesk isn't a replacement for that direction; a cloud drive or MTP still covers that case.
One tap from the share sheet
No file browser hunting, no dragging out of a mounted volume.
USB or fully wireless
Works identically whether you're plugged in or not.
Text and links too
Share a link or text and it lands straight on your Mac's clipboard.
$25 one-time, lifetime license
File transfer, desktop mode, and phone-as-second-monitor — all in one app. 14-day no-questions refund.
Effectively, yes. Google stopped meaningful development on Android File Transfer years ago and no longer promotes it — the official guidance now points to web-based and cloud transfer instead. It still downloads and sometimes still works, but it has not kept up with modern macOS, which is why so many people find it broken on Apple Silicon Macs.
Android File Transfer relies on MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) over USB, which is notoriously unstable on macOS — it drops the connection on sleep, USB hub changes, or just sitting idle, and frequently needs the app force-quit and reopened mid-transfer.
The most common cause is the phone's USB mode. Plugging in defaults to "Charging only" on most Android devices — you have to pull down the notification shade, tap the USB notification, and switch it to "File transfer" or "MTP" before the Mac sees anything. A charge-only cable will also produce this, as will USB debugging being left off.
Inconsistently. It was never updated for Apple Silicon, so it runs through Rosetta and users report frequent failures to mount on M-series Macs running recent macOS versions. If it worked on your old Intel Mac and stopped after upgrading, that is the usual explanation.
Avoid anything that routes through a messaging app — those recompress images. MTP over USB preserves the original file if it stays connected long enough. Google Photos preserves quality but requires a full upload and re-download. PhoneDesk sends the original file directly over USB or Wi-Fi, so nothing is recompressed and there is no cloud round-trip.
For sending files from your phone to your Mac, yes. PhoneDesk skips MTP entirely — files go over the same USB or Wi-Fi connection used for desktop mode, straight into your Mac's Downloads folder, with no mount step and no drive icon to eject.
Yes — Android File Transfer is USB-only. PhoneDesk works the same way over Wi-Fi as it does over USB, so you can send files without plugging in at all once your phone is paired.
Three ways: share it from any app using Android's share sheet (PhoneDesk shows up as "Send to Mac"), pick it from the companion app's file picker, or drag and drop it onto the companion app's window during a desktop session.
Yes — sharing text or a link sends it straight to your Mac's clipboard, ready to paste. No file, no email-to-self, no messaging app roundtrip.
Not yet. PhoneDesk's file transfer is phone-to-Mac only today. For getting files onto your phone from the Mac, you'll still want AirDrop-style tools, a cloud drive, or MTP.
No hard limit from PhoneDesk's side — the transfer streams over the same tunnel used for desktop mode and second display, so large files just take proportionally longer, especially over Wi-Fi.