macOS generally has to rely on third-party software to do so.įor any of the tools below, I'd recommend using the cable that came with your phone to ensure it's high quality and won't disconnect during the process, but if you don't have it at hand, any cable rated for data connections should be fine. While both Windows and macOS have support for MTP built-in, only the former is able to mount MTP devices natively. In contrast to something like exFAT, this won't give your machine full control over the device's file system, effectively preventing you from tampering with the system partition and other critical files. When it comes to establishing a wired connection with a computer, Android relies on MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). You don't have to rely on Google's tool for transfers, though - there are a ton of third-party apps that solve moving files between Android and macOS much better. There is Google's Android File Transfer application, but the program is hopelessly outdated, finicky, and prone to crashes when you transfer a lot of data at a time. While Android app development is an easy feat for Apple's desktop OS, the situation is much different for simple file transfers. Android and macOS have never been the biggest friends.
