Android File Transfer suddenly stopped working when I connected my phone to my Mac, and now I can’t access or move files. I really need to transfer some important documents for work. Has anyone figured out what causes this or how to fix it right now?
Struggling to Get Your Android and Mac to Talk? Here’s What Actually Works
So, you plug your Android phone into your Mac, ready to drag and drop a bunch of files, and… nothing happens. No buzzy notification, no Finder window popping up. Been there. Here’s what I’ve figured out after way too many attempts to make these two play nice.
The Unspoken Truth About Cables
Ever buy one of those mystery USB cables that show up in your kitchen drawer and wonder why it just won’t do anything? Apparently, not all USB cables are created equal. Some are basically glorified power cords – they’ll charge your phone, sure, but data transfer? Forget it.
Here’s how I test:
- Plug the cable in.
- Unlock my phone. Swipe down from the top.
- If the only thing I see is “Charging this device via USB”—that’s it. Useless for files.
When I switched to the cable that came with my phone (or one with a clear “data/sync” label), the Android actually asked me if I wanted to allow access to files. That’s the green light you want.
The Connection Game: Is It Even Plugged In?
You ever feel like you shoved the cable in, but it just isn’t officially connected? Sometimes it’s a simple as dust in the port, or a thick phone case blocking the plug from seating. Pull the case, give the ports a little clean—you’d be surprised how often just reseating the cable fixes the “invisible phone” problem.
That Mysterious USB Menu
This tripped me up the first few times: Once everything’s plugged in, swipe down on your phone for the notification bar. You’ll see something about “USB for…” (sometimes hidden behind another notification). Tap that.
Options show up like:
- File Transfer (use this if you just want drag-and-drop)
- Android Auto (for cars)
- Charging Only (don’t use this, unless you just want a battery top-up)
- Transfer Images
- Media Device (MTP)
Pick “File Transfer” unless you’re up to something else. If you pick wrong, your Mac acts like nothing is there.
Just… Restart Everything
Classic but effective: Reboot both your phone and your Mac. Whatever space gremlins are causing the problem sometimes just vanish after a restart. This step has made me feel silly more than once, but I do it anyway.
Don’t Trust the Transfer App? Reinstall It
If you’re using something like Android File Transfer, toss it in the trash and reinstall. I’ve found it can get weirdly stuck after macOS updates, or sometimes just refuses to launch. Reinstalling flushed out whatever settings were holding it back.
Toggle Device Access (My Secret Sauce)
Here’s the odd fix: On your phone, jump into settings and look under “Connected Devices.” I flipped back and forth between device options—I literally toggled it from “Connected Device” to “This Device” and back. Suddenly, my Mac recognized the phone. Sometimes, Android just wants a little attention.
When Nothing Else Works: Alternative Apps
Honestly, at some point, I chose to avoid the hassle altogether. I grabbed MacDroid. It talks to Android devices via USB or Wi-Fi and shows your device right in Finder, no extra setup madness. Life’s too short to wrestle with default tools that don’t want to cooperate.
TL;DR Checklist
- Use a data-capable cable (NOT charge-only)
- Plug stuff in securely, clean the ports
- Choose “File Transfer” in your phone’s notification bar
- Restart both devices
- Reinstall your file transfer app if it’s buggy
- Toggle device settings as a last-ditch resort
- Try MacDroid if nothing else works
Hope this spares you at least one wasted afternoon. If all else fails, let us know—someone out here has definitely seen your flavor of weird file-transfer drama before.
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Bro, Android File Transfer is the worst. Sometimes I wonder if the team behind it just gave up after the Cupcake update and left us all to fight for ourselves. I see @mikeappsreviewer already touched on the USB cable roulette (and yeah, been burned by that too many times), but here’s my slightly different two cents:
First: macOS updates love to break compatibility with AFT. They fight like siblings forced to share a room. After a system update, AFT will just randomly DIE, refuse to recognize your phone, even if yesterday it worked fine. Go into Activity Monitor, quit out of every “Android File Transfer” process you can see, then relaunch it. Sometimes it sits there running silently in the BG but never pops a window.
Second: If you have Samsung’s “Smart Switch” or other Android-connecting software, it tries to hog the USB device, killing off AFT’s access. Hunt down and kill (force quit) all those too. Only run one at a time or they get jealous. Don’t trust the software to “share.” They don’t play nice.
Third: Permissions on the phone matter, but sometimes developer options help. Try toggling “USB Debugging” ON, reconnect, then OFF, then reconnect again. It’s like a ritual dance—sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Disagreeing a bit on the “don’t trust default tools” thing though—been burned by third-party transfer suites that randomly want paywalls, or flat-out stopped working after a security update. But MacDroid legit did save me one time when AFT was being extra.
One last tip: I’ve literally had to delete some corrupt files ON THE PHONE (via Files app) before it would even mount through AFT, as if a single busted emoji jpeg makes the filesystem unreadable for Mac.
TL;DR: If you’ve tried the cables, toggled the USB modes, restarted everything, and nuked rival apps, try Activity Monitor and clear out running instances of AFT and Smart Switch/etc, and maybe trash some possibly corrupt files on the phone. If it’s STILL not working? MacDroid. Or just cry a little. I won’t judge.
Bro, does anyone actually have a consistently painless time with Android File Transfer? I swear, every time I need it for something remotely important, it just taps out and leaves me hanging. Felt that pain in your post.
So @mikeappsreviewer and @byteguru have drilled through most of the usual suspects – cables, permissions, notification-tapping, rogue processes running in the background (honestly, why does Smart Switch even exist if it just messes with AFT?), but here’s another angle I haven’t seen mentioned much: macOS’s fondness for locking down USB access with security updates. Sometimes it’ll block new devices unless you jump through System Settings > Security & Privacy. There were cases where I had to manually unlock my Mac after plugging in my phone, or “Allow” the connection before anything would work.
And can we talk about Finder or Spotlight search daemons randomly eating up RAM and interfering with device mounting? I’ve literally watched Android File Transfer break after plugging in a USB drive, then magically fix itself after killing off those resource hogs. So, maybe close out extra USB devices or Finder windows before you try again.
One thing I’ll push back on a little: I’m honestly wary of the whole “just toggle a bunch of dev options and USB debugging” advice. Yeah, sometimes flipping USB Debugging on/off works, but last time I did that I ended up with a bunch of pop-ups on my phone and felt like I was inviting gremlins into my contact list. Not my favorite fix, but hey, desperate times, right?
Real talk, MacDroid is a lifesaver (despite my general distrust of anything that isn’t open source or that looks too slick). I wish native integration just, you know, worked – maybe in some alternate universe where Google actually cares about cross-platform compatibility.
If you’re still stuck, try making a new user account on your Mac and see if it works there. (Profile-level weirdness trips up AFT sometimes.) And for the next time you’re sweating over a file transfer, just email yourself the doc or upload it to Google Drive—sometimes the 2000s solution just wins.
Still, why do we all accept this as normal? At this point, Android File Transfer flunking out is more predictable than any reality TV plot twist.
If you’ve aged 10 years wrestling with Android File Transfer, welcome to the grizzled veterans club. The others covered the main culprits (cables, system prompts, AFT’s “personality problems,” etc.), but honestly, here’s another angle: why stick with AFT at all? I watched it croak mid-transfer so many times that I started thinking maybe my Mac and my phone just have incompatible star signs.
Before you go elite hacker mode or spend a weekend sifting through Security & Privacy panels and murdering daemons, consider a different approach: MacDroid. It’s not bulletproof—nothing in the Android-and-Mac circus is—but it does a solid job letting you move files with minimal head-slamming. Major pro: it actually plants your Android in Finder, right where you want it. Bonus—it can rock Wi-Fi mode, so you can skip the “which-cable-is-this” existential crisis. Cons: it’s not free, and yeah, not open source, which might give some the icks, but sometimes “it just works” outweighs those gripes in the trenches.
Vs. the advice from the other folks here, who went full sysadmin, the main trade-off with MacDroid is trust—it’s closed-source and wants to stick around in your menu bar, but it saves time and cursing. Downside? For some picky file types or obscure Android builds, even MacDroid can sputter, and there’s a mild setup hump (plus, you might still need to dance through Android USB permissions the first time).
Honestly, between MacDroid, ancient workarounds like email-to-self, and the eternal Smart Switch/AFT roulette, I’d put MacDroid on the list for sanity’s sake. But if you’re “death before third-party app” and desperate, try booting a Linux live USB stick and do your file transfer old-school. Sometimes escaping macOS’s grip is the only way to win.
Bottom line: AFT is basically a coin-flip and the more you do, the more likely you’re rolling “heads = heartbreak.” MacDroid makes it less dramatic—just know it comes with its own quirks.