Andriod phone into Mac

Raymond Lin · 2025-11-26T10:00:13+0000

I don't have one to test but what happens if you plug in an Android phone, in particular, a Samsung S24/25 Ultra into a Apple Silicon Mac?

Does the internal HDD show up?

Reason I ask is I want to back up photos from a Samsung phone into a computer, not sure if I should grab my M3 MBA or take my old Intel Mac (with windows installed). I rather not take both as it's a 14hr flight away.

visibleman · 2025-11-26T13:58:16+0000

Raymond Lin said:
I don't have one to test but what happens if you plug in an Android phone, in particular, a Samsung S24/25 Ultra into a Apple Silicon Mac?

Does the internal HDD show up?

Reason I ask is I want to back up photos from a Samsung phone into a computer, not sure if I should grab my M3 MBA or take my old Intel Mac (with windows installed). I rather not take both as it's a 14hr flight away.

Unless it's changed on MacOS 26 then not a lot. I have to use something like OpenMTP (free) on my Android/Samsung devices to transfer data.

Raymond Lin · 2025-11-26T14:05:15+0000

visibleman said:
Unless it's changed on MacOS 26 then not a lot. I have to use something like OpenMTA on my Android/Samsung devices to transfer data.

So...if I plug a Samsung phone into a mac, what happens? does the phone's HDD shows up on Finder? Yes/No.

Sorry to be really blunt, but it's not me who is going to use it. The person wouldn't know what OpenMTA means.

Demon · 2025-11-26T14:08:29+0000

This might help, we use this for connecting some Android tablets to a Mac

Connect Android to Mac easily (USB, Wi-Fi) | MacDroid app

If you are looking for a stable and smooth solution to connect Android to Mac, try MacDroid – a lightweight app to transfer files between Mac and Android.

www.macdroid.app

visibleman · 2025-11-26T14:19:53+0000

Raymond Lin said:
So...if I plug a Samsung phone into a mac, what happens? does the phone's HDD shows up on Finder? Yes/No.

Sorry to be really blunt, but it's not me who is going to use it. The person wouldn't know what OpenMTA means.

Nothing happens and nothing shows up within Finder - this is testing it with a few A series and a S22, along with other Android devices (mostly Chinese stuff).

Only solution i've found is to install and use an MTP app like OpenMTP (https://openmtp.ganeshrvel.com) - open App, plug Android device in and select "USB/File Transfer" (exact text may differ from device to device) on device, most Android OS's default to charging, and then the device storage shows within OpenMTP (you may need to press 'Refresh' a few times).

Raymond Lin · 2025-11-26T14:24:30+0000

visibleman said:
Nothing happens and nothing shows up within Finder - this is testing it with a few A series and a S22, along with other Android devices (mostly Chinese stuff).

Only solution i've found is to install and use an MTP app like OpenMTP (https://openmtp.ganeshrvel.com) - open App, plug Android device in and select "USB/File Transfer" (exact text may differ from device to device) on device, most Android OS's default to charging, and then the device storage shows within OpenMTP (you may need to press 'Refresh' a few times).

Thanks, then a mac will be out of the question for my purpose, good to know.

moley89 · 2025-11-26T14:31:03+0000

When I had to transfer photos from my android phone to someone's Mac I couldn't get it to work plugging my phone in, but what did work was using a usbc flash drive to transfer from my phone to that then plugged that into the Mac. Should work fine if its formatted in exfat I think.