4 Best Ways to Transfer Photos from Android to New Macs

With the launch of the 2016 MacBook lineup, Apple abandoned the traditional ports on the MacBook and replaced them with a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3. Every new Mac now comes with USB Type-C ports instead of the traditional USB, HDMI and charging ports. While it is great for uniformity and helps with the thinness of the device, the change brought some pain points, especially when transferring data like photos from Android.

iPhone users don’t need to invest in Type-C to Lighting cable as they can always use Airdrop to send files from mobile phone to Mac. Where the confusion begins is the Android ecosystem.

As you know, most Android phones come with USB-A to Type-C cables, while transferring media between Android and Mac requires a Type-C to Type-C cable. You can invest in a dongle or buy a Type-C to Type-C cable. But what if you forget to carry them with you? In that case, you can always use the following cheats to get things done.

We have already covered ways to transfer photos from iPhone to Windows. In this article, we will cover ways to send media from Android to Mac. We will cover both online and offline ways to perform the transfer. Lets start.

1. Google Photos

Google Photos is one of the best products to come out of Google headquarters in recent years. It offers unlimited photo backup to Google cloud and AI tricks to automatically organize memories.

Users can upload pictures and videos to Google Photos and download them to Mac using Google Photos Web. Here’s how to do it.

Open Google Photos > Settings > Backup & sync > from your Android device and turn on the backup button.

You can also go to the albums menu and manually select the albums you want to keep in Google Photos.

Now open Mac and visit Google Photos website in any browser. Select the photos and tap the three-dot menu above. Choose to download or use the keyboard shortcut (Shift + D) to download them on Mac.

Additionally, Google’s excellent backup and sync tool can be used to keep photos synced between Android and Mac. I recommend the web option for a quick change.

Download Google Photos for Android

2. OneDrive

There is a section of users who do not prefer Google services for privacy reasons. In this case, you can always use third-party cloud storage from OneDrive, Dropbox and Box.

OneDrive is a great alternative to Google, as Microsoft offers a generous 1TB of storage with every Office 365 plan.

You can use the service to transfer data from Android to Mac. First, download the OneDrive app from the Play Store.

Select the photos you want to transfer and share them with the OneDrive app.

After uploading photos to OneDrive, open OneDrive web on Mac and find the location where you uploaded the pictures.

Select them and tap the download button to start the process.

Microsoft also offers a OneDrive Mac app from the App Store. Users can download it and sync folders between Mac and mobile devices.

Download OneDrive for Android

3. Xender

The above two ways include sending data to third parties and internet support to work. Now, we’re going to talk about offline ways to get things done. Let’s start with Xender.

Xender is one of the well known software for transferring media, apps and files from one device to another. It also has a web version that supports PC and Mac.

First, download Xender on your Android phone. Open the app and tap the ‘+’ button in the top right corner. Select Connect Computer.

Now go to Xender web on Mac and the homepage will ask you to scan a QR code from your mobile device. Go back to the mobile phone and tap scan to manually scan the code on the computer screen.

All your media files are displayed on Xender web. Go to the pictures or videos and select the files and tap the download button on the top menu.

You can also add files back to your Android phone using drag and drop functionality. Select the files and drag them to Xender web on Mac. It will be transferred to the Android Xender folder on mobile devices.

Download Xender for Android

4. Firefox Send

Mostly known for its browser offerings, Firefox adds useful tools on top of that. Firefox Lockwise is the perfect password manager for its loyal users.

Last year, the company announced its Firefox Send service to send files up to 2.5GB between devices. Here’s how it works.

First, download the Firefox Send app to your Android device. Open the app and sign in using the Firefox account credentials.

Tap the ‘+’ icon and it will allow you to select files from file manager, Google Photos and online storage services. Select the media you want to send, Firefox Send will upload the files to its server and create a secure end-to-end encrypted connection.

There is more than one way to secure the connection though. You can set it to expire after 1-100 downloads or after a certain time. Users can also set the password to connect before sending it to others.

Now open Firefox Send on the web and sign in using the same account as the mobile phone. The generated link will already be there for you to download the content on Mac.

You can also upload files from Mac using Firefox Send and media files can be downloaded from mobile.

Download Firefox Send for Android

Seamlessly Transfer

Android lacks a capable Airdrop alternative for Mac users. But that shouldn’t limit users to sending data from their phone to Mac quickly. Using the tricks above, you can easily send files both online and offline. As for me, I use Firefox Send to transfer media files between Pixel XL, MacBook Air and even my home computer.

Next: Android device folders can also be uploaded to OneDrive folders. Read the post below to see how to do this.