How to Transfer Photos from Android to Mac

Can you download photos from Android to macOS?

Yes, you can send photos from Android to Mac. Although Google has quietly discontinued its own official Android File Transfer app, there are fortunately other ways to move your snaps from one operating system to the other—via USB, wirelessly, or using the cloud.  

A note from our experts: 

 

When you’re transferring photos to your Mac, you don’t want to waste time and disk space with duplicates. Good news—you can find and delete them in a matter of seconds with MacKeeper’s Duplicates Finder.  

 

Here’s how:

1. Download MacKeeper and select the Duplicates Finder tool. Click Start Scan.  
2. When the scan is finished, select what you want to delete, and click Remove Selected.  
3. In the pop-up dialog, click Remove.

Easy, right? Duplicates Finder can also get rid of photos that are similar but not identical, and it can clear out unneeded screenshots.

How to import photos from Android to Mac

There are a few ways to get photos from Android to Mac:

• Use a USB cable and a file transfer app.
• Transfer files over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
• Upload your Android photos to the cloud and then download them on your Mac.
• Send your photos in a message.
• Use a card reader to extract your photos.

Whichever method you use, don’t forget to check for and remove duplicate photos on Mac afterwards.

Please note: We’ve used a Google Pixel phone for this article. You may need to adapt our instructions for other Android devices.

1. Send photos using Image Capture

Although macOS doesn’t support Android’s Media Transfer Protocol (MTP), we discovered that Apple’s Image Capture tool was able to detect our Android phone using MTP. However, it didn’t allow us to access any photos until we switched to Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP). If your Android device supports PTP, this is what you need to do:

1. Connect your Android device to your Mac with a USB cable.
2. Swipe down to open notifications on your Android device, then tap where it says Charging this device via USB.
3. Select PTP.  
4. On your Mac, open the Image Capture app.
5. Use the Import To dropdown menu to choose a download location. Then select images and click Download, or click Download All to import all your photos at once.

2. Move photos via OpenMTP

If you’re looking for an alternative to the Android File Transfer app, we recommend checking out OpenMTP. As its name suggests, it lets you connect your Android device to your Mac using MTP, and it’s open source, meaning it’s completely free. This is how to use OpenMTP:

1. Install OpenMTP on your Mac.
2. Connect your Android device to your Mac. In the device’s USB preferences, select File transfer/Android Auto.
3. Run OpenMTP. You should see your Android device on the right, and your Mac on the left. Simply drag photos and other files from one window to the other.  

3. Use Google Photos

Most Android devices come with Google Photos preinstalled. It lets you view and edit the photos on your Android phone or tablet—and, crucially, it can upload photos to the cloud and sync across all your devices, including your Mac. Simply follow our instructions:

1. On your Android device, open Google Photos. If it’s not installed, get it from the Play app store.
2. Tap your profile icon in the top right, then check if automatic backup is on. Turn it on,  and Google Photos will start uploading all your photos.  
3. Alternatively, select whichever photos you want to back up and tap Back up.
4. On your Mac, open your web browser, and visit photos.google.com. You can now view your photos and download them to your Mac or MacBook.  

4. Import photos via iCloud

Rather than using Google’s cloud services to import photos from Android to Mac, we can use iCloud instead. There’s no iCloud app for Android, but you can access the service through your device’s web browser like this:

1. Open your Android device’s web browser, and visit icloud.com.
2. Log into your Apple account. You will probably need to enter your two-factor authentication details.
3. Scroll down and tap Photos.  
4. You should now see any photos stored in your iCloud. Tap the upload icon (the cloud with the arrow on it).  
5. Choose whichever photos you want to upload, and tap Done.
6. If iCloud is set up on your Mac, your uploaded pictures will automatically appear in the macOS Photos app.  

You can also download photos from iCloud to Mac using the web browser on your Mac.

5. Move photos from Android over Wi-Fi

You can also transfer files and photos from Android using Wi-Fi. We’ve found several apps that do this, but to demonstrate, we’re using WiFi File Transfer from TECHPRD PTY LTD, which offers free and pro versions. This is how it works:

1. Get WiFi File Transfer from Google Play, and run the app. Tap the Start button.
2. Note the URL in the app.  
3. Open a web browser on your Mac, and go to the URL from the previous step.  
4. Use the browser app to view and download photos to your Mac.  
5. Tap the Stop button in the Android app when you’re done.  

6. Download photos using AnyDroid

As well as free Android transfer tools, we’ve also tried some paid-for software options, which tend to offer a slicker and more feature-rich experience. AnyDroid (formerly known as AnyTrans) is one such app, and it supports both USB and Wi-Fi transfers. Here’s how to use AnyDroid to download photos from Android to Mac:  

1. Download and install AnyDroid on your Mac.
2. Run the app, and follow the on-screen instructions to put your Android device into USB debugging mode.
3. On your Android device, give AnyDroid the permissions it asks for.  
4. In the AnyDroid app, click Photos.  
5. Select any pictures you want to transfer to your Mac. Click the Send to Mac button. By default, these will go to your Documents folder, but you can change the export location in AnyDroid’s settings.

AnyDroid currently costs $39.99 per year or $49.99 for a one-time purchase. Similar apps we’ve seen include DroidKit, Dr Fone, and MacDroid.

7. Try Bluetooth to transfer photos

It’s not particularly fast, but you can also transfer photos from Android to Mac using Bluetooth. If you’re only moving one or two images to your computer, this may be enough for you. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your Android device and your Mac. In your macOS System Settings, select Bluetooth from the side menu and scroll down to Nearby Devices.  
2. Find your Android device and click Connect. If you don’t see your device, open its Bluetooth settings, and go to Pair new device.  
3. On your Mac, click OK. On the Android device, click Pair.  
4. In System Settings, go to General > Sharing.  
5. Click the switch to enable Bluetooth Sharing. Then click the i icon to access more settings, including where shared files will download to.  
6. Now use a photo app or file browser on your Android device. Select photos to share, and after tapping the share button, select Bluetooth.  
7. Tap your Mac’s name, and the photo will transfer to your Mac (very slowly).  

8. Photo transfer via messaging apps

A quick way to get photos from Android to macOS is by simply sending them to yourself using a messaging app. You just need to use an app that you can access on both platforms, such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. This is how we use WhatsApp to send photos from our Android phone to our Mac:

1. Open WhatsApp on your Android. Tap the plus icon.  
2. Select yourself (it’ll say Message yourself underneath).
3. Send a photo or photos as you would normally.  
4. On your Mac, open the macOS WhatsApp app or access WhatsApp through your web browser. Download the image.  

This, of course, works with iPhones, but there are more efficient methods. Read our guide on how to import photos from iPhone to Mac for more information.  

9. Transfer photos using an SD card and a card reader

Some Android devices allow you to insert an SD card into them to expand your storage. If you have one of these devices, you can store your photos on the SD card, then insert the SD card into your Mac to transfer them. However, while some MacBooks have SD card slots, most Macs don’t have them, so you’ll need to buy an external card reader.  

To move photos from an SD card to a Mac, do as follows:

1. Make sure your photos are stored on your SD card. If not, use an Android file manager to move them.  
2. Remove the SD card from your Android device, and insert it into your Mac or external card reader.
3. Manually transfer the photos from your SD card to your Mac.  

Take control of your camera roll

As you’ve seen, there are several different ways to send photos from Android to MacBooks and other Macs. How you do it largely depends on what Android device your photos are on and what type of Mac you have, but none of the methods are particularly difficult. If you can access your Android phone or tablet with Apple Image Capture, that’s a good option for bulk transfers. For one or two images, it’s probably easier just to send photos to yourself via WhatsApp.  

Whatever method you choose, make sure to check for duplicates and similar photos with MacKeeper’s Duplicates Finder. This is also useful if you’re moving files from one computer to another using Thunderbolt Bridge on Mac. It only takes a few moments to find unnecessary copies of your pictures and remove them, saving you precious space on your Mac. Try it out today.