Best Android Apps to Transfer Files to PC
Table of contents:
One of the most common things we all have to do is transfer files from our mobile device or tablet to a computer, usually a PC. Sometimes it's a photo, sometimes it's a song, and many other times it's some kind of document, presentation, or other file that needs to be transferred. The truth is that there are quite a few ways to transfer files from Android to PC (and vice versa) and here we will see the most prominent ones.
Airdroid
AirDroid is one of the most popular applications for transferring files from Android to PC and Mac. It can do other things, such as functions including sending and receiving SMS/MMS from the computer, see the notifications of our device and some more. You can even find a lost phone, control the camera and use the apps. We can also transfer files to the computer from the phone without any type of cable, all through the WiFi network.
The most basic features will be obtained for free, just by registering. We will have to subscribe to the service for the rest of the advantages offered by the app. Sometimes, it limits the number of files that it allows us to transfer when we've gone over a number, but it rarely happens and once we've reached a fairly high amount .Airdroid is not perfect, but almost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ijh5FLip00
Cloud storage
Storing files in the cloud is a great method to transfer files from Android to PC and vice versa. There are a variety of services to choose from, including Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box.com, and others File transfer is pretty easy. We upload the file to cloud storage on a device. And then we download it on another device. Most cloud storage apps have their own apps for both Android, Windows, Mac, and iOS. That makes the process much easier.
Almost all providers, such as those mentioned above, offer large amounts of data to be stored for free And now if we want to do a Professional use of these services, with a much higher number of data to handle, offer payment rates.
Feem
Feem is a simple app that does one thing very well: Transfer things from devices connected to the same WiFi network That includes mobile phones , tablets, desktop or laptop computers and any other with storage capacity and to connect to a WiFi network. Each device simply downloads Feem and runs it. From that device, we can transfer whatever we want.
WiFi doesn't need to be connected to the internet, a local network is all we really need. It is simple, effective and cheap, since it is completely free. The material design is simple but comfortable. ShareIt is another application of the same style that also works quite decently.
Pushbullet
Pushbullet is one of the best applications to transfer files from PC to Android and vice versa.And we can also do a variety of other types of operations, including sending and receiving SMS/MMS messages, sharing our clipboard between devices, checking notifications, and of course, transferring files.
It has the advantage of not being as complex to use as other services and yet it works just as well as the applications of file transfer with more options. The free version gives us enough to occasionally send text or transfer small files. The Pro version already provides all the functions for 4 euros per month.
Resilio Sync
Resilio Sync (formerly BitTorrent Sync) is a kind of wildcard application. It works much like cloud storage, however the cloud storage server is our own computer We can sync as much data as we want, transfer everything file types and some more actions.It is also compatible with Mac, Linux and Windows. Without a doubt, it is one of the most secure options for file transfers, since they never end up on a cloud server.
It's just our phone and computer connected to each other. The application is completely free, without or purchases from it. While we highly recommend it for its reliable features and privacy, it's also fair to say that it takes longer to set up than other file transfer apps.
Other transfer methods without apps
If the applications do not convince us, there are still other ways to transfer files from PC to Android and vice versa.
Bluetooth: if our computer has Bluetooth or if we have a Bluetooth protection key for the desktop or laptop computer, we can synchronize our device with the computer using the aforementioned Bluetooth and send files that way.Of course, the transfer rates are very slow. We will only want to use this solution for very small files. For large files it is so tedious and unreliable that we can almost completely rule it out.
USB On-the-Go: USB OTG cables allow us to connect our device to USB devices such as mice, keyboards, and hard drives external. This also includes flash drives. We can use the cable to transfer documents to a flash drive or external hard drive or even to our Android device. And most are relatively cheap on sites like Amazon and eBay.
Send via Email - This only works with small files like photos or documents, but we can send most types of files by email. Most emails have a limit of around 25MB for attachments. It'll get us out of a bind for that occasional photo or document.
Share via chat: This works for a variety of file types, especially if you're using something like Discord, Slack, or Skype. We send the file in a chat from one device and retrieve it on another. Almost all of these applications and others like Facebook Messenger allow us to send messages and files to ourselves. So this should work for smaller files like photos. Skype and Slack have support for things like PDFs, zip files, and other types of documents, too. It's fast and works well for smaller things.
Charging cable: This one is pretty obvious. We simply plug the phone into the computer using the USB cable that comes with the charger. It should work for most things, it's the most reliable method, and it's decently fast.
Micro SD Card: Devices with micro SD card support can transfer files similar to flash drives.We use a file manager app to move the files to the SD card, get them out of our phone (after turning it off, of course), and then use an adapter to put it into its card reader on our computer or a different adapter to connect it to the USB drive of the laptop. We can find adapters for both variants easily on Amazon.