Transferring photos from Pixel 1 to macbook problem

[Coojiang]

I have a Google Pixel 1 phone and I constantly have problems transferring photos and video to my mac. I used to have a Samsung Note 4 and Note 3 before that and I never had problems transferring photos, only with the pixel. I have read forum after forum and tried many tips when searching this problem and I still cant transfer photos.
I have tried safe mode, checking the USB Debugging is off, transferring pics through iPhoto but to no avail. I keep getting one of two errors, either 'Could not connect device, try reconnecting or restarting the device' OR 'Can't access device storage' when the device screen is not locked. This will be my only Google Pixel, I am back to Samsung but in the meantime it would be AWESOME if anybody could assist me to get my photos off this device with out bluetooth one at a time (and 2 minutes for each one) Many thanks in advance. Paul.

 

[Rukbat]

Remember - the USB connection reverts to Charging every single time. You have to pull down Notifications, tap on the USB connection and choose MTP - every time you plug the cable in. (Don't blame me, I didn't choose to do it that way, Google did.)

 

[muzzy996]

I have never liked the Android file transfer driver for OSX. Clunky.

I know that people don't like to use cloud services for privacy reasons but using Google photos is a darned good way to avoid the hassle of having to cable up to get photos off of the phone. There are alternatives like AirDroid that work well over WiFi too, which is the way i did things before Google photos and drive.