How to Transfer Photos from a Galaxy S6 to Mac OS X via USB

[justnivek]

I use Android File Transfer with my Macbook (first unibody but its not a pro, the "weird one" I guess)

it takes a little while before it'll actually recognize the phone (I don't know if this is a lollipop issue or Samsung, worked instant for any other I had kitkat and below)

once the phone gets loaded up, copy DCIM to the desktop, once complete I open iPhoto and import the folder into that, then delete the DCIM off the desktop, I have 10 years worth the photos on iPhoto thats why I still use it

 

[Kiyomi123]

Connect your Android device to your computer, you'll see a new drive or "Removable Disk" appear on your computer for the SD card. Open it up, and copy all the files inside to a new location on your computer. Or it fails, you can try third-party tools.

 

[obtexas]

This is my biggest irk with andriod devices. I sold more iphones than apple to my friends and family. Ive been on mac platform since 1997 after getting tired of windows crashing, locking up, and asking me ten thousand questions a day, and needing to have yet another driver installed. Well i switched to mac and have never looked back, its been awesome! So then along come iphone and i grab it and used it all the way to version 4 until switching to samsung note 3 for the use of sketching ideas for clients. I liked the ability to modify my phone like a harley, it could do basically anything i could imagine...there was an app for that! But one day my phone froze and all my data was lost. I thought it was syncing and backing up but i had no idea where to find all the backups and how to restore them or even how android, google, samsung, at&t...its way to confusing! Thats my gripe. Today i switched from samsung note 3 to s6active and once again i can not get the old phone stuff on the new phone. my internet is 1.5mbs and it times out trying to use smart switch apps on both phones. Kies and AFT are all but retarded since they have consumed 2 hours of my time trying crazy ideas and searching forums for something an iphone just does in the background at all times. So now i finally have AFT up and running but my backup from note 3 is in kies. I dont even see an option to restore from AFT. It just looks like a file browser not a smart switch tools. Its my opinion that someone just needs to create a simple itunes/icloud option for android that keeps ALL your phones info up to date.

 

[uvallie]

You should definitely try SyncMate, it can sync almost everything with Mac and put all your data together.
It works really good if you need to switch between devices, but read the instructions carefully!

 

[Humynburd]

Sorry

 

[Ben Godfree Grassham]

I tried to Bluetooth to my Mac from my Samsun 6 Edge, and while the phone and the computer recognise each other the Mac computer says that it cannot access the phone

 

[WB King]

It seems as thought the central point of the original question, same as me, is to avoid using the internet and thus the data charges on the phone. I have several gigabytes of pictures from recent trips that I want to download. When using bluetooth these fabulous - read LARGE- pictures take 45 seconds each. Your answers each involve the internet.

 

[imperator_maximus]

Any news on this issue?
This is what I found out so far (S6 edge, 128GB with newest iMac Retina):
- Android File Transfer does not work
- Bluetooth always is too slow. So a small video file needs about ten minutes for transfer. But it works.
- AirDroid does not work ("Not supported device"), only web browser view
- USB (tried several cables, original one also) in PTP mode does not work - Apple photo shows device but always says "No photos". That would be my favorite option and this should work!
- same with iPhone and "Digitale Bilder" (I do not know the English name of that App)
- Apple support has no idea
- Samsung support has no idea as well. The support guy says that it might be a bug in PTP protocol of S6. But no fix so far.
- Smart Switch works without any problems but transferring new photos is only possible by doing a photo backup which is around 30 GB in my case!
- the integrated file manager of Smart Switch works but is terrible UI: very small window, no photo preview, no order by date, no date information at all
- so only sending photos via Email or using Dropbox is possible but both are very very slow because of internet.
I would say this is a very serious bug of the S6 or Android 5.1.1 version

 

[matthewhuntley]

I don't know about those other ways, but the way I download my files from my s6 to my mac is through android.com/filetransfer. At that site you can download the File transfer app into my applications.
The app requires you to have to plug your usb cord into your mac, but I think it's the easiest way, and it's the official one

 

[Richard Rowe1]

I checked with an Apple "Genius" and he showed me a very simple way:
1) Connect your Galaxy S6 to your Mac by a USB.
2) On your Mac open Finder/Applications/Image Capture. That is an app that should already be on your Mac. It will open on your Mac screen a file of the images on your Galaxy S6.
3) Click on the photo(s) you want to download.
4) Click on "Import to" (iPhoto" or a new folder you have created for the images)
5) Click "Import All" and it will transfer your photos to that location on your Mac.
Very simple once you have the right tool.

 

[imperator_maximus]

I also talked with an Apple "Genius" but this does not work for me (btw: "Image Caputure" is called "Digitale Bilder" in German - that was the program name I was missing in my post above). I tried with two different Mac: newest iMac Retina one and MacBook Air. Also Android File transfer does not work. It might be a problem with number of images: I have around 1800 in my main camera roll or a problem with memory size? I have 128GB. How many GB you have and how many images you have im camera roll?

I checked with an Apple "Genius" and he showed me a very simple way:
1) Connect your Galaxy S6 to your Mac by a USB.
2) On your Mac open Finder/Applications/Image Capture. That is an app that should already be on your Mac. It will open on your Mac screen a file of the images on your Galaxy S6.
3) Click on the photo(s) you want to download.
4) Click on "Import to" (iPhoto" or a new folder you have created for the images)
5) Click "Import All" and it will transfer your photos to that location on your Mac.
Very simple once you have the right tool.

 

[Nigel Sheridan-Smith]

If you have installed Samsung Kies or Smart Switch, you need to unload the Samsung MTP kernel extension on Mac OS X if you want Android File Transfer to work as before.

sudo kextunload -b com.devguru.driver.SamsungMTP -v

I find this UI a little bit easier to deal with, although it would still be good if the device could be mounted in Finder as well.

Apparently, some people have gotten older versions of Samsung Kies v3 to work with Galaxy S6 but the latest version definitely does not work for me.

 

[Eric Spencer]

Re: How to Transfer Photos from a Galaxy S6 to MacAir OS X

I have been having a similar problem using bluetooth with my S6 and MacBook Air. Although they are paired and the S6 appears on the Mac Bluetooth Menu, when I try and connect I get a message on the Mac saying "Network is unavailable - make sure Network Access is enabled" - Does this mean on the S6 or on the Mac - either way I cannot see how this is to be done. I tried sending some pics just now and although my Mac appears in the S6 sharing list after it tries to send them a "download failed" message appears.

 

[rikken]

What about this one : http://www.sandisk.com/products/mobile-flash-drives/dualdrive/

 

[Elizabeth Hart]

I am really glad that I am not the only one having problems with this. It automatically starts downloading my photos into my Google Drive and that is not where I want them. I just want to put them directly into a folder on my desktop.

I am also open to suggestions.

Thank you.

 

[imperator_maximus]

If you have installed Samsung Kies or Smart Switch, you need to unload the Samsung MTP kernel extension on Mac OS X if you want Android File Transfer to work as before.

sudo kextunload -b com.devguru.driver.SamsungMTP -v

This is not working:

(kernel) Kext com.devguru.driver.SamsungMTP not found for unload request.
Failed to unload com.devguru.driver.SamsungMTP - (libkern/kext) not found.

What about this one

Thanks I just ordered it and I will try!

 

[grizcoach]

1) Android File transfer won't work while Kies is installed
2) SmartSwitch is the update of Kies for a S6 (Kies won't work on a S6 and prompts you to go get SS). SS also doesn't allow for simple transfer of selected file....it wants to sync all pics.
3) Unlock your phone and plug in via USB. AFT will bring up a screen of the S6. Now open a window finder and navigate to your folder with your photos. CMD-click on the files you want to transfer over. Drag those files into the folder in the S6 window where you want them stored and you should be set.
This worked for me after trying Kies and SS which was worthless. I uninstalled Kies and tried this procedure and got the pics I wanted moved over in the Picture folder on the S6, music in the Music Folder and a video in the Movies Folder

Good luck

 

[imperator_maximus]

1) Android File transfer won't work while Kies is installed

3) Unlock your phone and plug in via USB. AFT will bring up a screen of the S6. Now open a window finder and navigate to your folder with your photos. CMD-click on the files you want to transfer over. Drag those files into the folder in the S6 window where you want them stored and you should be set.


Good luck

AFT does not work for me. I always ended up with a "Connection error" on start!

 

[mrzb1968]

OK, just joining this forum so I can post....

Recently got an Android phone after 8 years of iPhone use, currently on Macbook Pro 13" late 2014 model, running OS X 10.10.5.

AirDroid looks like a good bet, but as others have pointed out, using "the internet" (by which they mean a local network, big difference) isn't necessarily veryquick if it's not your network.

Solution: set up a wifi access point on your android phone, connect to it from the mac, and download using AirDroid from there. (I had to use the web-based solution, but then again I won't be doing this often.)

Download speed was around 3.8Mbytes/sec, with the phone sitting right next to my laptop.

I still would have expected a no-brainer solution involving plugging in a USB cable, but if this is the best we can do 40-something years after putting a man on the moon, I can live with it.

 

[Globetrahter]

Hey Everyone,

I may be late but it looks like Android File Transfer now works with Galaxy S6. I have a Galaxy S6 on Sprint and just plugged it in after downloading a fresh copy of Android File Transfer. I am not rooted and updated to the latest software on a Mac running 10.10.5 (Yosemite)