The rest
of your phone.
Photos were the easy part. Your downloads, recordings, documents, and everything else you never saw are one cable away.
Open the drawers.
One window. No popups, no beeps, no setup on the phone beyond choosing a USB mode.
Two ways in
Image Capture uses macOS's camera connection and is the default. MTP talks to the phone directly and shows every file and storage. Candroid remembers your choice.
Browse folders
Open DCIM, then Camera, like Finder. In Image Capture mode you can also show all files as one flat list with each file's folder beside it.
Put files on the phone
In MTP mode: upload, make folders, rename, and cut and paste between folders. Free space is shown.
Copy folders whole
Select one folder or several and Download. Each arrives on your Mac as a real folder with everything inside it.
Drag to Finder
Drag files or folders straight out of the window to wherever you want them.
Delete, with a check
Deleting asks inside the window first. It never pops up a dialog over your work.
Sort and choose where
Sort by name, size or date. Pick the folder downloads land in, and it remembers.
Finds the phone
Plug it in and Candroid notices. Unlock the phone and it carries on by itself.
Plug in.
Unlock. Done.
Only one program can hold the phone at a time. If a tab can't connect, close Android File Transfer or anything else that uses the phone, or try the other tab.
Side by side.
Candroid next to the two tools it's most likely to replace, with the rows that go against it left in.
| Candroid | Image Capture | Android File Transfer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs natively on Apple silicon | Yes | Through Rosetta | |
| Finds the phone when you plug it inin our testing, with one phone and one Mac | Yes | Sometimes needs a re-plug or restart | |
| Browse the phone's folders | A list | Yes | |
| Copy folders to the Mac as folders | No | Yes | |
| Which files you can see | Image Capture tab: what macOS offers. MTP tab: all files | Photos and videos | Everything |
| Delete files on the phone | Yes | Yes | |
| Send files to the phone | MTP tab only | No | Yes |
| Make a folder on the phone | MTP tab only | No | Yes |
| Rename or move files on the phone | MTP tab only | No | No |
| Thumbnails, preview, import into Photos | No | Yes | No |
| Shows free space on the phone | MTP tab only | No | Yes |
| Free | Yes | Yes |
Image Capture is made by Apple; Android File Transfer by Google. Their columns describe what we saw in use and may be out of date for your versions. Whether a phone connects depends on the phone, the cable and macOS. Candroid's MTP features are new and have had less testing than its Image Capture tab.
The edges.
Two connections means two sets of limits.
Before you ask.
Is it free?
Yes. No account and no subscription.
Does the phone need USB debugging?
No. Plug it in, unlock it, and choose File transfer in the USB notification. Image Capture mode also works with Photo transfer (PTP).
Why not just use Image Capture?
For importing photos into Photos or another app, you should: it has thumbnails and a preview, and Candroid doesn't. Candroid is for browsing folders and copying them down as folders.
Why does it connect when Android File Transfer doesn't?
Its default tab asks macOS to open the phone, the way Image Capture does. In our testing, writing our own code to talk to the USB port failed on a Mac where that connected on the first try, so the MTP tab uses the established libmtp library instead. Your results may differ, which is why there are two tabs.
Can it send files to the phone?
Yes, in the MTP tab. Image Capture mode can't. Adb or a Wi-Fi route are possible future additions and are not built.
What do I need?
A Mac running macOS 26 or later (Apple silicon), a USB cable that carries data, and an Android phone.
Go see what's in there.
Plug in. Unlock. Pick. Copy.