How can I connect a Nexus 5 to a Mac via USB?

Question

I'm trying to get photos off a Nexus 5 and into OSX. When I plug it in, it says "connected as a media device" on the device screen, but no USB drive shows up in Finder, no new folder shows up in /Volumes, and neither Image Capture nor Picasa see it as a camera.

How can I connect the Nexus 5 as a USB device?

Solution 1

You can use Mac's Image Capture after setting your Nexus 5 USB connection to Camera Mode. To do it do the following:

1. Swipe your screen from top to bottom.
2. click on the little avatar icon on the top right.
3. Click Settings.
4. Go to Device > Storage
5. Click on the Options icon (the 3 dots, on the very top right).
6. Choose USB connection and change it to Camera (PTP).

Now if you open Image Capture with your Nexus 5 plugged you will be able to preview and import your pictures and videos.

Solution 2

Use Android File Transfer

If you install Android File Transfer (http://www.android.com/filetransfer/), you can use it to access the phone's memory and copy off files.

To quote Android.com from the linked page:

Android File Transfer is an application for Macintosh computers (running Mac OS X 10.5 or later) you can use to view and transfer files between your Mac and an Android device (running Android 3.0 or later).

It also says:

For Mac users only. You don't need extra software to connect your Android device to a Windows computer.

I found this phone's photos under DCIM > Camera.

Solution 3

You can also do it without USB. Airdroid and Web PC Suite are both wireless connection app for Android and pc. Conennect the two devices by scanning a QR code, then you can transfer files via WiFi.

Comments

[fIwJlxSzApHEZIl]

perfect thank you! not sure why there's downvotes this worked perfectly.

[Mike Graf]

if you had followed others' instructions and disabled "Media device(MTP)" , you must re-enable it for this to work. See @leandro rossa 's answer on how to get to the USB Options.

[cja]

AFT doesn't work for me even with MTP enabled

[cja]

Yes it does - the cable didn't support data

[Mafro34]

Here's a link to Google giving the same instructions support.google.com/nexus/s/answer/2840804?hl=en

[Equidamoid]

Buggy confortless stuff. No way to manipulate the files nor view them outside its UI without copying to the mac and back to the phone. Where are you, old good usb storage mode...

[Nathan Long]

Works! Setting the Nexus USB to Camera Mode also enables it to be recognized by other programs, like Picasa.

[Nathan Long]

I just tried to do this again and the options had changed. I'm now on Android 6.0. I finally found out that, after connecting, if I swipe down from the top, it shows "USB for charging - touch for more options", and I can select "Transfer Photos (PTP)"