Google hides Android File Transfer app for macOS

For years, Google has offered an Android File Transfer app on macOS that allows users to access files and photos connected to their Mac. But suddenly, Google has hidden the tool from Android’s official website.

As Google itself describes it, the Android File Transfer app allows users to “browse and transfer files between Mac computers and Android devices.” This is because macOS does not support displaying his MTP file structure to Android users. So, there is an app that fills this gap, and this is the app distributed by Google. A popular third-party alternative is OpenMTP.

Google offers Android File Transfer for free, and it’s generally a very quick and easy process.

But suddenly, Android File Transfer is no longer easily accessible from Android’s official website. Android.com has had a link to this tool in its footer for years, but it was removed this week. Back to the story, we narrowed the timing of the change to literally just hours after the first developer preview of Android 15 went live. Unfortunately, I can’t be more specific than that.

Why did Google make this adjustment?

This was a decision Google had to make, but the exact reasons are unclear. macOS still doesn’t play well with Android natively, so it’s unlikely that’s relevant. One of the theories we got was; perhaps, Quick Share may be released on macOS. Google’s apps technically already work on macOS, but they aren’t officially supported.

In any case, Android File Transfer is not gone. The app is still available through a direct link or a Google search. Everyone probably got it from a Google search. But at this point, it’s just weird. This tool will also continue to be linked from Google’s support page.

Still, it’s strange to suddenly remove a link, especially when it happened around the same time as Android 15’s release. On that note, the app still works on his device running Android 15 and is also required to access his files.

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