Moving files between your phone and computer

Every method has trade-offs

There are five broad ways to move files between a phone and a computer: connecting them with a cable, sharing wirelessly between nearby devices, going through cloud storage, sending files to yourself in a messaging app, and plugging an external drive into the phone. Sending a few photos in a hurry and moving years of photos in one go call for different methods. It is easier to choose once you think about how much you are moving, whether the originals must stay intact, and whether the files can travel over the internet.

• A few files, quickly: wireless sharing or messaging
• Large batches and originals: a cable
• Ongoing use on several devices: the cloud
• Storage without a computer: an external drive

Connecting with a cable

For large amounts, a cable tends to be the fastest and most dependable option. It is common, though, to plug the phone in and see nothing on the computer. Some phones connect in charging mode by default, so you have to switch the connection to file transfer from the notification panel. Others need you to unlock the screen and tap Allow when asked whether to trust this computer before the photo folder appears. If it still doesn't work, suspect the cable: plenty of cables carry power but no data.

• Unlock the phone's screen
• Switch the connection mode to file transfer
• Allow the trust prompt if it appears
• Try another cable or another port

When photos won't open

Many recent phone cameras save photos in a high-efficiency image format to save space. Some computers and programs can't open that format directly. Look in the phone's camera or photo settings for an option to save in a more compatible format, or to convert automatically when transferring to a computer. Files you have already moved can be opened with an operating-system extension or a conversion tool. If you want to keep the original quality, it is safest to keep the unconverted files as well.

Sending wirelessly

When the phone and computer come from the same maker, a feature for sending files straight to nearby devices is often built in, and across makers the operating system or an official app may offer something similar. For a handful of photos or documents it is far easier than hunting for a cable. With hundreds of files or large videos, though, transfers can stall or take a long time. If you opened the receiving device to everyone, narrow it again afterwards. As a rule, decline file requests from people you don't know.

Cloud storage and messaging

Uploading to cloud storage lets you see the same files on the phone and the computer, which is convenient. With syncing, though, deleting a file on one side can delete it on the other too. New files stop uploading once the storage is full, so check the remaining space now and then. Sending files to yourself in a messaging app is the easiest route, but photos and videos may be compressed automatically, and older files can become impossible to download after a while. For anything whose original you need to keep, treat messaging as a temporary channel only.

Plugging a drive into the phone

With a flash drive or adapter that fits the charging port, you can copy files from the phone to a drive without a computer. The drive's format matters here. A drive formatted with an older file system can't hold any single file over 4GB, which is why copying long videos often fails. Formatting it with a file system that both phones and computers read, and that supports large files, avoids this. Formatting erases everything on the drive, so move its contents elsewhere first.

Common mistakes

If the phone's screen turns off or it goes into power saving mid-transfer, the connection can drop and only part of the files get copied. For large batches, keep the phone on a charger and lengthen the screen timeout for a while. Moving photos in date-based batches rather than dragging the whole folder at once makes it easy to see how far you got if something fails. Files left on the desktop or in the downloads folder quickly get jumbled, so make a habit of putting them straight into a folder you have set aside, as described in the file organisation guide.

Check before deleting from the phone

If you moved files to free up space, always check the result before deleting anything from the phone. Copy errors that go unnoticed are more common than you might think. Remember too that a file that exists only on one computer is not yet backed up. Important photos are safest with one more copy on another drive or in the cloud.

• Compare file counts and total size on phone and computer
• Open a few files from the start, middle and end
• Play videos through to the end
• Delete from the phone only after one more backup