Many a times during my journey of creating content, be it for social media like Facebook/Instagram or for my YouTube, I have always struggled with a fast and easy way of transferring files recorded on my mobile device (which is an android phone [previously i used a OnePlus, presently using a ViVo phone.])
Out of the many options out there, Macdroid is the best one I could find. The only challenge with using Macdroid is that you cannot see the progress of the files being copied in the default dialogue box that it appears on. See screenshot below
If your files are small, this may not be that bothersome, but, if your file is big, you would start getting into panic attacks. Like I was having, when I wanted to transfer files which were above 5GB. The macbook only has USB C connections, so I had to use Macdroid with WiFi. Yet, not having to see the time remaining/progress was a bit unnerving for me.
I tried searching on Google. The AI mode shared me below answer
While all the above was good information, I wanted to find a way to see the progress quicker and in a easy way. Luckily I found a way.
If you just go to the place from where the files are being copied, i.e. your phone directory (in my case, it was the OpenCamera folder where all my video recordings are stored), you would be able to see a small progress bar as shown in the screenshot below
When I saw the progress bar, although it did not have any progress % so to speak, it still had a bar, which could indicate the progress. That meant I set my expectations accordingly.
After about 30-45 mins time, the files were transferred. This would have been a lot quicker, if my phone was an Iphone, or the recording of the video done with an Ipad. The airdrop transfer is something which is the #1 feature I have found in the apple ecosystem.
Closing this one off, thought of sharing this with anyone, who has a heterogeneous system of windows, android and macintosh and how best they can utilize Macdroid to transfer files from an Android mobile device to a Macbook.
Thanks
22nd April, 2026