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• The cable may be charge-only. Try another cable that carries data, or another USB port. Connecting directly to the Mac is more reliable than a hub.
• If the phone’s USB mode is “Charging only” or “Transferring images (PTP)”, switch it to “File transfer”.
• Help › Connection Troubleshooting in the app has a checklist.

The phone is locked, data access has not been allowed yet, or the USB mode is not “File transfer”. Samsung devices still connect in this case but show no files. Unlock the phone, choose “File transfer” and tap “Allow”, and your files will appear automatically.

On macOS only one program can talk to the phone at a time. Quit apps such as Image Capture, Android File Transfer or Smart Switch, then click Retry. PhoneBridge never quits other programs on its own.

If it keeps happening with every app closed, the Samsung USB driver (DEVGURU), which comes with Smart Switch or the Samsung USB driver installer, may be holding the device.

1. Open System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions.
2. Click ⓘ next to Driver Extensions and turn off the Samsung (DEVGURU) entries.
3. Restart your Mac. Turn them back on there if you need Smart Switch again.

The Finder sidebar needs macOS 26 or later, and macOS requires you to turn on the file system extension yourself once.

1. In PhoneBridge › Settings › Finder, turn on Enable Finder integration.
2. In System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions › File System Extensions, turn on PhoneBridge Finder.
3. Reconnect the device, or click Mount in Finder in Settings › Finder.

Finder volumes are read-only by default. On earlier macOS versions, everything except the Finder sidebar works in the PhoneBridge window.

Since Homebrew 7, casks from third-party taps must be trusted once.

Then run brew install --cask garam918/phonebridge/phonebridge again.

An SD card formatted as FAT32 can’t hold a single file over 4 GB. This is a limit of the card’s file system, not something PhoneBridge can change. Copy to internal storage, or format the card as exFAT (formatting erases the card).

Android’s file transfer protocol (MTP) handles one operation at a time. PhoneBridge moves large files in pieces so you can open other folders in between, but on devices that don’t support partial transfers you may need to wait until the copy finishes.

Choose Device › Safely Disconnect (⌘E). PhoneBridge checks for running transfers, unmounts its Finder volumes and then tells you that you can unplug.

Quit PhoneBridge and move it from Applications to the Trash. If you installed it with Homebrew:

To also remove settings and caches, see the install and uninstall guide. Nothing is installed on the phone.

PhoneBridge is built for Android phones and tablets that support USB “File transfer” (MTP). Behavior can vary by manufacturer and model, so if something doesn’t work, please let us know along with the diagnostics file described below.