How to Transfer Photos from Android to a Computer

Camera photos live in the DCIM folder on the phone. You will connect it by USB, switch the USB mode to file transfer, and copy that folder. A wireless route is at the end.

Connect the phone and unlock it

Plug the phone into the computer with a USB cable and unlock the screen. The computer cannot see any files while the phone is locked.

Switch the USB mode to File transfer

Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the Charging this device via USB notification, then tap it again to open USB preferences. Choose File transfer / Android Auto. Some phones label it Transferring files or MTP.

On Windows, open the phone in File Explorer

Open File Explorer, click This PC, and double-click the phone. Open Internal shared storage (or Internal storage), then DCIM, then Camera. Select the photos and drag them to a folder on the PC, or press Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C to copy everything. Screenshots are in Pictures, Screenshots, and saved images in Download or Pictures.

On a Mac, use Image Capture or an MTP app

macOS cannot browse an Android phone on its own. The quickest route is to pick PTP instead of File transfer in the USB preferences, then open the built-in Image Capture app; the phone appears as a camera and you can import the photos. To browse folders instead, install a free MTP app such as OpenMTP; Google's older Android File Transfer app also works if you have it, but Google no longer distributes it.

Or go wireless

Open Google Photos, tap your profile picture, tap Photos settings, Backup, and turn it on. Once the upload finishes, open photos.google.com on the computer, select the photos, and download them. On Windows you can also install Google's Quick Share app, then send photos from the phone's share sheet to the PC.

On Samsung phones. Samsung's Smart Switch app for Windows and Mac connects over USB and backs up the phone, including photos, to the computer. The File transfer steps above work on Samsung phones as well.

If the phone shows up empty. Unlock it and check the USB notification again. The mode drops back to charging only every time the cable is reconnected, and a locked phone shows no files at all.