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I thought that's what AirDrop is for? Even Android can drag and drop files to Windows.

by magnio 2y ago

lucianbr 2y ago
What do you mean from Android to Windows? How exactly can that happen? I have an android phone in my hand now and a windows desktop in front, and no clue how to even begin this drag and drop operation. Where would I even start dragging in Android?
- nostrademons 2y ago
  Plug it in via USB, and then most Android devices show up as USB sticks within Windows Explorer. You can access the filesystem the same way you'd access any external media, and drag & drop photos over. Apple, however, in their infinite wisdom made MacOS pop open iTunes when you connect an iPhone as a USB device. You can "import" them into Photos (another Apple walled garden), but they don't show up as a filesystem, and you can't use normal filesystem operations or terminal commands to move them over.
  - k3nx 2y ago
    I know it's not ideal, but if you have iCloud disabled in Photos.app, use that to download photos from your phone to Photos.app, then in Photos.app, select all, and export to your chosen location, then delete from Photos.app. I know it's a few more steps, but this might make it easier than selecting 10+ files to AirDrop. There might be a way to automate that with the shortcuts app. I haven't looked yet. I hope this doesn't come across as "you're holding it wrong", that wasn't my intent.
crazygringo 2y ago
That's exactly what AirDrop is for. I think the commenter must just not know about it?
- nottorp 2y ago
  Neither do I. And I've been using macs and iOS devices for a while. You're saying that if i select AirDrop I can send photos from my phone directly to my mac's file system? No Photos app or iCloud drive shenanigans?
  - EricE 2y ago
    Yup. Just try it!
    - nottorp 2y ago
      I always thought it's some Nintendo like thing for exchanging emojis and little computer people :)
- nostrademons 2y ago
  I know about AirDrop. I use it for small batches (< 10) of photos. It fails completely for my use case, which is that every 6 months or so, I want to back up the 2000 or so pictures I've taken to a Samba share on a home server that I control. The closest equivalent would be iCloud, but I refuse to mortgage my family memories to vendor lock-in for a monthly fee.
  - pubutil 2y ago
    Have you tried using the Files app for image/file transfers? You can add Samba (and other) shares in there by tapping the '...' in the upper-right corner, hitting 'Connect to Server', then inputting your local server's address and connecting. I use this not just for photos, but for transferring various files and docs to/from my phone/home server. You mentioned not wanting to mass-select 2000+ photos. If the photos you're uploading fall within a certain date range, you can open the Photos app, search for the date range of photos you want to upload (e.g. "April 20 2024 to today", or "sept 21 2018 to mar 2020"). It'll return photos taken in that date range, where you can tap 'See All', then 'Select' > 'Select All' at the top of the screen. Then you can hit the 'Share' dialogue and upload to your server through Files without having to scroll and select tons of individual pics. Keep in mind that you can't use a '-' in place of the word 'to' when specifying a date range for some reason. If your images are family memories, you might be interested in Immich[1] (if you're open to making changes to your photo storage setup). Stand up and configure the local server, install the smartphone app, enable automatic sync, and it'll automatically upload new photos from your phone when you open the Immich app. No need for you to manually keep track of your photo syncs. Built to be a local Google Photos replacement. Has features like shared albums, face recognition/person naming, smart search, etc. AI tasks, like everything else, are done entirely locally. It's a nice piece of software, and lots of people (including privacy advocate Louis Rossmann) vouch for it. [1] https://immich.app/ https://immich.app/

I thought that's what AirDrop is for? Even Android can drag and drop files to Windows.

by magnio 2y ago

I thought that's what AirDrop is for? Even Android can drag and drop files to Windows.

What do you mean from Android to Windows? How exactly can that happen? I have an android phone in my hand now and a windows desktop in front, and no clue how to even begin this drag and drop operation. Where would I even start dragging in Android?

nostrademons 2y ago
Plug it in via USB, and then most Android devices show up as USB sticks within Windows Explorer. You can access the filesystem the same way you'd access any external media, and drag & drop photos over. Apple, however, in their infinite wisdom made MacOS pop open iTunes when you connect an iPhone as a USB device. You can "import" them into Photos (another Apple walled garden), but they don't show up as a filesystem, and you can't use normal filesystem operations or terminal commands to move them over.
- k3nx 2y ago
  I know it's not ideal, but if you have iCloud disabled in Photos.app, use that to download photos from your phone to Photos.app, then in Photos.app, select all, and export to your chosen location, then delete from Photos.app. I know it's a few more steps, but this might make it easier than selecting 10+ files to AirDrop. There might be a way to automate that with the shortcuts app. I haven't looked yet. I hope this doesn't come across as "you're holding it wrong", that wasn't my intent.

crazygringo 2y ago

That's exactly what AirDrop is for. I think the commenter must just not know about it?

nottorp 2y ago
Neither do I. And I've been using macs and iOS devices for a while. You're saying that if i select AirDrop I can send photos from my phone directly to my mac's file system? No Photos app or iCloud drive shenanigans?
- EricE 2y ago
  Yup. Just try it!
  - nottorp 2y ago
    I always thought it's some Nintendo like thing for exchanging emojis and little computer people :)
nostrademons 2y ago
I know about AirDrop. I use it for small batches (< 10) of photos. It fails completely for my use case, which is that every 6 months or so, I want to back up the 2000 or so pictures I've taken to a Samba share on a home server that I control. The closest equivalent would be iCloud, but I refuse to mortgage my family memories to vendor lock-in for a monthly fee.
- pubutil 2y ago
  Have you tried using the Files app for image/file transfers? You can add Samba (and other) shares in there by tapping the '...' in the upper-right corner, hitting 'Connect to Server', then inputting your local server's address and connecting. I use this not just for photos, but for transferring various files and docs to/from my phone/home server. You mentioned not wanting to mass-select 2000+ photos. If the photos you're uploading fall within a certain date range, you can open the Photos app, search for the date range of photos you want to upload (e.g. "April 20 2024 to today", or "sept 21 2018 to mar 2020"). It'll return photos taken in that date range, where you can tap 'See All', then 'Select' > 'Select All' at the top of the screen. Then you can hit the 'Share' dialogue and upload to your server through Files without having to scroll and select tons of individual pics. Keep in mind that you can't use a '-' in place of the word 'to' when specifying a date range for some reason. If your images are family memories, you might be interested in Immich[1] (if you're open to making changes to your photo storage setup). Stand up and configure the local server, install the smartphone app, enable automatic sync, and it'll automatically upload new photos from your phone when you open the Immich app. No need for you to manually keep track of your photo syncs. Built to be a local Google Photos replacement. Has features like shared albums, face recognition/person naming, smart search, etc. AI tasks, like everything else, are done entirely locally. It's a nice piece of software, and lots of people (including privacy advocate Louis Rossmann) vouch for it. [1] https://immich.app/ https://immich.app/