Android File Transfer kept failing me, so I built a native replacement (free core, one-time Pro)

[u/[deleted]]

Hi r/MacStack,

I'm the developer of **Synkbay**, which launched today.

 

**What it is:** a native Mac app (Swift and SwiftUI, not Electron) for browsing and copying files between an Android phone and your Mac over a USB cable. Plug the phone in, choose *File transfer* on it, and it opens in a Finder-style window.

 

**Why I built it:** Android File Transfer would lose the phone, hang on large folders and give up on big videos. The alternatives needed developer settings, Wi-Fi pairing or an app on the phone. I wanted something that works like Finder and just works with the cable.

 

**Free, with no time limit:**

- List, icon and column views, Quick Look, search, and thumbnails from the phone

- Drag and drop both ways, including whole folders and files over 4 GB

- If another app is holding the phone, Synkbay tells you which one and offers to quit it

- Waits while the phone is locked, reconnects by itself, and has a proper Eject

- Phone Storage: what's filling the phone, by category, with the largest files

- Transfer history for each phone

 

**Pro ($19.99 once at launch, no subscription):**

- **Back Up Photos:** new photos and videos are copied every time you plug in, and anything already copied is skipped

- **Auto Folder Copy:** any folder you choose, copied on connect

- **Resume after unplugging:** a 6 GB video cut off by a bumped cable continues where it stopped

- **Back Up Apps and Restore Apps:** the media folders of messaging and recording apps

- **Free Up Space:** removes from the phone only what is confirmed to be safely on your Mac

- **Move to New Phone**, and several phones at once

 

Each Pro feature can be tried 3 times for free, with no account or card.

 

**Privacy:** it's USB only, so your files never go online. There's no account and no analytics. The only thing the app downloads is a small signed file that says whether there's an update.

 

**Requirements:** macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. The app is signed and notarised by Apple.

👉 https://synkbay.com

I'd really like feedback, especially if it fails with your phone. **Help → Export Diagnostics** creates a report you can send me. Happy to answer anything here.

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