# How do you get stuff between your phone and your PC? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414 "2021-11-15T21:56:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/1 "2021-11-15T21:56:48Z")
There are occasions when I have something on my phone that I want to have on my PC or vice versa. It could be a link, an image, a screenshot, a document. Really it could be just about any kind of data. For links and some images, I find myself opening Facebook, going to Messenger and pasting the link (image, whatever) in a message to myself and then opening it on the other device. This works fine albeit a bit kludgy. I’ll also use email to move stuff to my phone from my PC but I rarely use it to go the other way, for no particularly good reason. I have a Google drive that I can access from any device but most of the stuff that I put there is sourced from my PC and doesn’t really have a lot of use on my phone. There are exceptions but they’re few and far between. I’m unlikely to want to do much editing to a Google doc on my phone, for example. So I’m interested in what other people do. I know that the answer will vary depending on what it is that you want to copy so feel free to post any methods for any type files. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/2 "2021-11-15T21:57:58Z")
I have Apple stuff, so if it’s big, Airdrop. If it’s a picture (the most common thing I transfer), or text or something small, I text it to myself. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/3 "2021-11-15T21:59:16Z")
I have an iPhone but not a Mac. Do you Airdrop to a Mac? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/4 "2021-11-15T22:00:22Z")
I generally use Google Drive for this. I’d prefer to use bluetooth, but for some reason I can’t get my PC to pair with my phone. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/5 "2021-11-15T22:01:11Z")
Yes, you can Airdrop to a Mac. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/6 "2021-11-15T22:01:16Z")
My iPads and iPhone seem to share well without me doing much of anything. I try to not piss them off by asking too many questions. Been using iCloud for years, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/7 "2021-11-15T22:07:39Z")
I email a lot of stuff to myself. Even fairly sizeable attachments of up to 25 mb or so. For anything larger, like video files, I use Dropbox or just plug my phone into my laptop and move it over as I would any other file. Occasionally have to perform some sort of conversion, usually to make Apple files usable on a real computer. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/8 "2021-11-15T22:13:35Z")
Email or Dropbox when not at home. At home, I frequently go medieval and use a USB cable. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/9 "2021-11-15T22:16:06Z")
As has been already mentioned, Google Drive works great if you have a Windows computer and an Android phone. And Apple products play nicely together, using iCloud. But if you have an iPhone and a Windows computer, it gets a bit more complicated. Dropbox is certainly an option, as is iTunes installed on both devices connected with a cable. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/10 "2021-11-15T22:17:24Z")
Dropbox. Previously, Google Drive. It’s pretty rare I’ll need to transfer anything between the two. Mostly just phone backgrounds I made on my computer. Used to necessarily do a lot of iTunes-to-iPhone transfers, but iCloud eliminated all of that, thank fucking god. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/11 "2021-11-15T22:19:32Z")
I used to just use NFC (near field connection) and put my phone next to my laptop, which would immediately queue up a transfer. But for some reason my current cheap PC has no NFC. So, now my phone and laptop are paired via Bluetooth, so that when I have, say, a photo I want to copy to my laptop, “Bluetooth” shows up as one option when I click “Share”, and I use that to send it. It’s very quick. ETA: for something really large, I just use Dropbox. For something \<25MB but still large, I put it in a draft Yahoo email, but don’t send, and then reopen the draft on another device. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/12 "2021-11-15T22:25:02Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > ETA: for something really large, I just use Dropbox. For something \<25MB but still large, I put it in a draft Yahoo email, but don’t send, and then reopen the draft on another device.. That’s some good “outside of the box” thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/13 "2021-11-15T22:26:12Z")
Plug in (which I’m already doing to charge) & change the USB to PTP or file transfer, depending upon what I want to move where. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/14 "2021-11-15T22:26:47Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > That’s some good “outside of the box” thinking. I say this in all seriousness, I got this from a description years ago of how terrorists were sharing messages via yahoo without leaving an email trail… ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/15 "2021-11-15T22:28:35Z")
Holy Moly! Those terrorists are resourceful. You’ve got to give them that. ---
**Author:** ![Ranch\_Dip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranch_dip/32/5238_2.png) [@Ranch\_Dip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranch_Dip)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/16 "2021-11-15T22:38:50Z")
Email. But I seldom need to. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/17 "2021-11-15T22:40:15Z")
I mostly use gmail. I don’t even actually send links, I just save drafts. In theory I could use Google Chrome, but I don’t like the Android version because it doesn’t have extensions. If I had that, I could just share between phones. In the rare case I have files to send back and forth, I use SMB (i.e. Windows File Sharing). I have an app that can handle that. I also sometimes stream videos to my phone using VLC, which has a built in SMB client. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/18 "2021-11-15T22:51:32Z")
For a single smallish file, generally a quick email. For larger, one off files, Google Drive, for mass transfers (my MP3 library, non-Amazon ebooks, and the like) USB and drag and drop to my Android phone. (Android and Windows user). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/19 "2021-11-15T23:43:31Z")
USB cable ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414/20 "2021-11-16T02:57:05Z")
If it’s pictures I just connect the phone to the desktop and drag & drop it to the desktop with a USB cable. Or do the “draft” email method another poster described above. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-stuff-between-your-phone-and-your-pc/954414.md?page=2)