Share android and windows

How to Share Files Between Android and Windows on Your Network

With smartphones becoming a near-essential part of everyday life, you may find yourself in moments where you want to transfer files between an Android device and your Windows machine. Fortunately, it’s very easy to achieve this these days with a number of good third-party apps (as well as onboard Windows methods, to an extent) here to help.

Here we cover the best ways to move files from Android to Windows and vice versa.

Also read: How to Share Files Between Android and Ubuntu on Your Network

Share Android Files with Windows

It’s worth noting that there are plenty of ways to perform this transfer. Bluetooth is useful, as is plugging in a cable between your PC and your phone. However, this tutorial focuses on how to transfer over your Wi-Fi network. Even with these restrictions, the competition is pretty tight. We’re focusing on two apps to transfer files between Android and Windows 10: Your Phone and Sweech.

Your Phone App

For a couple of years now, Windows has had the “Phone companion” feature. It used to be pretty threadbare and still doesn’t just give you full access to everything that’s on your phone, but certainly does the job of managing and moving Android photos through Windows 10, as well as reading, sending and deleting messages.

On your Android device, you need to get the “Your Phone Companion” app, while on Windows, the “Your Phone” app should already be on your PC. You can find it by searching for “your phone” through a Start menu search. (If it’s not there, you can download Your Phone from the Microsoft Store.)

Once you have both of these apps on their respective devices, open “Your Phone” on your PC, making sure that your phone and PC are connected to the same network.

Follow the instructions to connect your devices, then once you’re in the app, click the “Photos” icon in the pane on the left to look at all the images on your phone.

From here, you can copy-paste images to your PC, open them in a desktop app, or even drag and drop them straight onto your desktop! Simple.

Sweech App

The other app we’re focusing on is Sweech, because it’s very quick to set up; you can be transferring files within one to two minutes of downloading it!

When you download Sweech, press the large play button that appears and give the app permission to access your files. Sweech will show you a local IP address and port.

Type it into the web browser on your PC, hit Enter, and you’ll see your phone’s file system.

You can browse your phone as if it were a folder on your PC. This includes dragging files from your phone onto your PC, as well as putting files into folders on your phone. Once you’re done, tap the Stop button on the app to shut off the file transfer.

Every time you use Sweech, it will use the same IP address and port. As such, if you don’t want to keep typing in the address when you use Sweech, you can bookmark the page for quick access.

You can use the shortcuts on the left to filter content by type. You can even send data to your phone’s clipboard from your PC. Just type what you want on it, then click the blue clipboard icon to transfer it to the phone.

Also read: How to Install Google Play Store on Windows 11

How to Share Windows Files with Android

Accessing Windows folders on Android is a little trickier. First, you need to make the file or folder accessible by outside devices.

Making a File or Folder Public

The easy way to do this is to move or copy the files over to your Windows Public folder. Typically, this is located at “C:\Users\Public”. This folder is special because it’s automatically set up to allow other users on your network to access it.

If you want to share a folder without moving it to Public, you can set it up as if it were in the Public folder. To do this, right-click the file or folder you want to share, then click Properties.

Go to the Sharing tab, then click Share.

On the drop-down menu, select “Everyone,” then click Add. Click on Share at the bottom right.

By default, you’ll need your user credentials to access your PC’s public folders from outside. If you’d rather not enter them every time and trust all the devices on your network, you can instead disable the requirement and allow guests to see your public files.

To do this, type “advanced sharing” in the Start menu and select the option that appears.

Scroll down to the “All Networks” category – you may need to expand it. In this category, find “Turn off password-protected sharing” and click it, then click Save Changes.

Now you can access your public files without logging in. Be sure to turn this back on if you don’t want others on your network snooping on your files!

Also read: How to View Shared Files and Folders in Windows 10

Accessing the Files on Android

Now it’s time to get access to those files. You’ll need a file explorer that has LAN capabilities so that it can access your PC.

If you have an app of choice, use that. For this article, however, we are using FE File Explorer. We chose this app because it makes it easy to connect to your PC, whether you’re using an account or a guest login.

When you boot up FE File Explorer, tap the Plus button at the bottom right.

Here, you can enter the network details of your PC. If you’re on the same Wi-Fi network as your PC, you need not bother – just scroll to the bottom and find your PC in the neighborhood section.

The app will ask you if you want to log in to your PC or use a guest account. If you kept password-protected sharing on, select the top option and log in. If you turned it off, select the guest option.

Once done, you should now be able to navigate your PC’s public folders. Navigate to the files you want to download, then either tap the three dots next to a single file to see all the actions you can perform or hold-press a file to select multiple files to download or move.

As you can see, it is quite easy to transfer files between Android and Windows 10. If you are using Mac, you can make use of OpenMTP to transfer files from Android to Mac. You can even transfer files from your Android phone to your Smart TV.

Also read: How to Connect Two Computers Using a LAN Cable in Windows 10

Remember, there’s a lot more you can do if you have a Windows PC and an Android phone. For starters, you can send text messages from your desktop, run Android on your PC, and also install Windows 10 from Android.

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Content Manager at Make Tech Easier. Enjoys Android, Windows, and tinkering with retro console emulation to breaking point.

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How to Share Files Between Android and Windows Using Free Apps

Feem app allows users to transfer files for free between Android and Windows devices

Transferring files from your Android smartphone to your Windows PC, or vice versa, used to be a tricky affair earlier. You connected your phone to the PC via a USB cable, looked over the file system till you found what you were looking for, and then copied with the hope that nothing disconnected or hung in the process. Alternatively, you used the slow file transfer process to share files over Bluetooth, after first pairing the two devices. Thankfully, with the evolution of apps, this process of sharing files from Android to a Windows device has become an easier affair. We list a few free apps that you can try if you want to transfer files from your Android smartphone to your Windows desktop and guide you every step of the way as to how to go about them.

How to share files between Windows and Android using free apps

Whether you want to share a single file between your Windows and Android devices, or transfer a bunch of them together, it’s extremely easy to get started by following these simple steps:

How to share files between Windows and Android using Feem

The Feem v4 app allows users to transfer files, photos, videos, audio files, and apps for free. The app needs to be downloaded on the Android device as well as the Window device, for it to work. Both the devices need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. The company claims that the file transfer service is 50 times faster than Bluetooth and twice as fast as Dropbox. The free version of the app is riddled with ads. Those who find that annoying can pay a premium for Feem Pro that offers an ad-free experience.

How to transfer files between Windows and Android using Feem:

1. Download Feem v4 on both your Android device and Windows PC from the Feem website.
2. After installation, ensure that both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
3. The application will assign a name to both your Windows PC and Android smartphone, and both will automatically show up in the Android/ Windows application.
4. Click on the Android/ Windows device in any of the two applications.
5. You can now send a single file or multiple files at once.

How to share files between Windows and Android using AirDroid

Just like Feem v4, AirDroid allows you to transfer photos, videos, files, audio, and apps between Android and Windows devices for free. It allows for selection of multiple files, and can be used to send text messages as well. File transfer, in our test, was as fast as Feem. There’s also an option to view all your phone files on the desktop app, and save them from there.

AirDroid app also allows for reading and sending text messages

Apart from all this, there’s also a Remote Camera mode that allows you to view your phone’s camera remotely, and a View Only mode which lets you see what’s happening on your smartphone’s screen on the desktop. The free version of the app is supported by ads and only allows 200MB data transfer per month (31 days).

How to transfer files between Windows and Android using AirDroid:

1. Download AirDroid desktop and Android app from the AirDroid website.
2. Register on the app, and then sign-in using the same credentials on the Windows app as well.
3. Ensure that you’re connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
4. Your smartphone and Windows computer will shop up under the My Devices section in both applications.
5. You can now drag and drop/ attach the files you want to share.

How to share files between Windows and Android using PushBullet

PushBullet app also allows for file transfers from your Android device to Windows PC, and lets you send and receive text messages as well as view your phone’s notifications. In our tests, we found file transfers to be slower than Feem.

PushBullet allows for transfer of files between Android and Windows

Unlike Feem, PushBullet doesn’t allow sharing of apps, and is limited to files, photos, and videos. It also doesn’t feature the remote camera and view only modes seen on AirDroid.

How to transfer files between Windows and Android using PushBullet:

1. Download the PushBullet desktop client and Android app from the PushBullet website. PushBullet offers extensions for Firefox, Chrome, and Opera, as well as a dedicated Windows App.
2. Sign in with either your Google or Facebook account. Do note that you will have to use the same account on both the Android phone and Windows PC.
3. The Android app will ask you whether you want to see your phone’s notifications on your computer. It will also display a similar prompt for text messages. Tap ‘Enable’ or ‘Skip’ depending on your preferences.
4. Tap Remote Files on your the Android app, and your Windows PC will show up. Similarly, your Android smartphone will be displayed under Devices on the Windows application.
5. Press the ‘Attach’ button to send the necessary content, and press the arrow key to send the media file to your PC.
6. Check the PC app to view the file and download it onto your system.

How to share files between Windows and Android using Your Phone app

The Your Phone app was introduced by Microsoft with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update and it lets Windows users get instant access to their Android smartphone’s photos and texts. The app, however, only allows users to access up to 25 recent photos and screenshots, and nothing else.

Your Phone transfers photos from Android to Windows, but not vice versa

It also doesn’t allow users to send multiple files at once. Similarly, it shows only recent messages. The biggest disadvantage of this app is that it only allows transfer of photos from Android to Windows and not vice versa.

1. Install the Your Phone app or Windows and Android.
2. Feed in your country code and cell phone number in the Windows app. You will receive a text message with the link for the Android app.
3. Download the app from Google Play using the link.
4. Once installed, click ‘Connect my PC’.
5. Sign in with your Microsoft account on both the Windows and Android App. On the Android device, allow all permissions and say ‘Yes’ to ‘Ignore battery optimisations’ if so desired.
6. Open the Your Phone app on your Windows 10 machine.
7. You will be able to access Recent Photos (including camera roll, screenshots) and Text messages (SMS messages).

Other simple ways to transfer files between Android and Windows
A special mention must be given to cloud storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive, We Transfer, Google Drive, and more. These services allow you to save files on to the cloud, and access them from any device, as long as you’re signed-in with the same credentials. All of these services offer limited free storage space, and after you’ve reached that limit, you can choose from various paid plans.

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