HandShaker is an Android File Transfer alternative app that lets you work with your Android phone files on your Mac computer. OS X doesn’t have that many apps available that work with Android devices. The only easy way to transfer files from your phone to your Mac is by using the Google built Android File Transfer app for macOS and Linux.
For some reason, Android File Manager is giving problems to users who have been trying to connect their Google Pixel/Pixel XL/Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL phones with their Mac computer. We have used HandShaker several times before. But never really recommended it since it makes you install their own APK first on your phone first; and honestly, Android File Transfer worked just fine.
HandShaker was built by Smartisan for their Android devices, but luckily, it works with almost all the phones and tablets. As mentioned earlier, Android File Transfer is very old and in need of an update by Google. Smartisan has designed and developed an all-new sync transfer protocol to fix a lot of the problems with existing Android sync transfer protocols. This provides much better security, stability, and improved transfer speeds.
The screenshot you see above is what you get once you are done setting up the app on your Android phone and Mac. We’ll get to that later, but first, let us see how to set it up.
Step 1:
Download HandShaker for Mac (or Windows) and install it on your computer just like any other app.
Step 2:
Once the installation is complete, you will see the following screen on starting the HandShaker app.
Step 3:
Now connect your phone using the USB cable to your Mac computer. As soon as you do, you will be prompted with a screen. Tap View to continue.
Step 4
Next your Android browser (Chrome or any other) will open and you will be prompted to download a file called HandShaker-official.apk – alternatively, you can get it from here: Download HandShaker.apk
Step 5
Install the app on your phone.
Step 6
After the app installation, you will need to remove and plug in the USB cable (from your phone or computer) to reset the connection.
Step 7
As soon as you plug in your phone again, you will see a prompt on your Android phone screen asking if you would like to set HandShaker as the default action. You can skip this part for now (if you just want to try out) and tap OK to proceed.
NOTE: If the above step doesn’t work and nothing appears on your Mac screen, make sure you have enabled the USB debugging option in your device.
Also Read: Enable USB Debugging Mode On All Android Version
Step 8:
That’s it! Next, you will be able to see all your Android phone files on your Mac computer.
Once you get the app working, you will not have to repeat the above steps again. Everything will be working just like Android File Transfer whenever you connect your phone with your Mac again.
As you can see in the screenshots, this app will give you a nice interface to access your Android phone files from your Mac. You will access all your photos, music files, videos and files you have downloaded to your phone. And there is also a section for browsing all your phone memory files.
You can select individual files and open them directly from your phone, unlike Android File Transfer where you have to transfer each file to your computer first to open it. You can select your photos, videos and other files to delete or copy them somewhere else easily.
You can also download HandShaker from Mac App Store.
Conclusion:
Once you start using the app, you will notice it is much better than the default Android File Transfer. It is a great app, and we are sure you will enjoy using it. For any questions and queries let us know in the comment section below!