How to send files between your phone and computer without a cable

iPhone and Mac: AirDrop

AirDrop is built into every iPhone, iPad and Mac. It sends over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the receiving device asks before it saves anything, and Apple encrypts every transfer.

1. 1Turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on both devices, turn off Personal Hotspot, and keep them close together.
2. 2On the device receiving, set who can send to it. On an iPhone, open Control Center, touch and hold the connectivity controls, tap AirDrop, and choose Contacts Only, or Everyone for 10 Minutes for someone who isn't in your contacts. On a Mac, click Control Center in the menu bar, click and hold AirDrop, and choose Contacts Only or Everyone.
3. 3To send from an iPhone, select the files, tap Share, then AirDrop, and tap the other device. To send from a Mac, click AirDrop in a Finder window's sidebar and drag the files onto the other device, or open a file and choose Share, then AirDrop.
4. 4Accept on the receiving device. On a Mac, many files are saved to Downloads, and some open in their app, such as photos in Photos.

Apple says to keep the devices within about 30 feet (10 meters). With iOS 26.2, iPadOS 26.2, macOS 26.2 or later, sending to someone who isn't in your contacts can ask for an AirDrop code shown on their device.

Android and Windows: Quick Share

Google makes a Quick Share app for Windows that sends to and receives from Android phones, over Bluetooth and your Wi-Fi. Files are encrypted, and the receiving device asks first.

1. 1On the PC, install Quick Share for Windows from Google's Android website. It needs 64-bit Windows 10 or later, or Windows 11 or later on an ARM PC.
2. 2Turn on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on both, connect them to the same network, and keep them within about 16 feet (5 meters).
3. 3To send from the phone, select the files, tap Share, then Quick Share, and pick the PC. To send from the PC, drag the files into the Quick Share window and choose the phone.
4. 4Accept on the receiving device. On the PC, files go to a Quick Share folder in Downloads.

Between devices signed into the same Google Account, Google says transfers are accepted automatically.

Android to iPhone or Mac: Quick Share over AirDrop

Since late 2025, Quick Share on some Android phones can send to an iPhone, iPad or Mac through AirDrop, with nothing to install on the Apple side. Google lists Pixel 8a and later, and certain Samsung, Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo, Xiaomi, Honor, Transsion and Motorola phones.

1. 1On the iPhone or Mac, set AirDrop to receive from everyone, as in the AirDrop steps above.
2. 2On the Android phone, open the file, tap Share, then Quick Share, and pick the Apple device from the nearby list.
3. 3Accept the AirDrop prompt on the iPhone or Mac.

Going the other way, Google's help covers a Pixel 9 or later, except the Pixel 9a, receiving from an Apple device. On phones without AirDrop support, Quick Share offers a QR code instead, which uploads the files to Google's servers, encrypted, for 24 hours: that one is not a local transfer.

iPhone and Windows: Phone Link, where it has arrived

Microsoft has been adding file sharing with an iPhone to Phone Link, through its Link to Windows app on the phone. From the iPhone, you select files, tap Share, then Link to Windows, and choose the PC. From the PC, you right-click a file, choose Share, then My Phone. Microsoft has rolled it out gradually, starting with Windows Insiders, so check whether your Phone Link offers it before relying on it. If it doesn't, use an app on both devices, below.

Any other pair, including Linux: one app on both

When nothing built in covers your two devices, install the same app on both. LocalSend is free and open source, runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iPhone, needs no account, and sends over your local network with HTTPS encryption. KDE Connect is another long-standing option, best known on Linux, which also shares notifications and the clipboard.

1. 1Install LocalSend on both devices and connect them to the same Wi-Fi.
2. 2Open it on both. They find each other automatically.
3. 3On the sending device, choose the files and tap the other device, then accept on the receiving one.

Apps like this need both devices on the same network, and many guest, hotel and campus networks stop devices from seeing each other. A VPN on either device can get in the way too.

Between all of them, with Clypy

If you already sync your clipboard with Clypy, its Send files moves files between your paired devices on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, with nothing else to install. Files go straight from one device to the other over your network, encrypted with a key only that pair of devices holds. They never pass through a server, and they arrive as files, not as clips.

1. 1Pair the two devices in Clypy, from Settings, Devices on a computer or Devices on a phone. No account is needed.
2. 2Connect both to the same Wi-Fi, and open Clypy on the phone.
3. 3On a computer, click the paper plane at the top of the window and drop files on the other device's tile, or click the tile to choose them. On a phone, open Send files from the menu, tap the device, and pick from Photos or Files.
4. 4Accept on the other device. Files land in Downloads on a computer, in Clypy's Received Files on an iPhone, and in Download/Clypy on Android.

Send files is part of Clypy Pro. It only ever uses your local network and never falls back to the internet, so on a network that keeps devices apart it cannot find the other one. A phone receives while Clypy is open.