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Stormz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 21, 2007
127
181
So I've just switched to iPhone.

Is there a way to transfer files from my iPhone to my Mac without using iTunes/iCloud?

I don't want to diss the iPhone because I love it, but I have to say this aspect is really doing my head in. On Android it was unbelievably simple. (1) Connect phone to Mac, (2) Drag and drop files from mounted phone volume to whatever folder you want on your Mac.

Maybe it's because I'm still new to this, but iTunes strikes me as an astoundingly clunky way to move files. I get a bit paranoid and find myself making sure that each tickbox in each panel is either ticked or unticked, and wondering whether I'm going to inadvertently copy a load of photos to my phone or overwrite something I don't mean to or sync in the wrong direction or something. It all just feels unintuitive with too many potential pitfalls.

Is there an app that will let me do this more simply - either mounting it like a drive, or just something with a better file transfer interface than iTunes? Thanks.

(iOS 10.2 and OS X Yosemite)
 

ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,121
10,912
If you want an app to manage files for you, have a look at Documents by Readdle. It allows you to sync entire folders via file sharing between Mac and iOS device. It's also worth to familiarise yourself with the way iTunes syncs files. Photos you take with the phone for example are not imported by iTunes but by your photo manager that you use on the Mac (default is the Photos app in macOS now).
 
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chscag

macrumors 601
Feb 17, 2008
4,622
1,946
Fort Worth, Texas
The easiest way is to use something like Dropbox or iCloud (yes I know you said you didn't want to do it that way). Any reason why you don't want to use iCloud?
 

Stormz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 21, 2007
127
181
Thanks for the replies. I think you're right, I need to better familiarise myself with iTunes. It's not particuarly intuitive but I'm sure it will be ok once I've studied it.

In addition I will certainly check out that Documents app and also look at Airdrop.
 
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