Transfer Files between Android and Debian

[canci]

GhostCommander on Android (also in F-Droid repos) can similarly connect via Samba or sFTP.

[ComputerBob]

Thanks for all the information about Total Commander! I'll take a closer look at that!

For the past several years -- ever since I spent a lot of time looking for wifi Android//Linux file-transfer solutions through my local, private router -- I've used something that I've never seen anyone else talk about, but I've found it to be really, really easy.

On my Android, I installed File Manager PLUS (which is free).

File Manager Plus is a terrific GUI file manager. But one of its many "home screen" icons is "Access From Network". When you click on it, it opens an FTP server (as long as you are connected to wifi). It tells you the IP address and port that it is using (I checked the box to always use the same ones).

Then, use Filezilla FTP CLIENT (which is free) or any other FTP client on your Linux (mine is Devuan) computer, to connect to the File Manger + address. I created a shortcut that starts Filezilla with the correct IP address, port, username, and password. One click on it, and it's connected.

Browse, download, upload, delete, both to and from your Android device and/or its external SD card, and your PC. Transfer any specific file(s), software, etc. that you want to transfer, wherever you want it/them to go, and and whenever you choose to transfer them.

Fast, easy, and free.

[NFT5]

All these "free" and "easy" solutions that require specifying ports, FTP transfers and IP addresses or scripts to use sound like hard work to me.

I take photos with my phone. On both phone and desktop I have Syncthing, set to transfer (sync) any new photos when the phone is connected to my home wifi. If I'm out it transfers the new photos as soon as I come home and then does periodic updates. IIRC mine is set for 10 minutes. After initial setup there's no action needed by me - it's completely automatic.

If I want to transfer a different type of file (e.g. a pdf or something that someone's sent me) the phone appears in Dolphin, via KDEConnect, just as another drive. Find file then drag and drop.

If I'm away from home then it's just a matter of connecting phone and notebook with a USB cable (because I don't trust public wifi) and it's exactly the same as being at home.

[pwzhangzz]

When done, make sure to umount the mtp drive:

fusermount -u MotoG

You can also use Nautilus to umount the mtp drive.

As I mentioned in the beginning, with a usb cable connection Nautilus can do everything without any apps on either the pc or the phone side; however, some of the file attributes (for example dates of photos in my case) are not copied. This is a critical consideration for me thus I need to do an extra step to cd into the mounted Android directory and run an rsync op to make sure that all the file attributes are copied.

[oswaldkelso]

This topic is quite interesting in a few ways but for the benefit of younger users it might be good to explain a few things.

When Android first hit the scenes connecting between the Gnu/Linux was as easy as plugging in a USB cable. Your phone would mount like a standard USB and you could just browser the file system. IIRC after about version 4 of Android it became more locked down and MTP was introduced. This is a corporate restriction brought in as a means of control. M$ DRM adapted by Google. I would encourage anyone that cares about free-software and real open standards to use anything but MTP to connect to their devices if for nothing else but to stick it to "The Man".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol

So now we know why it's been made so hard to connect we need to look at the choices in this thread.

Full blown desktops to CLI.
MTP and Slaveware solutions or not.

This is why the solutions to the original question are so varied and hence confusing to so many.

For me I want a free-software solution. I want no bloat and I want super easy. A couple minutes to setup and two clicks is easy enough for anyone.

One click on the phone, one on the bookmark.

Now I can see some will say but the server is running on the phone and I agree. But I have one phone and several computers and the phone is in my pocket. It's about usage. If I want to send a file directly to a specific computer it skips a step. If I want to back up a file it goes to storage on my freedom-box from any device. Because I'm using open standards the process is the same be it phone (to any flavour of desktop or none) or desktop to server it all works the same.

OT but similar and maybe of interest to some. For Android to Android I use Molly a Signal fork with the google stuff removed (see F-Droid). Great for the partner and it works for the less freetardy and for those poor Apple slaves that are still stuck with base Signal. It's free-software client and server unlike Telegram and it's ilk.