Transferring a file from PC to Android or Android to PC is a simple task, all thanks to the USB cable that mostly comes bundled with any Android device – be it any smartphone or tablet. Just connect the cable and you’re good to go. While this works perfectly every time, what if you want to transfer the file without using the USB cable? Let’s say you are at your friend’s house, or you’re not able to find that cable; what now? An obvious solution would be to use some cloud storage service like Dropbox or attach the file and send it to your email address but this is not a real solution to the problem. If you have Bluetooth in your PC or laptop, then you can use that to transfer the file, but then again, the speed of sending files over Bluetooth is very slow.
If you’re searching for a way to manage your Android device without a USB cable then here’s an Android app that will let you do exactly that.
Manage/Transfer Files/Photos/Videos without USB Cable on Android
AirDroid is a very useful Android app that can do much more, apart from simple files and media transfer. The app can manage your entire Android from just a web browser and nothing else. For example; you can access messages from your phone on the PC, download or uninstall applications, view, download or upload photos, music, videos, and best of all, this app lets you transfer any files to/from your device. Once you start using this app, you’ll even forget where you’ve kept your USB cable.
Your both the devices – computer as well as your phone needs to be on the same WiFi network, but if they’re not, then you can simply create an AirDroid account and login to your phone from anywhere, just by using a web browser.
How AirDroid Works
To get started, install the AirDroid app from Play Store. Once installed, launch the app and you’ll be able to see a small tour of this app’s capabilities. Once the tour is finished, you’ll be able to see two URLs:
http://web.airdroid.com
OR
http://192.168.1.100:8888 (this IP address can be different in your case)
If your computer and your phone are connected through the same WiFi network, then you can enter this complete IP address in the URL field of your web browser and hit Enter. Your browser will now communicate with the phone, and you’ll be able to see a notification in your phone asking for confirmation about the connection request. From your phone, tap on “Accept”.
That’s all you need to do. Now you’ll be able to see the AirDroid interface (or Dashboard) on your computer. From here, you can control mostly any part of your Android smartphone.
On the right side, you can see your Android device model number, toolbox and an upload box to quickly upload files from your computer to phone by drag and drop. At the top, you can see the search bar with buttons for new message, call, languages and sign out.
The main interface at the left side contains shortcuts for various tasks. For example; you can view or compose new text messages by clicking on Messages, install/uninstall apps, view photos, videos, music and more. Click on the “File” icon to start transferring/sending/managing files. This is the place where you should look if you’re thinking of transferring files between both of your connected devices.
Here’s a screenshot of Application manager which opens by clicking on “Apps”.
One more feature of this app that’s worth mentioning is that it can also locate and lock your lost Android phone. If for some reason you cannot get it back, then you can remotely wipe out all date. Overall, this is a very useful app and I wonder why the developers would offer it for FREE? There’s also a similar app named as WiFi File Transfer that lets you download/upload files from phone or tablet over a wireless network, but the free version does not lets user to upload files larger than 4MB. There are no such limitations on AirDroid.
The only problem is that after a certain period of inactivity, it automatically disconnects. In such a case, you just need to launch the app again, but apart from that, it works great without any hiccup.
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