MacBook Air (Big Sur 11.0.1) does not recognize my Fairphone 3

Hello, when I try to connect my Fairphone 3 to my MacBook Air, nothing happens. There is no notification whatsoever that anything is connected. What can I do?

Hi and welcome to the community forum!

I don’t know about mac specific things but in any case, before you can transfer files from an Android phone to a computer (or vice versa) you need to enable “file transfer” in the USB settings on the phone. By default it is “no data transfer” (i.e. charge only, so that nobody can just plug in your phone and access your data).

To enable “file transfer” you need to unlock the FP3, swipe down the notifications and tap the USB options at the end of the notification list.

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Thank you. I should have mentioned that even when I do that, nothing happens :confused:

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AFAIK you can’t just connect your Android Phone with a Mac using it as USB storage so to speak if that is what your question is aiming for. I’m using a MacBook Pro myself and I had to install the software Android File Transfer to get access to the data folders of my FP3.

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What cable do you use? Is it connected directly to the MacBook or via a hub? Is the phone charging?

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I think I am using the USB charging cable that came with the phone. It is connected via a hub and yes, the phone is charging. :slight_smile:

That seems right and there’s a HowTo for that. See section “Apple macOS X (10.5 and newer)”
https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048049332

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Ahhhh thank you very much, that solves it =D

Thank you very much; that solves it :sweat_smile: I never had to use any extra app with my old Windows laptop. Thanks and have a great day!

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