Syncing photos Android -> Mac

androiddata synchronizationgoogle-syncphotos

I would like to accomplish the following, which, in today's technological ecosystem, seems like it should just happen anyway:

  • I take a photo on my Android phone

  • The phone uploads it somewhere automatically (presumably Google Photos)

  • My Mac downloads it automatically into a folder

In other words, I want the photos on my android device to seamlessly appear in a folder on my Mac, without me needing to do anything besides take the photo.

I have Google Drive installed, but my photos don't seem to be there. I tried installing "Google Backup and Sync", but it crashed immediately and I can't get it to work. (I'm on OS X 10.11, so maybe that's why. I don't intend to upgrade until I get a new machine.) I've head that Google Backup and Sync is quite complex and fiddly to use anyway.

Is there any other way that automatic photo sync between Android and Mac can be accomplished? If possible, I'd prefer not to use Dropbox, because mine is nearly full and I already pay for additional space on Google Drive, so I don't want to upgrade Dropbox as well.

Best Answer

One way to accomplish this is with Microsoft OneDrive. The main barriers to this method are:

  • You need a paid Office365 account to get the 1 TB storage
  • You need to be on Mac OS 10.12 or newer

It has the same functionality as Google Photos where you can have all your photos automatically upload from you phone. Then you can sync them to your computer using OneDrive for Mac.

Sounds like you weren't planning to upgrade Mac OS, but if you already have an Office365 subscription and the upgrade would make the difference, this could be an option.

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