How to connect smartphone to PC
Are you trying to connect your smartphone to your computer but can’t? Well that’s a pretty common problem, nothing to worry about anyway. In most cases, to connect your smartphone to your PC you just need to search for the right software on the Internet and install them on your computer: two very simple operations that take very little time to put into practice. I would say, therefore, not to get too lost in small talk and immediately take action.
Take five minutes of free time and try to follow the instructions I am about to give you, so you will discover how to connect your smartphone to your PC (or to your Mac), regardless of the model of Android or iPhone smartphone you have. At the end of the procedure, you will therefore be able to access the files in the phone’s memory, use it as a modem and perform a large number of additional operations.
The directions you are about to read apply to all the latest versions of Windows and macOS. The version of the operating system installed on the smartphone is irrelevant for the procedure. All you have to do is roll up your sleeves and take action. Happy reading and have fun!
Index
- How to connect smartphone to PC with USB cable
- Android
- iPhone
- How to connect smartphone to PC without cable
- Android
- iPhone
- How to connect smartphone to PC for the Internet
- Android
- iPhone
- How to connect smartphone to PC with broken screen
How to connect smartphone to PC with USB cable
The first method that I recommend to be able to connect your smartphone to the PC is the one via USB cable , which you can always find inside the sales package of your device. While it may seem less practical to have to connect a USB cable between smartphone and PC, it is one of the most practical and fastest methods to use, especially when it comes to transferring large amounts of files. So let’s see how to connect smartphone to PC with USB cable .
Android
If you have an Android smartphone , all you have to do is connect the device to the PC via USB-C or micro-USB cable , depending on the port on the phone.
If you are using a PC with Windows 8 and later , once the smartphone is connected to the PC via USB cable, the system will automatically install the necessary drivers . Once the drivers have been installed, simply lower the notification curtain on your smartphone, tap on the USB connection notification and, from the selection menu, select the MTP or Data transfer mode . In a few seconds the smartphone will be connected to the PC and you can manage it as if it were any external memory, so you can transfer files, modify them or delete them.
If, on the other hand, you have a PC with Windows 7 or earlier , you must necessarily install the USB drivers of your device, which you can find on the manufacturer’s official website by doing a Google search (please, do not contact third-party sites or you could run into malware ). If you don’t find the drivers you need, you can try installing the generic Android drivers made by Google . For all the details, you can read my tutorial on how to connect Android to PC .
How do you say? Do you use a Mac? In this case, just download and install the Android File Transfer application . Once installed, whenever you connect your Android smartphone to the Mac, the application will start automatically and show you the contents of the internal memory and microSD (if present) of your device. Again, you can easily transfer files, edit or delete them.
For more information, you can check out my tutorial on how to transfer files from Android to Mac .
iPhone
If you have an iPhone you can connect it to your PC via the Lightning cable present inside the sales package.
If you use Windows, to have the device recognized by the PC you need to use Apple’s iTunes software , available for download on the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and Windows 11 . If, on the other hand, you have a PC with Windows 7 or earlier , you must necessarily download iTunes from the Apple website , as the Microsoft Store is not present on these versions of Windows. More info here .
Now all you have to do is open iTunes , click the Accept button to accept the license agreement, and wait for the application to load. Then unlock your iPhone via Face ID or Touch ID and tap the Authorize button from the pop-up that appears on the screen: to confirm the operation, enter the unlock PIN of your iPhone and click the Continue button from the pop-up that appears on your PC. Well now your iPhone is connected to your PC and from here you can easily manage any aspect of the device. More info here .
You can also access some folders on the iPhone’s internal storage using File Manager ; for example the DCIM folder contains the photos saved on the device. More info here .
If, on the other hand, you are using a Mac , the procedure becomes really very easy, just connect your iPhone to the Mac and tap the Authorize button from the pop-up that appears on the iPhone screen: to confirm the connection, enter the unlock PIN of the your iPhone.
To manage iPhone files, from macOS 10.15 Catalina up, you can use the Finder directly , so all you have to do is open it and click on the iPhone item in the sidebar: in a few seconds a summary screen will open. your iPhone, from which you can manage every aspect of the device, including updates, backups and much more. If, on the other hand, you are using an older version of macOS, you will need to open the iTunes application , which you find installed “by default” in the operating system.
How to connect smartphone to PC without cable
You’re the guy who really hates having to use cables again, so you’re wondering how to connect smartphones to PCs without a cable , right?
Don’t worry, it’s not too difficult, even if you’re unfamiliar with technology. Below I will show you step by step how to connect smartphones to PCs Windows 10 and later or on Mac. Whether you have an Android smartphone or an iPhone, you will see that it will really be a breeze.
Android
You have an Android smartphone , but you have absolutely no idea how to connect your smartphone to your PC without a cable. Quiet, that’s what I’m here for. You should know that starting with Windows 10 , Microsoft has integrated a feature called My Phone that allows you to be able to connect an Android smartphone to your PC via Wi-Fi.
How do you say? You didn’t know anything about it and now you can’t wait to find out how it works? I imagined it, so I would say don’t waste any more time and continue reading.
The first thing to do is to install the Complement de your phone application on your Android smartphone, available both on the Play Store and on alternative stores for devices without the Play Store: to install it, search for it in the default market of your device, press on its icon (or linked directly to one of the download links I gave you a moment ago, to do first) and press the Install button .
From your Windows PC then click on the Start button , recognizable by the icon of a flag and open the Settings application , recognizable by the icon of a gear. In Windows Settings, click on the item Bluetooth and devices and then on the item Your phone . In a few seconds, the Your Phone application will open. Then click on the Start button and then click on Associate with a QR code : a QR code will appear on the PC screen to scan. Now open the app you just downloaded on your smartphone, tap on Connect your phone and PC and scan the QR code on your PC with the smartphone camera.
Once connected, tap the Allow button from the pop-up that appears on the screen to provide all the required permissions, while clicking the Continue button and then click Start on your PC. Congratulations! Now your smartphone is connected to your Windows PC without a cable and you can carry out any activity directly from the PC, including using the apps you have installed on your smartphone. Convenient, right?
If, on the other hand, you are using a Mac and want to connect your Android smartphone without a cable, the only thing you can do is exchange files wirelessly between your phone and computer. There are many services and apps dedicated to this purpose, but my advice is to use Snapdrop : a web service that allows you to connect two devices to each other without the need for a cable, the important thing is that they use the same Wi- Fi ; it can be very convenient to connect your smartphone to your PC without a cable and quickly transfer any type of file.
All you have to do is connect to the snapdrop.net website through the browser of your Android device and your Mac. Once you open the web page of the service on both devices you will see the name of your Mac appear on your smartphone and the name of your smartphone on your Mac.
If you want to transfer a file from your smartphone to the Mac, all you have to do is press on the name of the Mac and choose the file to send, while if you want to do the exact opposite, just click on the name of your smartphone and choose which file to send. In both cases you will have to tap (on your smartphone) or click (on your PC) on the Save button to accept and save the file sent. It should be emphasized that the transfer takes place via the local network, therefore in a safe and high-speed manner, without going through a cloud server.
iPhone
You have an iPhone and would like to connect it to your PC without using a cable, perhaps because you can’t find it or for simple convenience. Well, you must know that you can connect your iPhone to iTunes without the help of a cable, using the Wi-Fi connection .
If you have a PC with Windows the first thing you need to do is make sure you have iTunes installed ; otherwise you can follow the instructions I gave you in the previous chapter. Now Open iTunes on your PC and connect the iPhone to the PC via the Lighting cable (connection necessary only the first time), tap the Authorize button that appears on the iPhone screen and enter the unlock code . Once the connection is made, from the Summary tab for your iPhone put the check mark next to the item Synchronize with iPhone via Wi-Fi , click on the Apply button and then on the Finish button at the bottom right.
Now, by removing the USB cable, you will notice that the iPhone will still remain connected to the PC and you will be able to use almost any item in the iTunes side menu, including the ability to copy or sync data between your device and PC. Unfortunately, through Wi-Fi synchronization, the functions related to updating the device and its reset are disabled , which are only available via a wired connection.
Even if you have a Mac, the same information I gave you previously on Windows PC still applies. However, if you have a Mac with macOS Catalina or higher operating system , you will no longer need to open iTunes, but just open the Finder and manage the iPhone through the menu of the latter.
Furthermore, if you only need to quickly exchange files, on Mac you can also use the convenient AirDrop function that allows you to quickly transfer files between iPhone and a Mac without the aid of any cables: it will be enough that both devices have the Bluetooth connection and Wi-Fi active .
To activate AirDrop on the Mac, open the Control Center at the top and right and make sure that the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi switches are active; if not, activate them by clicking on both. Subsequently, again from the Control Center, click on the AirDrop switch to activate it and by clicking on the arrow next to it, choose whether to allow the search to All or Only contacts from the small menu that appears.
Now grab your iPhone and open Control Center by swiping down from the top right corner on devices with Face ID, or by swiping from bottom to top on devices with Touch ID. From the Control Center, make a long tap on the box relating to network controls and activate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and tap the AirDrop switch : from the menu that appears on the screen, choose the item Only contacts or All , exactly as done previously on the Mac.
Now all you have to do is choose any file you want to transfer from your iPhone to Mac, tap the share button and tap the AirDrop icon : on the next screen, select the name of your Mac and wait for the file to be transferred . If, on the other hand, you want to transfer a file from Mac to iPhone, the operation is almost identical: right-click on the file to transfer, click on the Share item from the context menu and choose the AirDrop item . Now all you have to do is click on the name of the iPhone to which to send the file and click on the Send button. For more information I recommend you take a look at my tutorial on how AirDrop works .
Finally, I remind you that on Apple devices it is also possible to use iCloud Drive , Apple’s cloud storage service that allows you to synchronize files between iPhone, iPad and Mac (but also Windows PC, by installing the appropriate client or by visiting the web panel) directly in the cloud, which you can access at any time. For more information take a look at my tutorial on the subject .
How to connect smartphone to PC for the Internet
Your home internet connection is not working, but you need to use it on your PC in order to work. On your smartphone you have a SIM with a data plan that really includes a lot of GB for the Internet: this is why you are wondering how to connect smartphone to PC for the Internet , so that you can temporarily use the data network of your smartphone even on your PC.
No problem, below I will show you how to use the hotspot function to be able to create a real Wi-Fi network from your smartphone, both Android and iPhone, to which you can connect from your PC, giving you the possibility to surf again.
Android
You have an Android smartphone and you want to understand how to use the hotspot function to be able to connect your PC (or any other device) to the Internet again. First of all make sure you have activated the data network on your smartphone, so lower the notification curtain by swiping down and check that the relative switch is active: otherwise, just tap the switch called Connection data / mobile data .
Once this is done, open the Settings app , tap on Connections and then on Wi-Fi hotspot and tethering . In some other Android smartphone you will have to tap on the Mobile network item and then on Personal Hotspot .
First of all, I suggest you tap on the Password item to find out which password to use to connect to the network: if the automatically generated one is too complicated, you can also change it and choose an easier one to remember. Finally, set the activation lever of the item Wi-Fi Router / Personal Hotspot to ON . In a few seconds the smartphone will create a Wi-Fi network that you can access from any device, exactly as if it were a Wi-Fi router .
How do you say? Does your PC not have a Wi-Fi connection module? No problem, in this case you can use the USB Tethering function , just connect the smartphone to the PC via the USB cable that you find in the smartphone sales package, the same one you usually use to recharge it. Once this is done, open the Settings app , tap on Connections and then on Wi-Fi hotspot and tethering . In this case you simply have to set the activation lever for the USB tethering item to ON: in a few seconds the PC will be connected to the Internet, as if you were using a normal connection via Ethernet cable. More info here .
iPhone
Do you own an iPhone and would like to use it as a Wi-Fi router for your PC so that you can take advantage of the data plan you have on your SIM? No problem, the procedure to follow is really very simple, guaranteed.
First of all make sure that the data connection is active on your iPhone, so open the Settings app , tap on the Cellular item and make sure that the activation lever for the Cellular data item is set to ON . Now tap on the arrow at the top left to go back and tap on Personal Hotspot . In this screen, tap on the Wi-Fi password item to change the automatically generated one (if you wish) and set the activation lever for the item to ONAllow others to log in . If you have a recent Mac, please note that the hotspot of your iPhone should be visible even if you do not activate the appropriate function from the “iPhone by” menu.
To take advantage of the iPhone data connection on your PC, just choose it from the list of Wi-Fi networks on your PC and enter the required password, exactly as if it were a normal Wi-Fi router. Alternatively, you can pair the iPhone to the PC via Bluetooth or via USB cable : in the latter case, once the iPhone is connected via cable, you will have to tap the Authorize button that appears on the screen and enter the unlock code if it is required. More info here .
How to connect smartphone to PC with broken screen
You have made a real “disaster”, your smartphone has crashed to the ground. Result? Shattered screen and now you have the problem of wanting to try to make a backup of all the data inside it, so you are wondering how to connect smartphone to PC with broken screen .
Unfortunately, in this case, there is no universal method that you could use, as the variants involved are truly manifold. If your smartphone has a broken screen, but still functional on both the visual side and the touch screen side, you can use it “normally” and then connect it to the PC using one of the methods I explained to you in the previous chapters .
If, on the other hand, the touch-screen has stopped working, things become more critical. If you have an Android device with OTG support , you can try using a USB OTG adapter from micro USB / Type-C to USB-A to then connect a mouse with cable or with RF receiver through which you can manage it via a pointer, just like if it were a PC. Find more information in my tutorial on the subject .
If, on the other hand, you have an iPhone, there is nothing you can do but change the display. Remember, though, that if you always back up via iCloud or do it often manually via iTunes / Finder , your data is already saved and you can always restore it to your device later or if you buy a new iPhone.