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Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5

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  Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Brian Howlett <news-spamtrap@brianhowlett.me.uk> - 2026-05-10 22:40 +0100
    Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Joerg Walther <joerg.walther@magenta.de> - 2026-05-11 11:37 +0200
    Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Daniel James <daniel@me.invalid> - 2026-05-11 11:14 +0100
      Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-11 23:09 +0000
        Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Daniel James <daniel@me.invalid> - 2026-05-12 09:43 +0100
          Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-05-12 14:06 +0100
    Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-05-11 12:32 +0100
    Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-05-11 14:00 +0100
    Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2026-05-11 11:56 -0300
      Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Jim Jackson <jj@franjam.org.uk> - 2026-05-12 08:59 +0000
    Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Robert Riches <spamtrap42@jacob21819.net> - 2026-05-11 16:51 +0000
      Re: Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5 Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-11 23:07 +0000

#37956 — Accessing files from Android phone on Pi5

Hi.

I recently had cause to try getting some photos off my phone on to my Pi5. 
I was able to see the root folder on the phone when allowing PTP transport 
on the phone, but was unable to navigate to any of the sub-folders.

Presumably this is a permissions issue, but as the subject is somewhat 
arcane to me, can anyone advise how I can get in to the DCIM folder on the 
phone?

This was the same whether the phone was plugged in via USB cable, or 
connected by Bluetooth.

Any advice gratefully received.
-- 
Brian Howlett
----------------------------------------------
All electronic components run on smoke.
If you let the smoke out, they stop working...

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#37959

Brian Howlett wrote:

>Any advice gratefully received.

I have an ftp server app on my phone, never had any rights issues. There
are free ones.

-jw-
-- 
And now for something completely different...

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#37960

On 10/05/2026 22:40, Brian Howlett wrote:
> I recently had cause to try getting some photos off my phone on to my Pi5.
> I was able to see the root folder on the phone when allowing PTP transport
> on the phone, but was unable to navigate to any of the sub-folders.

On my Android devices (Sony phone and Samsung tablet, both Android 16) 
the I select "File transfer" rather than "PTP", and I can navigate 
anywhere. ISTRT the required setting on an earlier device was "MTP".

PTP is a rather more specialized (i.e. limited) protocol and seems to be 
designed to enable the PC to use the phone as a digital camera -- you'd 
have to be running something on the PC that understood cameras rather 
than a general-purpose file manager.

-- 
Cheers,
  Daniel.

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#37973

On Mon, 11 May 2026 11:14:42 +0100, Daniel James wrote:

> On my Android devices (Sony phone and Samsung tablet, both Android
> 16) the I select "File transfer" rather than "PTP", and I can
> navigate anywhere. ISTRT the required setting on an earlier device
> was "MTP".
>
> PTP is a rather more specialized (i.e. limited) protocol and seems
> to be designed to enable the PC to use the phone as a digital camera
> -- you'd have to be running something on the PC that understood
> cameras rather than a general-purpose file manager.

I thought PTP was the earlier protocol, while MTP was the later
generalization:

PTP -- transfer only pictures
MTP -- “M” for media -- transfer other stuff, not just pictures

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#37975

On 12/05/2026 00:09, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
>> PTP is a rather more specialized (i.e. limited) protocol and seems 
>> to be designed to enable the PC to use the phone as a digital
>> camera -- you'd have to be running something on the PC that
>> understood cameras rather than a general-purpose file manager.
> 
> I thought PTP was the earlier protocol, while MTP was the later 
> generalization:

Yes, indeed.

I don't think that contradicts what I wrote. PTP was the earlier 
protocol, specifically for cameras, which was later generalized to 
support full file transfer as a replacement for USB mass-storage.

Sorry for any confusion.

-- 
Cheers,
  Daniel.

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#37980

On 12/05/2026 09:43, Daniel James wrote:
> On 12/05/2026 00:09, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
>>> PTP is a rather more specialized (i.e. limited) protocol and seems to 
>>> be designed to enable the PC to use the phone as a digital
>>> camera -- you'd have to be running something on the PC that
>>> understood cameras rather than a general-purpose file manager.
>>
>> I thought PTP was the earlier protocol, while MTP was the later 
>> generalization:
> 
> Yes, indeed.
> 
> I don't think that contradicts what I wrote. PTP was the earlier 
> protocol, specifically for cameras, which was later generalized to 
> support full file transfer as a replacement for USB mass-storage.
> 
I didnt know that,
> Sorry for any confusion.
> 
NP


-- 
There is nothing a fleet of dispatchable nuclear power plants cannot do 
that cannot be done worse and more expensively and with higher carbon 
emissions and more adverse environmental impact by adding intermittent 
renewable energy.

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#37962

Brian Howlett <news-spamtrap@brianhowlett.me.uk> wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> I recently had cause to try getting some photos off my phone on to my Pi5. 
> I was able to see the root folder on the phone when allowing PTP transport 
> on the phone, but was unable to navigate to any of the sub-folders.
> 
> Presumably this is a permissions issue, but as the subject is somewhat 
> arcane to me, can anyone advise how I can get in to the DCIM folder on the 
> phone?
> 
> This was the same whether the phone was plugged in via USB cable, or 
> connected by Bluetooth.
> 
> Any advice gratefully received.

I normally use https://localsend.org/ as a simple way to move files to and
from mobile devices.  It's an app you install at both ends (there's a
Linux-arm64 release that should work on Pis), then you just select the files
you want via the GUI at the sending end, approve the transfer at the
receiving end, and they are transferred.  It doesn't need any special
networking setup, it figures that out itself.

As it uses the phone's existing wifi connection it's typically faster than
using Bluetooth or USB 2 on the phone.

Theo

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#37964

On 10/05/2026 22:40, Brian Howlett wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> I recently had cause to try getting some photos off my phone on to my Pi5.
> I was able to see the root folder on the phone when allowing PTP transport
> on the phone, but was unable to navigate to any of the sub-folders.
> 
> Presumably this is a permissions issue, but as the subject is somewhat
> arcane to me, can anyone advise how I can get in to the DCIM folder on the
> phone?
> 
> This was the same whether the phone was plugged in via USB cable, or
> connected by Bluetooth.
> 
> Any advice gratefully received.

I use mtp to talk to my phone. No issues

-- 
“Ideas are inherently conservative. They yield not to the attack of 
other ideas but to the massive onslaught of circumstance"

    -  John K Galbraith

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#37966

On 2026-05-10 at 18:40 ADT, Brian Howlett <news-spamtrap@brianhowlett.me.uk> wrote:
> Hi.

> I recently had cause to try getting some photos off my phone on to my Pi5. 
> I was able to see the root folder on the phone when allowing PTP transport 
> on the phone, but was unable to navigate to any of the sub-folders.

> Presumably this is a permissions issue, but as the subject is somewhat 
> arcane to me, can anyone advise how I can get in to the DCIM folder on the 
> phone?

> This was the same whether the phone was plugged in via USB cable, or 
> connected by Bluetooth.

> Any advice gratefully received.

I have termux on my phone, which lets you use ssh to log in to the phone
from your laptop, and also lets you use scp to transfer files back and
forth.

termux' sshd is not run by default, but you can either run it from the
termux window or you could put a call to it in the shell's init file.

I find it much nicer to ssh in and cd around than to hunt using a gui file
manager, but YMMV.

                                Jim

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#37976

On 2026-05-11, Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> wrote:
> On 2026-05-10 at 18:40 ADT, Brian Howlett <news-spamtrap@brianhowlett.me.uk> wrote:
>> Hi.
>
>> I recently had cause to try getting some photos off my phone on to my Pi5. 
>> I was able to see the root folder on the phone when allowing PTP transport 
>> on the phone, but was unable to navigate to any of the sub-folders.
>
>> Presumably this is a permissions issue, but as the subject is somewhat 
>> arcane to me, can anyone advise how I can get in to the DCIM folder on the 
>> phone?
>
>> This was the same whether the phone was plugged in via USB cable, or 
>> connected by Bluetooth.
>
>> Any advice gratefully received.
>
> I have termux on my phone, which lets you use ssh to log in to the phone
> from your laptop, and also lets you use scp to transfer files back and
> forth.
>
> termux' sshd is not run by default, but you can either run it from the
> termux window or you could put a call to it in the shell's init file.
>
> I find it much nicer to ssh in and cd around than to hunt using a gui file
> manager, but YMMV.

Indeed. Even nicer is using sshfs to mount the phones files into your 
own work space on a the pi or, e.g. on my linux desktop.

   https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/linux-unix/how-to-use-sshfs-on-linux/

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#37969

On 2026-05-10, Brian Howlett <news-spamtrap@brianhowlett.me.uk> wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I recently had cause to try getting some photos off my phone on to my Pi5. 
> I was able to see the root folder on the phone when allowing PTP transport 
> on the phone, but was unable to navigate to any of the sub-folders.
>
> Presumably this is a permissions issue, but as the subject is somewhat 
> arcane to me, can anyone advise how I can get in to the DCIM folder on the 
> phone?
>
> This was the same whether the phone was plugged in via USB cable, or 
> connected by Bluetooth.
>
> Any advice gratefully received.

If none of the other options suggested so far by others work, if
your phone runs Android you might be able to use the Android
Debug Bridge (adb).  It takes a bunch of key presses to enable
USB debug access on the phone--and disable it when finished--but
it does provide non-root access to the phone's file tree.

-- 
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@jacob21819.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

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#37972

On 11 May 2026 16:51:59 GMT, Robert Riches wrote:

> If none of the other options suggested so far by others work, if
> your phone runs Android you might be able to use the Android Debug
> Bridge (adb).

Yeah, I’m just using adb. I have decided not to configure a Google
account into my less-than-a-year-old 4G phone.

You can use it to move files in both directions (e.g. upload books to
read while waiting at the dentist’s office etc). (Tip: use “adb pull
-a” to preserve timestamps when retrieving files.) You can even save
.apk files from the Android device back to your host machine. The
directory where they’re kept has execute-only access for some reason,
but there is a separate adb function for listing what they are anyway.

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