The next file of a folder opens
MacDroid610 ms
Comparison
PortLine vs MacDroid
Same Mac, same phone, same files.
Faster in every test.
Same Mac, same phone, same files. Pick a test to replay it.
USB debugging
200 photosPhone → Mac
1×
PortLineAdvanced USBDone
4.7s200/200
MacDroidADB modeDone
54.5s200/200
11.5×faster
4.7 s vs 54.5 s
| PortLine | MacDroid | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USB debugging | 200 photos, Mac → phone | 12.8 s | 15.5 s | 1.2× faster |
| USB debugging | 200 photos, Phone → Mac | 4.7 s | 54.5 s | 11.5× faster |
| USB debugging | 10 videos, Mac → phone | 1:04.8 | 1:07.5 | 1.04× faster |
| USB debugging | 10 videos, Phone → Mac | 1:01.7 | 1:05.8 | 1.07× faster |
| File transfer | 200 photos, Mac → phone | 17.3 s | 19.4 s | 1.1× faster |
| File transfer | 200 photos, Phone → Mac | 13.3 s | 39.4 s | 3.0× faster |
| File transfer | 10 videos, Mac → phone | 1:08.3 | 1:59.4 | 1.7× faster |
| File transfer | 10 videos, Phone → Mac | 1:06.8 | 1:54.2 | 1.7× faster |
| Wi-Fi | 200 photos, Mac → phone | 13.0 s | 21.8 s | 1.7× faster |
| Wi-Fi | 200 photos, Phone → Mac | 19.6 s | 2:05.1 | 6.4× faster |
| Wi-Fi | 10 videos, Mac → phone | 1:34.8 | 2:25.9 | 1.5× faster |
| Wi-Fi | 10 videos, Phone → Mac | 17:52.1 | 20:38.1 | 1.2× faster |
Nothing Phone (3a) · MacBook Pro (M1 Pro) · MacDroid 2.10 · October 2026
Watch the whole test.
3 minutes · no sound
More tests
Medians of three rounds over USB, 22 October 2026.
| PortLine | MacDroid | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Open the next file in a folder | 1 ms | 610 ms | 610× faster |
| Copy a 200 MB folder off the phone | 5.7 s | 41.2 s | 7.2× faster |
| Open a file alone in its folder | 133 ms | 864 ms | 6.5× faster |
| Read 200 small files | 6.7 s | 24 s | 3.6× faster |
| A new file on the phone shows in Finder | 1.5 s | > 60 s | > 40× faster |
| Everyday tasks completed | 52/52 | 28/52 | +24 |
Open 20 photos the phone made, one after another
PortLine
0.00 s
MacDroid
0.00 s
Real time. 1 ms vs 610 ms for each next photo.
Copy a 200 MB folder from the phone to the Mac
PortLine
0.0 s
MacDroid
0.0 s
Shown at 4× speed. 5.7 s vs 41.2 s.
A new photo on the phone
PortLine1.48 s
Waiting…✓ ShownNot shown after 60 s
MacDroid> 60 s
Waiting…✓ ShownNot shown after 60 s
Saved on the phone, in a folder open in Finder. Clock runs 12× after 3 s.
Nothing Phone (3a) · Android 16 · USB
52 everyday tasks
Copies, renames, moves and deletes, checked on the phone.
PortLine52/52
- 52 done
MacDroid28/52
- 28 done
- 13 failed
- 11 blocked by an earlier failure
Why people switch
A 200 MB folder copied off the phone
MacDroid41.2 s
A file made on the phone shows in Finder
MacDroid> 60 s
Names with : ? * | \ " < > copy
MacDroid0/8
Case-only renames and moves into folders
MacDroid0/2
A new 2,000-file folder appears
MacDroidNever appeared
Reading, opening, copying
Medians of three rounds. Lower is better.
PortLineMacDroidlower is better
| Test | PortLine | MacDroid |
|---|---|---|
| Read 200 small files (16 KB) back from the phone | 6.65 s | 24 s |
| Copy a folder of 50 × 4 MiB files from the phone (ditto) | 5.68 s | 41.17 s |
| Read 50 × 4 MiB files, four at a time | 5.4 s | 7.44 s |
| Open the next file of a folder | 1 ms | 609.5 ms |
| Open one file of a 200-file folder | 159 ms | 599 ms |
| Open a file alone in its folder | 133 ms | 864 ms |
| Copy 200 small files (16 KB) to the phone | 9.16 s | 9.39 s |
| Copy 50 × 4 MiB files to the phone | 6.59 s | 6.62 s |
Nothing Phone (3a) · Android 16 · USB
Why opens are faster
macOS hands a freshly downloaded file to the app that asked for it only after its file provider database flushes, on a timer about half a second away, unless a new download request forces the flush. MacDroid waits for that timer on every open. PortLine asks for the next files of a folder as one request, which forces the flush at once and has the next file ready before you click it.
Large files and large folders
| PortLine | MacDroid | |
|---|---|---|
| Copy a 1 GiB file to the phone | 28.9 s · 37.2 MB/s | 35.4 s · 30.4 MB/s |
| Read a 1 GiB file back | 28.2 s · 38.1 MB/s | 29.5 s · 36.4 MB/s |
| List a new folder of 2,000 files | 3.44 s | folder never appeared |
17 October 2026.
Nothing Phone (3a) · Android 16 · USB
How soon a change on the phone reaches Finder
| Folder | PortLine | MacDroid (measured) |
|---|---|---|
| Open in Finder, or shown in the last 2 minutes | At once when opened; every 2 s for a minute after a change; then every 5 s | 18–40 s under heavy load; not within 60 s under light load, even after a file check |
| Closed in Finder, or listed by another app, in the last 10 minutes | Every 30 s | Not re-read |
| Anything else | When Finder opens it | When opened, or after a file check |
55 everyday edge cases
Each step was done in the app's Finder location, then checked on the phone itself over a separate connection. Nothing Phone, Android 16, 17 October 2026, against MacDroid 2.10.
36PortLine ahead or alone
11within ±10 %
2MacDroid ahead
16MacDroid could not complete
PortLine is faster or the only one that completes in 36 of 55; MacDroid is ahead in 2, by about a tenth of a second; 11 are within ±10 %. MacDroid could not complete 16 of them.
| Test | PortLine | MacDroid | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| create folder | 0.42 s | 0.34 s | tie |
| copy 64 KB file | 0.23 s | 0.96 s | PortLine |
| overwrite existing file | 0.67 s | 0.59 s | tie |
| append to file | 0.63 s | 0.63 s | tie |
| zero-byte file | 0.14 s | 0.41 s | PortLine |
| copy nested folder (30 files, 9 folders) | 1.52 s | 4.28 s | PortLine |
| name: emoji | 0.73 s | 0.71 s | tie |
| name: accents (NFD from macOS) | 0.16 s | 0.77 s (written decomposed, NFD) | PortLine |
| name: japanese | 0.69 s | 0.75 s | tie |
| name: spaces | 0.83 s | 0.84 s | tie |
| name: leading dot | 0.83 s | 0.83 s | tie |
| name: long (240 bytes) | 0.87 s | 0.72 s | MacDroid |
| name: colon | 0.87 s (look-alike name) | fails | PortLine |
| name: question mark | 0.7 s (look-alike name) | fails | PortLine |
| name: asterisk | 0.84 s (look-alike name) | fails | PortLine |
| name: pipe | 0.13 s (look-alike name) | fails | PortLine |
| name: backslash | 0.78 s (look-alike name) | fails | PortLine |
| name: double quote | 0.82 s (look-alike name) | fails | PortLine |
| name: angle brackets | 0.76 s (look-alike name) | fails | PortLine |
| name: trailing space | 0.82 s | 0.71 s | MacDroid |
| name: trailing dot | 0.79 s | 0.76 s | tie |
| Finder metadata files (.DS_Store, ._*) | stays on the Mac | stays on the Mac | |
| rename file | 0.53 s | 0.8 s | PortLine |
| case-only rename | 0.58 s | fails | PortLine |
| rename folder with 5 files | 0.36 s | 0.66 s | PortLine |
| move file into folder | 0.47 s | fails | PortLine |
| move folder into folder | 0.52 s | 0.9 s | PortLine |
| move file to Trash | 0.29 s | 2.06 s | PortLine |
| move folder to Trash | 0.37 s | 2.84 s | PortLine |
| delete file (rm) | 1.85 s | 2.15 s | PortLine |
| delete folder tree (rm -r, 10 files) | 2.82 s | 2.73 s | tie |
| paste a file (APFS clone, as Finder does) | 0.43 s | 0.51 s | tie |
| paste a folder (30 files, clone) | 1.95 s | 3.49 s | PortLine |
| Duplicate a phone file | 0.4 s | 0.62 s | PortLine |
| rename to a name with : and ? | 0.31 s | fails | PortLine |
| copy a tagged file with extended attributes | 0.47 s | 0.84 s | PortLine |
| copy a phone file to the Mac (not downloaded yet) | 0.19 s | fails (never appeared) | PortLine |
| p2-open: phone makes folder | 3.35 s | fails | PortLine |
| p2-open: phone creates file | 1.48 s | — | PortLine |
| p2-open: read file made on phone | ok | — | |
| p2-open: phone changes file | 6.23 s | — | PortLine |
| p2-open: read changed file | ok | — | |
| p2-open: phone renames file | 6.64 s | — | PortLine |
| p2-open: phone deletes file | 3.11 s | — | PortLine |
| p2-open: phone makes subfolder | 3.03 s | — | PortLine |
| p2-open: change in a closed folder shows when Finder opens it | 7.97 s | — | PortLine |
| read 50 x 4096 KiB made on the phone (4 at a time) | 8.97 s, 23.4 MB/s | — | PortLine |
| read 200 x 16 KiB made on the phone (4 at a time) | 10.4 s, 0.3 MB/s | — | PortLine |
| list a new 2,000-file folder | 3.44 s | fails (folder never appeared) | PortLine |
| list it again | 0.002 s | — | PortLine |
| copy 1 GiB file | 28.9 s, 37.2 MB/s | 35.4 s, 30.4 MB/s | PortLine |
| read 1 GiB file back from the phone | 28.2 s, 38.1 MB/s | 29.5 s, 36.4 MB/s | tie |
| p2-open: folder visible after MacDroid file check | — | fails | |
| read 50 files made on the phone | — | fails (folder never appeared) | |
| read 200 files made on the phone | — | fails (folder never appeared) |
What MacDroid could not do
- Names with : ? * | \ " < or > fail; PortLine writes look-alike characters the phone accepts.
- A case-only rename (photo.jpg → Photo.jpg) fails.
- Moving a file into a folder fails.
- A file created on the phone never appeared in its Finder location, even after a file check, so nothing made on the phone could be read.
- A new folder of 2,000 files never appeared.
Where MacDroid is level or ahead
- Over the USB debugging cable, ten large videos copy at the phone's USB 2.0 limit in both apps, so PortLine's lead there is 4 to 7 percent.
- Copying 50 files of 4 MiB to the phone takes about the same time in both apps.
- Two small-name tests, a 240-byte name and a trailing space, ran about 0.1 s faster in MacDroid, within the noise.
- Single small writes are a close race: PortLine spends about 50 ms more on its crash-safe rename, so a half-written file never shows under your name.
- MacDroid keeps its own cache on the Mac. Files it uploaded itself read back quickly from that cache; the numbers here use files the phone made, which neither app had seen.
How we measured
- The twelve races were recorded on 24 and 25 October 2026. Each app copied the same 200 photos (100 MB) and ten videos (2.45 GB) through its own Finder location, one app at a time, over USB debugging (PortLine's Advanced USB, MacDroid's ADB mode), File transfer (Standard USB, MTP mode) and Wi-Fi.
- An upload is over when macOS's File Provider log records the last file as created on the phone with its full size; a download is over when the last byte is on the Mac. Every file was checked on the phone or on disk, and the clocks in the recordings run on the same events.
- For the Wi-Fi upload of ten videos, the two apps were recorded alternately twice, and each app's better take is shown, a rule fixed before the first take. PortLine was faster in both pairs.
- Every test went through the app's own Finder location under ~/Library/CloudStorage, with the calls Finder makes: copyfile, rename, open and read.
- Before each read, the local copies were removed and the harness waited until macOS's file provider had been idle for three seconds, so files really came from the phone.
- Sets alternated ABBA: PortLine, MacDroid, MacDroid, PortLine, three rounds each, on a quiet Mac. Sets that ran under load from other work are listed and left out.
- Every byte read back was compared with its source (SHA-256). All 80 timed runs of both apps finished.
- The alternating rounds ran over USB debugging, in MacDroid's ADB mode, which is its fastest. The recorded races cover all three connections.
The harness, the raw results and the recordings behind every figure are kept with the project.
Coming from Android File Transfer or OpenMTP?
Google no longer offers Android File Transfer for Mac. PortLine's Standard USB mode is the same File transfer (MTP) connection those tools used, inside Finder instead of a separate window, and its Advanced USB and Secure Wi-Fi modes go further than MTP can.