How to uninstall Android File Transfer on Mac

Android File Transfer is Google's app for copying files between an Android phone and a Mac over USB. The files you copied sit in the folders you chose on the Mac or on the phone, and removing the app touches neither. Before you start, unplug the phone, and finish or cancel any copy that is still running. This guide covers Google's official disk image, an Intel build that runs under Rosetta on Apple silicon, and the Homebrew cask android-file-transfer, which downloads that same disk image from Google. Google's old Android File Transfer page now redirects to Quick Share.

Quit and remove the app

The app starts a second process, Android File Transfer Agent, and registers it as a login item. The agent does not live inside the app: it runs from ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer. So turn the login item off before you delete anything.

  1. Press Command + Q inside Android File Transfer.
  2. Open System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions. If an Android File Transfer entry is listed under Allow in the Background or Open at Login, switch it off. Mole can show this entry but cannot toggle it, so System Settings is the place to do it.
  3. Open Activity Monitor and quit Android File Transfer Agent if it is still running.
  4. Open Finder, go to Applications, and drag Android File Transfer to the Trash.

Where the data lives

Press Shift + Command + G in Finder to open each path. Skip any path that is not present on your Mac.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer The agent app and its support files Remove this folder. Mole lists it for review and does not select it. Never remove the parent ~/Library/Application Support/Google, which other Google apps such as Chrome use.
~/Library/Logs/MTPViewer Logs from the app and the agent, written under Google's codename for the product Remove. Listed for review, not selected.
~/Library/Preferences/com.google.android.mtpviewer.plist Preferences Remove. Selected by default.
~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDocuments/com.google.android.mtpviewer.sfl* The app's recent-documents list Remove if present. Named in the Homebrew cask, and Mole selects it when it exists.

A temporary cache for com.google.android.mtpviewer also sits in your per-user cache folder (getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR prints it), and Mole removes it with the app.

Check the result

pgrep -il "Android File Transfer"
ls -d "/Applications/Android File Transfer.app" 2>/dev/null
ls -ld "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer" "$HOME/Library/Logs/MTPViewer" "$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.google.android.mtpviewer.plist"
  • No output from pgrep means neither the app nor the agent is running. A printed line is a process whose name contains the app's name, most likely the agent.
  • No output from the second command means the app is gone from Applications.
  • A path printed by the last ls still exists. No such file or directory means the path is gone.
  • Check System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions once more. An entry whose app no longer exists can be removed there.

If you installed it with Homebrew

brew uninstall --cask android-file-transfer

The cask has no uninstall step, so the ordinary command only removes the app and leaves the agent folder and the login item behind. Its zap list names ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer, ~/Library/Preferences/com.google.android.mtpviewer.plist and the recent-documents list, and removes ~/Library/Application Support/Google only if it is empty. It does not name ~/Library/Logs/MTPViewer. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap android-file-transfer removes that zap list and does not read Mole's checkboxes. Mole adds --zap only when every zap path is inside ~/Library and none of them touches a row you left unchecked, a shared path or one it cannot verify; the agent folder is unchecked by default, so Mole leaves --zap off unless you tick it. Leftovers you selected still use Mole's own removal. The cask's version is a build number (5071136) that does not match the app's own 1.0.12, so version comparisons between the two are not meaningful.

What Mole lists

Mole selects the app, the preferences file and the temporary cache. It lists ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer and ~/Library/Logs/MTPViewer for review without selecting them. The agent shows up in Status as its own row, separate from the app, because its bundle sits outside the app. Mole removes a login item whose app no longer exists after an uninstall, but it cannot switch an entry on or off in System Settings. Mole lists nothing in ~/.android, the folder adb and Android Studio use, when it removes Android File Transfer.

These defaults assume “Remove data and settings with apps” in General › Cleaning is off. With it on, Mole also ticks the agent folder and ~/Library/Logs/MTPViewer.

What this test covered

On October 18, 2026, Android File Transfer 1.0.12 (Intel) from Google's official disk image, the same file the Homebrew cask downloads, was installed, launched and then uninstalled with Mole. The app has no account to sign in to. Before the removal Mole listed three rows next to the app and moved them all to the Trash, but ~/Library/Logs/MTPViewer stayed because that first pass did not list it. It was added to Mole, the app was put back, and a second removal the same day listed the log folder and moved it to the Trash with the other rows. Status showed one row for the app and another for the agent, because the agent's bundle sits outside the app. Before the uninstall Mole's startup items showed the agent's login item, which only System Settings can switch; after the uninstall Mole had removed that login item and no launch agent was left. Mole's update page showed no update channel: the app has no update feed, and the cask's build number cannot be compared with the app's own version. A Homebrew install was not tested.