Usually when you have to copy files to or from your Android smartphone, you search for that USB data cable that has a habit of mysteriously disappearing when you most need it, attach it between your computer and the smartphone, select the options in Android to make the storage available over the data cable and then finally you are able to access on your computer. But why go through all that hassle, when you can quickly access them over the WiFi with a little help from the popular ES File Explorer app. This app has a feature that makes the storage of your Android smartphone available via FTP protocol on any device connected to the same WiFi network.
In order to access files stored on your Android smartphone, you need to first install the ES File Explorer app in it. You can get ES File Explroer from the Google Play store. You should also make sure that your desktop computer and the Android smartphone are connected to the same WiFi network. After this, you can proceed using the following instructions:
- Open the ES File Explorer app, touch the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) to open the menu and choose Remote Manager from under the Network category.
- It will show you the SSID of the WiFi network you are connected to. You can touch the Turn On button to start the WiFi FTP service so that you can access Android files on any PC. As you start the service, it will show you an FTP address that will be used in the next step.
- On your PC, open File Explorer and in the address bar type in the FTP address exactly as shown on your smartphone screen. In my case, the FTP address was ftp://192.168.0.1:3721/, but it can vary from one phone to another depending on the WiFi network.
- You can access the files in the File Explorer over the FTP, perform all types of file operations on the Android file storage and when you are done, you can touch the Turn Off button on the Remote Manager screen in Android.
Conclusion: Accessing files from Android smartphone is very easy through ES File Explorer’s Remote Manager feature. This way you can access the Android file storage without have to use the USB data cable.
You can get the ES File Explorer for Android from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop.