debian does not read smartphones via USB
 

Hi to all, my linux Debian doesn't read android smartphone via USB. I tried reading many posts but couldn't find a solution.

When I connect the smartphone on the smartphone it appears to activate file transfer and I click OK, but the partition is not shown. Could anyone help me?

Possibly, but you tell us nothing about what version of Debian, what kind of smart phone, version of Android, or anything you've already tried...not even what you're seeing when you say it 'appears to activate file transfer'. What are you clicking, where???

I use Debian, and I haven't always had good luck trying to "mount" an Android smartphone.

Instead, I use gMTP, which doesn't mount the smartphone as a file system, but it does let me browse around in the phone's file system and copy over files (in either direction). It's a bit clumsy but at least it works.

As an alternative, you might want to take a look at Airdroid. I've found it quite reliable.

It's in the Play Store and you don't need an Airdroid account to use it locally.

How are you trying to mount it? Most file managers will mount it when you click on it, assuming you've set the phone to file transfer/mtp mode, which doesn't happen automatically.

There's also kdeconnect which is in f-droid and probably in playstore too, not only for file transfers, but also for getting your notifications and replying to sms, etc. Install it on device and on your OS. (It doesn't require Plasma).

I do not believe that any operating system reads smartphones. Some include applications of utilities that might, and Debian has several in the repos.
I see several excellent suggestions already, and I can say that I have used KDEConnect and AirDroid with some success.

My smartphone is Xiaomi Redmi note 12 pro 5g. Debian version: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm).

When I connect the smartphone to the PC with the USB cable, a window appears on the smartphone screen asking me to select between "no data transfer", "file transfer/android auto" and "transfer photos". I select "file transfer" but nothing appears on the PC.

I tried installing the ADB drivers but it didn't help

What do you think should 'appear'??? All that is most likely doing is mounting your phone...have you looked in your file manager to see if your phone is there???

I would expect you would see it if mounted under either /media/username or /run/media/username. I don't use Debian so don't know. You could check each of those directories before plugging in the phone and then after to see if anything new is there.

Or just drop to a terminal and use the "mount" command to see what is mounted. Anything new will be one of the last entries.

You don't need gMTP for nothing or others apps, connect the phone and select transfer or mtp protocol and go to your file manager (thunar, spacefm, etc) and it's listed there.
If not, go to your file manager settings and activate Enable Volume Management and try again

You probably solved it months ago, but ... did you have the gvfs-backends package installed?

On bullseye this package was not installed by default but it's needed for gnome-based desktops / file managers to "see" the phone.
[see https://wiki.debian.org/mtp for more info]

I've been able to do the exact operation by doing as detailed in the code blocks below.

on your device swipe down from the top of your screen twice.

Touch the gear icon and then go to the connected devices sub-menu and select connected devices and you should see an option in that sub-menu named tethering and android auto. In that sub menu you select connect my phone for file transfer only

You've made several posts like this that only tangentially relate to the subject, and seem to come from chatGPT ("detailed in the code blocks below"???) What code blocks???