# Smartphone does not show up
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 29, 2021, 10:42am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918 "2021-10-29T10:42:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2021, 10:42am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/1 "2021-10-29T10:42:18Z")
Connecting my Android smartphone to the PC (Win 10 Pro 64bit) via USB, accessing it with Mp3Tag is not possible, as the device does not show up at all in the file manager. Would be grateful for a hint.
Thank you in advance
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2021, 10:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/2 "2021-10-29T10:44:58Z")
> [@vasquez](#):
>
> Would be grateful for a hint.
Here is a hint.
see more to the bottom of the thread where MTP is mentioned:
> [@Browsing MP3 files on my smartphone (Androïd)](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/browsing-mp3-files-on-my-smartphone-android/13674/2):
>
> I have yet to come across this problem. Have you tried dragging the root folder of the music library into the mp3tag window.
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/3 "2021-10-29T12:58:17Z")
I would recommend making changes to the original or backup files that should be stored on your PC first, then copied back to your phone. I would not trust your phone’s storage, or even a uSD card, as a reliable place for the originals.
In this case you don’t have to worry about whether you can access your phone as a mounted drive for any software to access those files.
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### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2021, 7:09pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/4 "2021-10-29T19:09:22Z")
This is exactly what I'm doing. I tag the originals on the PC, then copy them to the SD card of the smartphone. Works fine, but most of the tags of the files on the phone are incomplete, like
artist genre .
That's why I was looking for a way to batch tag the phone files (one by one would not be a problem).
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2021, 8:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/5 "2021-10-29T20:18:26Z")
> [@vasquez](#):
>
> That's why I was looking for a way to batch tag the phone files (one by one would not be a problem).
The way out would be to set the phone to connection mode USB. MTP (or other) is not supported.
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### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2021, 9:43pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/6 "2021-10-29T21:43:56Z")
You should not think I did not observe your first hint ;o)
But I am stuck in my device's 'USB Standard Configuration' with these 5 opotions:
1. Transferring data
2. USB Tethering
3. MIDI
4. Transferring pictures
5. Only load telephone
If I set #2 the phone disappears from the windows file manager as well.
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/7 "2021-10-30T05:43:04Z")
USB Tethering is for using the Smartphone as a modem by an external device connected to the usb-port.
It's probably "Transferring data".
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2021, 7:42am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/8 "2021-10-30T07:42:30Z")
The important bit is that the phone shows up as drive and not as device.
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### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2021, 11:06am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/9 "2021-10-30T11:06:56Z")
Some digging around later it looks like neither USB (MSC) mode instead of MTP is available on newer Android phones, as is mounting the phone as a drive.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2021, 11:29am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/10 "2021-10-30T11:29:46Z")
According to [this article](https://www.computerworld.com/article/3214452/android-file-transfer-how-to-move-data-between-your-phone-and-computer.html)
> Swipe your finger down from the top of the screen, and you should see a notification about the current USB connection. At this point, it'll probably tell you your phone is connected only for charging. **Tap the notification** and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer" in the menu that appears
You should choose the first option "Use USB for"
1.) File Transfer / Android Auto / Transfer files
...
Your Point 4 would be PTP /Transfer Pictures (only), which will treat your phone like a digital camera
Sometimes a reboot of the device (PC, Laptop and Smartphone) and choosing another USB-Port can help too.
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### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/11 "2021-11-01T14:33:14Z")
Thank you, but the "file transfer" option is already my settíng.
The other question is, why do tags get lost/broken during the transfer from PC to phone.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2021, 2:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/12 "2021-11-01T14:39:21Z")
so, does it work to edit the files directly?
Or do you copy them to the PC, edit them, copy them back?
If the latter is your workflow - then MP3tag has done its duty as soon as the files have been saved to the PC.
Now it would be interesting to see how all the other programs that you use to copy the files to the phone interfere.
What kind of files do you edit? MP3? Wav? Flac? MP4?
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### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2021, 11:09pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/13 "2021-11-02T23:09:41Z")
Thank you for your patience.
Editing files directly does not work, as I do not succeed in having the phone appear in the mp3tag file manager.
I have my archive of audio files stocked on the PC (Win10 Pro 64bit), exclusively in WAV format. I tag them, then copy them to the phone within Windows (by copy & paste or dragging them between directories). The files are copied alright, but many (actually most) tags get lost. File is tagged e.g. Genre: Blues, on the phone it's Genre: unknown,
Artist: ABC, on the phone it's Artist: unknown.
Might have to do with the player app on the smartphone?
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/14 "2021-11-02T23:28:36Z")
Could be. What phone/OS/Player are you using? And again it could also be the transfer method. If the phone is not being mounted, typical software won’t be able to properly “see” an actual drive to copy to.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 6:24am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/15 "2021-11-03T06:24:16Z")
> [@vasquez](#):
>
> but many (actually most) tags get lost. File is tagged e.g. Genre: Blues, on the phone it's Genre: unknown,
> Artist: ABC, on the phone it's Artist: unknown.
> Might have to do with the player app on the smartphone?
I bet that you only see something like the title which then is equal to the filename.
This would be a strong indicator that your player does not support to read tags from wav files.
TBH: it does not make sense that some tag fields get removed and others don't. A tag has a defined structure and cutting away only some fields would mean to reconstruct the rest of the tag as otherwise the file would become corrupted. I doubt that a plain transfer would undertake such an effort.
So either your choice of player or your choice of file format has not yet reached the best combination yet, I would say.
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### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 11:43am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/16 "2021-11-03T11:43:33Z")
You are right, all this is weird as one would expect 100% of the tags be flawed or none.
Anyway, I thank you again for your support, and I guess I will be able to live on in spite of this problem. ;o)
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/17 "2021-11-03T12:48:51Z")
What player app are you using? You mentioned WAV files, these often do not have support for tags in stock players.
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### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/18 "2021-11-03T22:18:51Z")
Sorry, had omitted to answer your previous question.
The phone is a Galaxy S20, OS is Android 11, the player is called Musicolet.
You and ohrenkino are probably right. I tested with some flac files, and they seem to keep the correct tags.
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/19 "2021-11-04T00:40:01Z")
Try GoneMad or Poweramp players. They don’t use the standard Android music library database. And they should read tags in wav.
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### Author:  [@vasquez](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vasquez)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 10:04am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918/20 "2021-11-04T10:04:31Z")
Tried both. Unfortunately it seems none of the two does.
[Next page](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/smartphone-does-not-show-up/54918.md?page=2)