Samsung, Google, and USB troubleshooting

I have an Android Samsung phone. Together this is usually a very reliable piece of kit - although I would love to delete some of the crazy Apps the Samsung marketing people think the consumer needs/wants - but Google and Samsung usually works well.

However, there is a growing problem with these two big kids not playing nicely with USB C. Sometimes everything works seamlessly, and other times... not so seamless. More screamy, in fact. I don't know which corporate giant is at fault here, but many times I plug in my USB cable... and NOTHING happens.

Why am I using USB with my phone? I use USB to transfer my ebooks and talking book files onto my phone. I don't use cloud storage because I (a) like to use the listening and reading apps I have personally selected, and that work for me, and (b) I draw my files from a range of libraries which all use different apps, and (c) I read/listen on my PC as well as on my phone, and sometimes my laptop, so need cross-device accessibility.

Many people have a tile "USB" or "USB Options" in their Samsung Quick Access settings Menu. I have a blank space. There is no reference to USB anywhere in my phone's settings. Sigh.

Two things. Firstly, use another cable. USB cables seem to take offence to my phone with regular monotony. Just changing one cable for another can make it play more nicely.

If that doesn't work, however, I have found a second solution, thanks to the Blinks and Buttons site (Ellison, 2024). What I need to do is to enable Samsung's USB "debugging mode". How we do that is:

1. Tap on the 'Settings' icon on our Samsung phone
2. "Scroll down and tap on 'About phone'" (likely right at the bottom)
3. Tap on Software, then "Look for the 'Build number' and tap on it seven times to enable developer options"
4. "Once developer options are enabled, go back to the main settings page and tap on 'Developer options'" (also likely right at the bottom)
5. "Toggle on the 'USB debugging' option"
6. "A pop-up message will appear, asking for [our] confirmation. Press 'OK'" Ellison, 2024), and now our USB connection should work.

With USB debugging mode turned on, I am able to plug in my USB cable to my PC and transfer files.

However, Ellison warns that we should "Disable USB debugging mode after [we] have finished using it to ensure the security" of our phone (2024). Good point. Presumably toggling off Developer Mode - which makes the whole set of options vanish - does the same thing. Then we simply repeat Ellison's process (2024) above the next time we need to use our USB cable.

Sam

References:

Ellison, J. (2024, September 3). Enabling USB Debugging Mode To Activate USB Ports On Samsung Devices. Blinks and Buttons. https://blinksandbuttons.net/how-do-i-enable-usb-ports-on-my-samsung/