What is USB OTG and Why Do You Use It?
USB OTG also known as “USB On-to-Go”. USB OTG cable lets you connect your phone with other devices and directly transfer your data between the phone and these devices. The devices can be other smartphones, tablets, cameras, or printers and you don’t require a PC for that.
Almost all smartphones and tablets come with a USB OTG function these days. This cable also allows you to connect your mobile with a USB storage device and transfer or share data between them. It has a connector on one side to connect with the phone and a USB-A connector on the other side to attach a USB or any other device. You may receive this OTG cable in your phone box when you buy a new one from the market. If not, you can also purchase it separately from the shops.
What you can do with a USB OTG cable?
USB OTG cable enables you to perform the following tasks:
- You can attach a mouse and keyboard to your phone.
- Cable lets you connect a USB flash drive or external hard drive and transfer data.
- You can also plug in other phones or tablets with your smartphone.
- It allows you to transfer photos directly from the camera to your android device.
- Take a print of any document which is on your mobile by connecting it with the printer.
- Play video games more perfectly and professionally by attaching game controllers with the phone.
Does my phone have OTG function?
The easiest way to check out whether your android device has OTG function or not is by looking at its box in which it came. You can also visit the manufacturer’s website to check out all specifications and features your device has.
There is also another method to check USB OTG support in your smartphone, which is by using the USB OTG checker app. You can find a number of apps on Play Store If you search on it, but “USB OTG Checker” is a suitable app to use.
Well, not every Android device comes with such function support. When you install and run this app, you will come to know Does your phone have OTG function? If not, this is unfortunate for you.
How to connect USB with your Phone?
To charge or file transfer purposes, you can attach your phone and computer by using micro USB ports. But what will you do If the required files are on your USB flash drive and you need to send them to someone?
You can attach a USB device with your smartphone by using an adapter cable. A USB OTG cable with a male micro USB connector on one end and a female full-size USB port on the other end can do the job for you. Follow the below steps:
- Connect USB flash drive or card reader (having SD card) with the full-size female USB port.
- Now, connect another end of the OTG cable with your mobile.
- After that, the file manager message appears automatically. If not, then swipe down from the top of the screen to see the USB notification message.
- Tap on the notification to open it. Now, you are ready to transfer the files between your phone and USB device. To transfer data from mobile to USB, follow the below steps.
- Enter into the internal phone storage to see the files present in your phone.
- Find the file or files from the storage you need to transfer.
- Hold on to it for a few seconds for the options to appear, then copy the file.
- Head over to the USB storage and select done.
That’s all, you have successfully transferred the data from your android device to a flash drive. You can do the opposite to share the files from USB to your phone.