USB OTG
Also known as: USB On-The-Go, OTG cable, USB flash drive Android
USB OTG (On-The-Go) lets an Android phone act as a USB host, so it can read a flash drive, card reader, keyboard, or mouse plugged into its USB-C port. For storage, it is a quick way to offload photos and videos to an external drive without a computer.
- Lets a phone host USB drives and accessories
- Drive mounts as external storage in your file manager
- Needs an exFAT- or FAT32-formatted drive to read
Using OTG for storage
Plug a USB flash drive into the phone (directly into USB-C, or through an OTG adapter on older Micro-USB devices). The drive mounts as external storage and appears in your file manager, such as Files by Google or, on Samsung, My Files > USB storage.
From there you can move large photos, videos, and downloads off internal storage onto the drive, then safely eject it. This frees device space without uploading anything to the cloud.
Requirements and limits
Most current Android phones support OTG, but it can be disabled by default — on Samsung, check Settings > Battery and device care related USB settings if a drive does not appear. The drive must be formatted in a supported file system such as exFAT or FAT32 to be readable.
OTG is for transfer and archiving, not running apps. Some phones cut power to the port to save battery, so eject the drive properly to avoid corrupting files.