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I just ran out of battery on my Samsung smartphone and wanted to charge it by connecting my MacBookPro to the USB-C smartphone. As a result my MacBook got charged and the smartphone worked as a battery pack and the phone finally died.

how can I decide what device should be charged? Is there an option to do so?

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You should be able to select the direction from the USB menu on the phone, accessible from a persistent notification when the cable is plugged in. Just expand your notification menu and tap the USB one to bring up the menu.

Alternatively, the same menu can be found in the phone's Settings app.

screenshot of phone menu

Screenshot from http://www.deteched.com/2017/05/01/samsung-galaxy-s8-can-used-battery-pack-charge-smartphones/amp/

See also, http://www.deteched.com/2017/05/01/samsung-galaxy-s8-can-used-battery-pack-charge-smartphones/amp/, https://www.quora.com/Devices-can-charge-or-be-charged-via-USB-C-What-decides-the-direction

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    Thank you for the feedback - do you know what to do, if the phone's battery is absolutely dead and I want to charge the phone from the MacBook? In that case I do not have any UI on the phone to select "Charge connected device".
    – boehmatron
    Sep 15, 2017 at 17:21
  • @boehmatron That... is a good question. Unfortunately I do not have any direct experience there. Maybe ask Apple if there is a similar option on the Macbook? Though, I'd hope that the phone would default to being a sink when it has no power...
    – Bob
    Sep 16, 2017 at 2:28

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