How does Samsung My Files work?

Last reviewed: September 25, 2026 · Markdown version

My Files is a view onto the storage your Galaxy phone already has: it groups the files into categories, shows the folder tree underneath, and lets you copy, move and delete. The files are not inside the app. Samsung's own comparison is the useful one: "It's like the File Explorer on a PC or Finder on Mac, where you can easily view and move photos, videos, music, documents, and more" (Manage files on your Galaxy phone or tablet, US edition, read 25 September 2026).

The home screen: categories first

Samsung's guide starts with the categories: "Select your desired file category, such as Images, Videos, Audio files, Documents, Downloads, or Installation files." The app's Galaxy Store listing describes two more lists — "The Recent Files list: Files the user has downloaded, run, and/or opened" and "The Categories list: Types of files, including downloaded, document, image, audio, video, and installation files (.APK)" (Samsung My Files, Galaxy Store, read 25 September 2026).

A category is a filter, not a folder. The same photo can be found under Images and inside whatever folder holds it, and moving it changes only the second.

Copy, Move, and the Trash

The two verbs mean what they say. In Samsung's words, "Tap Copy to create a copy of the files in a different storage area. Or, tap Move to completely remove the file from its current location and move it to a new location." The destinations it lists are Internal storage, SD card, Google Drive, OneDrive and Network storage, and you finish with "Move here" or "Copy here" (the US guide linked above).

Three limits on the same page are easy to miss:

Deleting is a two-step affair on a phone: "The file will stay in the Trash for 30 days before being permanently deleted." Tablets are different — "Tablets do not have the Trash feature in My Files, so files can't be restored once they are deleted."
"apps cannot be moved to the SD card using My Files".
It moves files between places, not into other apps: "You cannot move or copy files to other apps, such as Gallery."

Two stores, two descriptions

My Files is published by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. on Google Play as well as on the Galaxy Store, and the two listings do not describe the same feature set. The Galaxy Store text names "Samsung Cloud Drive", Google Drive and OneDrive, plus "Network storage (accessible after downloading the APK file)". The Play text lists only Google Drive and OneDrive among its cloud services (Samsung My Files - Apps on Google Play, read 25 September 2026). Both carry the same caution: "Supported features may be different depending on models."

Neither listing says which copy a given phone receives, so if a feature on this page is missing from yours, the model and the store are the first two things to check.

What it does not do for you

Every move in My Files is one you make. The US guide describes selecting files and choosing a destination by hand, and nothing on that page files things automatically. That is a sensible default for a file manager — and it is why a Downloads folder left to itself keeps growing.

Where to go from here

Want it gone? Samsung does not let you uninstall it — what you can do instead.
Worried about losing what it shows? Backing up the files behind My Files.
Seen the Network storage entry? What it connects to.
Keeps closing on you? The fixes, least drastic first.