How do I use the Files app on Android?

Last reviewed: September 23, 2026 · Markdown version

A file manager is the fastest route to "where did that download go". Google's is Files by Google, which "works on Android version 8.0 and up" and is on the Play Store if it is not already installed (How to use Files by Google, read 23 September 2026). On a Galaxy phone it is My Files, which Samsung describes as "like the File Explorer on a PC or Finder on Mac" (Manage files on your Galaxy phone or tablet, read 23 September 2026). The rest of this page follows Google's app.

The views, and when each one is right

Recents — "your recently added, downloaded, and modified files". The first place to look for something you got today.
Categories — "tap a category to see files from that category in a list" (View your files, read 23 September 2026). The right view when you know what you are looking for but not where it is.
Storage devices › Internal storage — the real folder tree. Use it when you know the path, or when you want to move things rather than open them.
Clean — cards that suggest what to delete, including one aimed at exactly the pile that fills phones: on the "Delete downloaded files" card you tap Select files, pick what to remove, and tap Move x file(s) to Trash (Delete downloaded files, read 23 September 2026).

Three habits that make it useful

Sort by date, not name. Google's help lists "File name, Date, or Size" under More › Sort by. You usually remember roughly when a file arrived, rarely what it was called.
Search with whatever you remember. The search bar takes a file name, and "You can also filter by file type and/or date." Where Smart Search is available it also finds files from "Text from images and .pdf" and similar details, scanning on the device; with it switched off, "you can only use text from file names to search for files" (Search for a file, read 23 September 2026).
Press and hold to select, then move. Multi-select is how you do anything at volume; tapping files one at a time is how people conclude Android file management is hopeless. Moving files properly.

What it cannot show you

Another app's private storage. That is Android's rule, not the file manager's choice. Even an app granted All files access "still can't access the app-specific directories that belong to other apps, because these directories appear as subdirectories of Android/data/ on a storage volume" (Manage all files on a storage device, read 23 September 2026). Why that boundary exists.

Where Adinand Auto File Sorter fits

A file manager is a place to look; this is a tool that files things so there is less to look through. On a tap of Sort Now — or on a schedule, with Pro — it takes the files sitting directly in a watched folder, Downloads by default, and moves them into Downloads › Sorted Files by category, so the folder stops being a single undifferentiated pile. It categorises by file extension, and sorting never deletes or overwrites anything.

Sources: Files by Google Help — how to use Files by Google, view your files, search for a file, delete downloaded files; Samsung: manage files on your Galaxy phone; Android developers: manage all files. All read 23 September 2026. What the app does comes from its own code audit.