Material Files.
Material Files because of its general design and the quick access to bookmarks and other things in its sidebar accessible through a simple swipe.
Plus one for this. It also works with things like ftp sftp WebDAV smb etc.
And its awareness of SAF. I use it on my tablet to access for example Termux home directory. Doesn’t work with Google Drive for some reason tho
It also works with rooted devices to access root files, if that’s something you care about.
Very basic compared to Material Files
I haven’t dug into them deeper but Fossify have what seems to be decent basic options for all of the base Android apps: Phone, SMS, keyboard, camera, etc.
Just replacing all the stock apps with the Fossify suite looks like it could be an easy privacy win for someone stuck on a device with locked bootloader and dodgy stock apps from vendor or Google.
Wait. Nobody mentioned the extraordinary MiXplorer ?!?!
I don’t know why it is not more popular, it just does EVERYTHING.
Don’t forget to donate to the dev if you use and like it :)
Thanks for sharing, but I imagine it doesn’t get mentioned as much here because from a privacy perspective, that app seems kinds shady.
No source code available as far as I can tell, no builds available from a reputable source like F-Droid (just unvetted APK downloads from someone’s Google Drive), no apparent issue tracker beyond a confusing and seemingly outdated network of thread links from 2016 on a forum.
That’s fair, you’re absolutely right. I probably like it enough that I never had the courage to go through all 2,453 pages of the XDA thread :) Running it through Exodus showed a clean result, so I likely trusted it a bit too quickly. It still feels miles better to me than most proprietary apps on the Play Store, but clearly less easy to trust than the open source apps mentioned above.
Yea it is a case of found it years ago and worked so incredibly well I haven’t had the slightest interest in using anything else.
I use https://f-droid.org/packages/me.zhanghai.android.files/. Looks good and does all I need it to
Material Files for me. It feels like KDE’s Dolphin if it had an android port.
I use Cx File explorer. Pretty sure I never paid for it. Let’s me reach Windows shares as well as browse files on my phone
The full version was offered for free at one point. That’s how I got it. I’ve never been sure how safe it is from a privacy standpoint.
It does a lot, but can’t create uncompressed zip files. I discovered this recently when I was changing phones and wanted to grab a bunch of uncompressable stuff from my secure folder. Solid Explorer can but isn’t free.
I have Material Files installed (recently) but haven’t played with it yet.
That makes sense. I also have no idea from a privacy stand point, I saw the sub after commenting
CX does have a Google tracker in it.
I’ve been using ghost commander for years. https://f-droid.org/packages/com.ghostsq.commander/
- Material Files
- Fossify File Manager
- FX File Explorer
FX File Explorer, seconded.
It’s perhaps not as featureful as others mentioned but if you like Rclone then Round Sync is a solid option.
I like OwlFiles. I use it for the WebDAV support. It’s free, but has a paid version with more features, so it’s not 100% free.
I use Prism File Explorer. It’s more advanced, has built in viewers for various file types, and lets you browse the root directory without rooting your phone.
