Most of us don’t give much thought to file managers, but on Android, we used to—the built-in one simply didn’t do enough. That has changed. Now, if you’re still in the habit of seeking out an alternative, it may be time to consider the ways apps like Files By Google and Samsung My Files are simply better than most of what you find in the Play Store.
Free, and without ads
No need to deal with banners and pop-ups
Let’s start with the obvious. Your phone’s built-in file manager doesn’t cost you any additional money. More importantly, it doesn’t display ads. Third-party file managers, like other third-party apps, often monetize using banner ads or pop-ups. Some, X-plore File Manager, let you pay for a pro version in order to remove these annoyances. Others, like Solid Explorer, are ad-free but require an ongoing subscription.
There are exceptions. Open-source file managers like Material Files are generally free in cost and free of ads. You may even find the occasional proprietary app that also fits this mold, like CX File Explorer. But if you’re a new Android user navigating the Play Store in search of an alternate file manager for the first time, expect to see a bunch of ads.
You don’t need to grant untrusted apps with additional permissions
How many apps do you want to give access to all of your files?
Here is an area where your default file manager comes with what could be considered an unfair advantage. It doesn’t need to ask for permission to access all the files of your phone because it’s been granted all the permissions it needs from the beginning. Whether or not you trust Google or Samsung is perfectly valid, but that’s a decision you make when you decide to buy the phone, not when you open the file manager.
With third-party apps, you have to explicitly grant these apps full access to all of your files. That’s understandable, since they can’t work otherwise. The problem is that it’s difficult to know if these third-party apps are trustworthy.
Open-source file managers are likely fine, but how do you know which commercial options can be trusted not to abuse the access you’ve granted them? There are gallery apps and social media apps that scan parts of our phones they have no business touching. File managers don’t even need to articulate why they need to be able to access everything we download.
Don’t get me wrong—I don’t want to scare anyone away from using an awesome third-party file manager. Unfortunately, as PCMag has reported, some file managers in the Play Store have been scams or malware in the past, and it’s not always obvious what’s safe.
Default file managers update with the times
Why install an alternative that’s stuck in the past?
When you open Google My Files on a Pixel, it fits right in with the rest of your phone. It feels like a modern app and doesn’t get in the way of Google’s Material 3 Expressive design and animations. When you open Samsung My Files, it fits right in with the rest of Samsung One UI.
Many third-party file managers feel frozen in time. Some of the most popular options were around way back in the days of Android Ice Cream Sandwich and don’t look all that different today. This felt appropriate in an era when virtually every Android app looked different from the next, but those days are long gone. Today, many feel Android’s sense of design has even surpassed Apple’s, what with the mess the Liquid Glass redesign has been. Why ruin that with a third-party app?
Your file manager better adapts to larger screens
Many third-party options are only intended for phones
I’m typing these words using Samsung DeX on a 4K monitor. When I open Samsung My Files, I wouldn’t blame anyone looking over my shoulder for mistaking it for any other desktop file manager. There’s little indication that I’m using a mobile app.
When using Samsung’s file manager on a desktop, various file types and folders fill the sidebar, allowing me to quickly browse files or navigate to a specific folder. I can also access network storage. No matter what I click, the sidebar remains open as the files appear to the right, and as I click on folders, the breadcrumb navigation expands. It’s a view that’s as easy to navigate as on any PC and, quite frankly, far superior to what you might experience on a Chromebook.
While you can find some third-party file managers that adapt well to a larger screen, many don’t. Some look like stretched-out phone apps. Others might look like two phone apps side by side, allowing you to view two different locations at once. That was once a nice feature, but it’s less necessary now that Android’s built-in multitasking allows two file manager windows to be open at the same time.
Google’s file manager falls short of Samsung’s in this area, but it’s still better than many alternate apps. Here’s an area where Motorola’s file manager also shines, due in part to the maturity of Motorola’s Android-based desktop.
We’ve come a long way
There are still a handful of features that aren’t yet baked into most Android phones by default, such as the ability to use your phone as an FTP server or to access to your phone’s root system files. Yet, a decade ago, the list of ways default file managers fell short was a much longer one. Now, I personally rarely keep an alternative file manager around on my phone.
SoC
Google Tensor G4
Display
6.3-inch Actua display
RAM
8GB
Storage
128 or 256GB
Dimensions
6.1 in (height) x 2.9 in (width) x 0.4 in (depth)
Weight
6.5 oz
The Google Pixel 10a is a barely updated version of the Google Pixel 9a, with a slightly brighter screen and an upgrade from Gorilla Glass 3 to Gorilla Glass 7i. Google has shaved the remaining few millimeters from the camera bump, making it completely flat. Unlike prior versions of the Pixel a series, this model year does not share the same Tensor processor as the mainline Pixel 10.
