There’s an overwhelming number of file managers on the Google Play Store, but a good chunk of those are riddled with ads, proprietary, or both. File managers have access to the entire user file system, so you want to be sure you can trust them with all your data. Here are four open-source, privacy-friendly file managers you can try.
Fossify File Manager
Fossify File Manager is a lot like Files by Google. It’s lightweight, snappy, organizes your files by category, and offers an incredibly simplified interface. There aren’t any advanced features like dual-pane view, cloud integration, or FTP support in Fossify File Explorer, so it’s not meant for power users. However, if you want a straightforward file explorer without frills, this is the app for you.
The interface is split into three tabs: Files, Recent, and Storage. Much like Files by Google, you can see newly downloaded or opened files in the Recent tab, access files by their category in the Storage tab, and explore the entire file tree in the Files tab.
There are options in the context menu for quickly compressing and decompressing archives. You can hide files and toggle visibility on or off, and you can lock files with passwords too. You can even lock down the file manager itself with a password. You can password-protect files such that they can’t be moved or deleted without the password. Finally, you can customize the colors and accents to give a little bit of personality to an otherwise boring app.
The search can be iffy, though. Most of the time, the results instantly show up as I type, but occasionally, it just gets stuck on a pinwheel. It also doesn’t have a trash bin feature, so anything you delete is erased forever.
Ghost Commander
This app is all function, no aesthetics. It’s built for power users who need a dual-pane or two-tab interface for moving files back and forth between folders. It provides quick shortcuts for connecting to FTP and SFTP servers. You can even connect to a shared Windows directory directly through this app. Plus, it lists every single app and service that’s on your phone, which you can directly download or share as an APK file.
When you launch it, you’ll see two tabs at the top to quickly switch between two file manager panes. You can move or copy files between these panes using the shortcuts provided in the bottom menu. You can bookmark folders, and they’ll appear in the Favorites pane. You can compress and decompress archives directly from the menu. Ghost Commander also has a built-in text editor for quickly modifying configuration files without leaving the app.
Material Files
Material Files combines the best of both worlds—it looks decent and packs extra features that power users will appreciate. Since it’s built on the Material UI aesthetic, this file manager looks a lot like Files by Google, so if you have used Google’s file manager, moving to Material Files should feel seamless. You can access files by category by swiping left. Your camera captures, photos, screenshots, movies, downloads, music, and movies all live in their dedicated categories in the sidebar. You can configure how these categories appear in the settings.
However, what Material Files includes and Files by Google doesn’t is the support for adding FTP, SFTP, SMB, and WebDAV servers. You can even quickly access your FTP server through the shortcut in the sidebar.
Other than those bonus features, Material Files has the standard grab bag of utilities: bookmarks, compressing and extracting archives, toggling visibility of hidden files, and creating home screen shortcuts. Material Files doesn’t have a way to lock files and folders, though, and it doesn’t keep deleted files in the trash either.
Amaze File Manager
I saved the best for last. Amaze File Manager includes everything you could possibly want from a file manager and then some. It has a beautiful interface and animations, which you can customize to your liking. You can change the themes, the appearance of icons, and the navigation bar. You can add bookmarks on the sidebar and toggle quick access shortcuts. It just feels snappy and smooth.
Amaze has support for media players, so you can open images, videos, and music files without leaving the file manager (you’ll have to install the Utilities plugin, though). This plugin also gives you a storage analysis interface which can intelligently sort hidden files, large files, blurred or low-light images, duplicates, unused apps, and old files. From there, you can clean up files as needed and free up storage.
It has a built-in app manager that allows you to create APK backups of your installed apps with a single tap. You can also uninstall and launch apps via this app manager. You can also password-protect files and folders using Amaze. It lets you extract and compress zip files on the fly. You can even enable the trash bin, so your deleted files aren’t permanently erased. And it supports FTP server connections.
You don’t need to pay a premium or suffer through ads just to access your files when there are awesome FOSS file managers already available.
