On Monday, Google was revealed to be developing a storage manager with smart features like delete suggestions and wireless file transfer. Given the popularity of this neat app, Google has expanded the availability of the beta on the Play Store.
Given how all the slots in the early access program were filled earlier this week, many turned to sideloading the app. In response, Google vice president Caesar Sengupta tweeted last night that they were making it “available for a few more of you on the Play Store.”
Files Go is a simply designed app with two bottom tabs. The top of the “Storage” feed prominently lists how much space is on your device. Underneath are cards are various suggestions of files that can be deleted to make space. These tips include app cache and large, downloaded, and duplicate files, as well as how much storage would be freed.
Users can get suggestions on unused apps to remove by granting Files Go usage access in system Settings. This loads a carousel of apps that users haven’t opened in the past four weeks.
The “Files” tab allows users to look through their files by categories like Downloads, Received files, Images, Videos, Audio, and Documents. Tapping any opens a file viewer to an “All” tab. Users can switch between them to view specific folders and apps.
Below the categories is a panel where users can send and receive files. Files Go works by creating a Wi-Fi hotspot that connects other devices to yours. The app requests location, phone call, and modify system settings permissions to do this.
Afterwards, it opens a page that shows nearby devices, with recipients needing to open the app on their devices and tap receive to begin the connection process. The sender needs to then manually select the user, while the recipient can tap connect/decline on their screen.
From there, users are brought to a message-like interface that shows a history of file transfers. Once connected, the recipient can also send files to the original sender. Exiting this screen brings up a prompt asking users to confirm that they want to disconnect.
Files Go is miles ahead of slow Bluetooth transfer and supports Android 5.0 devices and above. The app appears to be developed under Google’s Next Billion Users team, but it would likely also find traction in the rest of the world.
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