In most cases, an Android device already has a file manager by default. If your Android device model doesn’t have one or you want to install another alternative since the default file manager of your Android device doesn’t work the way you wish, you can give Files a try.

Files — or its complete name is Files by Google — is a file manager developed by Google. While you can use it to manage files, you can also use Files to free up storage space on your Android device. In fact, this app was meant to manage files on Android devices with small amounts of storage to help reclaim space used by unused files. Files itself was formerly known as Files Go.

In the attempt of helping you reclaiming the storage space, Files will give you suggestions the file types you can remove without affecting the performance of your Android system. Those file types are temporary app files, unused apps, duplicate files, and so on. Before start cleaning, Files gives you option to see the files it will remove so you can review the files first if they are really unneeded.

Files itself can be installed on all Android devices with the Android version of 5 or higher.

How to use Files to free up storage space on Android

Assuming you have installed Files on your Android device, launch the app. On the main screen of the app, you can see the Junk files section. Tap the Confirm and free up xx MB button on this section to start removing the junk files.

A confirmation pop-up will appear, asking you whether you really want to delete the files. Tap the Clear button to confirm. You can also review the files that will be deleted by tapping the See junk files link.

Wait a moment until Files is done deleting the files.

On the lower section, you can also find the Free up more space section. From this section you can give Files permission to access more apps on your system so it can detect more junk files generated by more apps on your system.