My new favorite Android file manager is way better than Google’s default – and it’s free

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ZDNET key takeaways

Material Files is a well-designed Android file manager.
This app blows away the competition.
Material Files is free and can be installed from the Play Store.

I’ve tried so many Android file managers over the years. I’ve seen those that look good but lack features, those that have too many features and a pleasing aesthetic, and those that look terrible and don’t have enough features.

It’s been a tiresome journey, one that eventually had me giving up and sticking with the default. Until now.

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Recently, I stumbled upon Material Files, which is an open-source Android app, and I almost instantly proclaimed it the perfect Android file manager. It looks native on my Pixel 9 Pro and has exactly the right amount of features. When you open Material Files, you would think that it was built by Google specifically for Android, but it’s not.

What’s so great about Material Files?

Material Files is developed by Hai Zhang and, to my surprise, is free to install and use and has no pesky in-app purchases. How can this be? Well, it is, and I’m not about to look this gift horse in the chompers.

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Material Files features bookmarks, remote connections, a built-in FTP server, connection options for FTP, SMB, and WebDAV, the ability to have multiple windows open simultaneously, select all, open in terminal, copy path, share, filters, and more.

In other words, it has everything a good file manager should. Now you might be wondering why a good file manager has me doing a happy dance. One of my biggest issues with so many file managers is the lack of SMB support.

I keep a Samba server running on my network, so I can easily save and open files from any machine. Most Android file managers lack the ability to connect to…

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