Back in June this year, Google released a video detailing changes to storage access in Android 11. The video highlighted a new "trashing" mechanism that would allow apps to trash files instead of deleting them, which would essentially give users a chance to recover trashed files within a 30-day period. But we're yet to see an app make use of this new trashing mechanism, even though Android 11 has been out for a few weeks. However, that might change soon, as Google is now preparing to add a Trash folder to the Files by Google app.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

The latest version of Files by Google (v. 1.0.345) started rolling out on the Play Store today. In terms of user-facing changes, the update brings improvements to the audio player for enhanced background playback, file grouping for an easier browsing experience, and screenshot cleaning to help users detect and delete old screenshots.

Along with these changes, the update also includes new strings that point towards a new menu item called "Trash" to help users restore deleted files. Our Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, managed to enable this new feature manually, and here's what it looks like:

As you can see in the attached screenshots, the new "Trash" option can be accessed by tapping on the hamburger menu icon in the top left corner. Tapping on the option opens up a new page that lists all deleted files in reverse chronological order. At the top of the page, you can see a hint that states: "Any file that has been in Trash for 30 days will be permanently deleted." The page also includes two buttons at the bottom to restore and permanently delete selected files. Additionally, the page has a button in the top right corner to toggle between list and grid view.

While these screenshots give us a good look at the Trash feature, it's worth noting that the feature hasn't rolled out for anyone just yet. We verified this by sideloading the latest Files by Google APK on a ZenFone 7 Pro running Android 11, and we couldn't see the Trash option. It's also worth noting that the feature should be available on devices running older versions of Android, but we've only tested it on Android 11 at the moment.

Files by Google Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
4.6
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Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.