Android download storage location

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Could you list all possible directories where Android apps may store data, providing description what kind of data are stored in each directory? By default, the apps databases, settings, and all other data go here. This directory is "private" to the app — which means no other app and not even the user can access data in it without root permissions.

Apart from that, all apps can store data anywhere on the SDCard, as there are no restrictions -- and many apps do so. They can use directory names freely and they again do , which is what often makes it hard to decide what all that "junk" on the card is intended for, and what of it can be deleted.

Though, as Tom pointed out , root-apps could store their data almost everywhere on your device, they usually follow the same rules as other apps. You can find a general explanation of the Android directory hierarchy in my answer here. There might be several more directories in this place, or fewer -- it all depends on the app. In its own "home directory" and that's what it basically is, spoken Linux-wise they can place files where they want.

Usually, these files and directories are only accessible by the app itself and root, of course -- other than those stored on the SDCard, which are accessible by all apps.

Some major changes occurred to storage in Android 4. So the following is generally true for Android 4. This is from my detailed answer to How disk space is used on Android device? Apps' files are saved by system and app itself to internal and external storage under different categories. All of the above paths on internal and external storage primary and secondary are app's private directories which are accessible to respective app without requesting any permission.

Apps can also create other directories not explicitly available through APIs in their private storage.

All of these directories belonging to an app are deleted when the app is uninstalled. For secondary external storage and removable storage SAF is used. See details in How to save files to external SD card? However in Android 10 writing directly to primary external shared storage is deprecated getExternalStorageDirectory and getExternalStoragePublicDirectory are no more available. Apps need to use one of Android's built-in content providers; either MediaStore for media files or SAF for any other type of files.

The app is easy to navigate, provides quick access to your downloads folder and helps you free up storage space. When you open Files by Google, the app will recommend various options like clearing out app caches, removing junk files or deleting backed-up photos from your device.

There's even an AirDrop-like file-sharing feature baked into the app that makes it really easy to share files with someone who is nearby. Once you've installed the app, you can find your downloaded files by selecting the Browse tab at the bottom of the app, then tapping Downloads. Tap a file to open it, or long-press on it to select the file and delete, share or rename it. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic.

We delete comments that violate our policy , which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion. In my experience all the files which i have downloaded from internet,gmail are stored in.

Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Collectives on Stack Overflow. Learn more. Android: where are downloaded files saved? Asked 8 years, 3 months ago. Active 5 years, 8 months ago. Viewed k times. Improve this question. Lisa Anne Lisa Anne 4, 14 14 gold badges 73 73 silver badges bronze badges.

Please review the android file system structure at stevesandroidguide.