Better Files 0.2.0-beta.2

Better Files 0.2.0-beta.2

Search results now show why a file matched.

What's new

• Search results show why a file matched. Documents show a short preview with your words in bold. A file that matched by meaning only says "Similar meaning".
• Filter chips with counts at the top: Documents, Photos, Names.
• Weaker matches go in a folded "Less related" section, so the top of the list stays clean.
• A progress line shows while the app is still reading your files, so an empty result does not look like a miss.
• A "Local" label on Indexing in the menu.
• Large or broken PDFs can no longer fill your storage or stall indexing.
• Turning analytics off now stops the analytics library right away.
• No prebuilt native library in the source, for F-Droid builds.
• The privacy policy now says what the search index stores.

Install or update

Download better-files-0.2.0-beta.2.apk below and open it. If you have beta.1, it installs as an update. Your index and settings stay, so nothing has to be indexed again. You need Android 10 or newer.

Known limits

• The first index takes hours on older phones. You can search files as soon as they are done, newest first.
• Some phones stop apps in the background. On vivo, turn on Settings > Battery > High background power consumption for Better Files. On Xiaomi, Oppo and Realme, allow Autostart and turn off battery limits for the app.
• If indexing stops, open Better Files. It continues where it stopped.
• Phones with less than about 3.5 GB of RAM search inside documents by keyword only. Meaning search and photo search need more memory.
• Scanned PDFs and password-protected PDFs are not searchable yet.
• Excel, PowerPoint and old .doc files are not indexed yet.

Feedback

Send the searches that miss. Open an issue on GitHub. For security problems, use private vulnerability reporting (see SECURITY.md).

Better Files 0.1.0-beta.1

Better Files 0.1.0-beta.1

This is the first public beta. Some parts are not finished yet, and small fixes will ship often.

better-files-launch.mp4

What it does

Better Files is a file manager that can search your documents and photos by meaning, on the phone. Type "rent agreement" or "beach at sunset" and it finds the file even if the name says nothing like that.

• Search runs on the phone. Your files and their text never leave it.
• The search model (EmbeddingGemma 2, about 320 MB) downloads once, after you accept the Gemma terms. Photo search needs one more download of about 110 MB.
• Analytics are off unless you opt in. See PRIVACY.md.
• Based on Material Files by Hai Zhang. Licensed under GPL-3.0. The full source, including the search engine, is in this repository.

Install

Download better-files-0.1.0-beta.1.apk below and open it. Android asks you to allow installs from your browser or file manager the first time. You need Android 10 or newer.

Known limits

• The first index takes hours on older phones. You can search files as soon as they are done, newest first.
• Some phones stop apps in the background. On vivo, turn on Settings > Battery > High background power consumption for Better Files. On Xiaomi, Oppo and Realme, allow Autostart and turn off battery limits for the app.
• If indexing stops, open Better Files. It continues where it stopped.
• Phones with less than about 3.5 GB of RAM search inside documents by keyword only. Meaning search and photo search need more memory.
• Scanned PDFs and password-protected PDFs are not searchable yet.
• Excel, PowerPoint and old .doc files are not indexed yet.

Feedback

Open an issue on GitHub. For security problems, use private vulnerability reporting (see SECURITY.md).