Files by Google

By the numbers

• —16M monthly active users on the Trash folder
• —Addressed 25%+ of Play Store reviews, the top requested feature
• —Targeted a 90% cut in deletion complaints (25% to under 3%)
• —Visual tooltip pattern later adopted by other Google teams

Files by Google is the file management app for the Next Billion Users, built for low-end devices and storage-constrained phones. A common problem for these users is losing files to accidental deletion. More than 25% of Play Store reviews asked for a way to restore deleted content, by far the most requested feature, with complaints like “I want to restore deleted photos” and “I need a recycle bin or I delete this app.”

As the only lead UX designer on Files, working with one PM and one engineer, I led Trash end to end.

The existing flow let people delete files permanently in one step. For less tech-savvy users and new internet users, the blue “Delete” button could easily read as “continue,” and not everyone reads the dialog text before tapping.

People already expected a Trash, because they knew it from Gmail, Drive, and Photos. As more apps adopted the platform-level Trash API in Android 11 and later, that expectation in a file manager was only growing.

Adding Trash meant a complete overhaul of how deletion worked in Files. The hardest part was communicating the difference between moving a file to Trash and deleting it permanently, since trashing a file does not immediately free up storage. On top of that I had to onboard both existing and new users, design the low-storage states, and solve a long list of edge cases against a tight release cycle.

The goal was to build Trash as a safety net that prevents accidental deletions and reduces anxiety while adding real value to the app.

Three principles guided it: lean on existing mental models so people focus on the task rather than learning a new pattern (Jacob's Law), clearly communicate the difference between trashing and permanent deletion, and keep it easy and engaging rather than a chore. The measurable target was to cut deletion-related complaints from about 25% of all reports to under 3%, a 90% reduction, without growing low-storage users by more than about 2%.

I grounded the design in field research across Mexico, India, and Nigeria. Participants already knew Trash from Google Photos and PC recycle bins and saw “Move to Trash” as a way to recover files after an accident. But when testing the wording, they understood “Move” literally without knowing where the files went, so I had to set a clear expectation that files stay recoverable for 30 days.

Between two directions, people preferred a bottom sheet with an immediate restore option over a confirmatory dialog, because it felt more intuitive in the everyday case.

I designed Trash end to end. Moving files now brings up an educational bottom sheet with an animated illustration, backed by two tooltips: one to teach existing users after the update, and one shown after a successful move. The Trash folder lives in the hamburger menu and shows how much space it is taking up, with files grouped by how many days are left before they clear.

To keep the two mental models separate, restoring is a simple action while permanent deletion uses a distinct red button and its own confirmation. A set of low-storage states ties it together: a persistent banner, a mini bar after moving files, and a critically-low state under 500MB that turns red to signal urgency and points people to free up space from Trash.

Trash reached 16M monthly active users, with 27% permanently deleting from it and 6% restoring files. I led the feature end to end, a highly complex one that touched most of the Files experience and balanced Android platform constraints, technical limits, and user needs. The work also introduced a new visual tooltip pattern that other teams went on to adopt.