Where is the Files app on my phone?

Last reviewed: October 22, 2026 · Markdown version

On an iPhone, swipe left past your last Home Screen page to reach App Library and type "Files" into the search field at the top. If it is not there either, the app has most likely been deleted, and the App Store gives it back. On Android there is no single answer: Google's help says "you can usually find your files in the Files app", then adds that "If you can't find the Files app, your device manufacturer might have a different app" (Find & delete files on Android, Android Help, read 22 October 2026). This page is about finding the app's icon. What you will see once it is open is covered on where the Files folder is on iPhone.

Phone	The app is usually called	Where to look first
iPhone	Files	App Library, or Spotlight search
Samsung Galaxy	My Files	The Samsung folder on the apps screen
Other Android phones	Files, or the maker's own file app	All Apps
Any Android phone with no file app	Files by Google	The Play Store

iPhone: the icon moved, it was not deleted

The most common reason Files vanishes from the Home Screen is that someone removed the icon, which does not remove the app. Apple's guide is explicit: "If you remove an app from your Home Screen, it moves to App Library—it isn’t deleted" (Remove or delete apps from iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 22 October 2026). App Library, in Apple's description, "shows your apps—including any you’ve removed from your Home Screen—organized into categories". To get there, "swipe left past all your Home Screen pages", then "Tap the search field at the top of the screen, then enter the name of the app you’re looking for"; you can also "scroll up and down to browse the alphabetical list" (Find and use your apps in App Library on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 22 October 2026).

Once you see it, the same page tells you how to put it back: touch and hold the app in App Library "until the app icons begin to jiggle and the app moves to the Home Screen, then lift your finger". Spotlight is the other shortcut. Apple's steps are to tap the Search button on the Home Screen, on models with Face ID, or swipe down on the Home Screen, type the name, then "Tap the app or website" among the suggestions (Search with Spotlight on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 22 October 2026).

It is not in the Hidden folder

iPhones can hide apps, and "Hiding an app removes it from the Home Screen, App Library, and search results", so a hidden app would explain a search that finds nothing. Apple limits the feature, though: "Apps that come installed can’t be hidden—only apps you download separately from the App Store can be hidden" (Lock or hide an app on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 22 October 2026). Files is one of Apple's built-in apps, so on our reading of that sentence it cannot be sitting in the Hidden folder. If App Library search comes back empty, the next step is the App Store.

If it really was deleted

Files is on Apple's list of built-in apps you can delete, and its restore steps are short: "go to the App Store", then "Search for the app. Make sure that you use the exact name of the app.", tap the Redownload button, and "Wait for the app to restore, then open it from your Home Screen" (Delete built-in Apple apps from your iPhone…, Apple Support, read 22 October 2026).

What happens to your documents is the question Apple's pages leave half answered. The built-in apps article says that deleting one also deletes "any related user data and configuration files". The general guide adds that if an app's data "is stored in iCloud—such as photos or documents you saved through the app—that data isn’t deleted when you delete the app" (the Delete built-in Apple apps and Remove or delete apps pages above, read 22 October 2026). Neither page says what becomes of files kept in On My iPhone when the Files app itself is the one deleted. So reinstall it and look before you assume anything is lost or safe.

Android: start from All Apps

Google's route to every installed app is the same on most phones: "Swipe up from the bottom of your screen to the top. If you get All Apps, tap it." The page carries its own warning that "Some of these steps only work on Android 14 and up" (Find, open & close apps on Android, Android Help, read 22 October 2026). Scroll that list for Files, My Files or File Manager, since the name changes with the maker.

Samsung. Galaxy phones call it My Files, and Samsung's US page says "It's usually in the Samsung folder" (Manage files on your Galaxy phone or tablet, Samsung US, read 22 October 2026). Samsung UK says it "comes pre-installed on most Galaxy devices" and adds a second route: "search using the app search or in the default Samsung folder on your apps screen" (How to use Samsung My Files App, Samsung UK, read 22 October 2026).

No file app at all. Google's own file app can be installed: "Files by Google works on Android version 8.0 and up. If you don't have the app, you can download it from the Play Store" (How to use Files by Google, Files by Google Help, read 22 October 2026). That gives you a file browser on any phone that meets the version, whatever its maker shipped.

When the app is open but the file is still missing

Finding the app is half the job. On iPhone, an email attachment only reaches Files if you send it there: Apple's Mail steps are to touch and hold the attachment and "Choose Save to Files", with "Choose Save Image" sending it to Photos instead (Download email attachments in Mail on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 22 October 2026). Finding a file on your phone walks through the other places to check, and for downloads in particular, the iPhone downloads page and the Samsung one follow a file from the browser to the folder.