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Show HN: Material Files – Open Source Material Design File Manager for Android

github.com

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Show HN: Material Files – Open Source Material Design File Manager for Android

#1

Post by dreamingincode »

Features:

- Open source: Lightweight, clean and secure.

- Material Design: Follows Material Design guidelines, with attention into details.

- Breadcrumbs: Navigate in the filesystem with ease.

- Root support: View and manage files with root access.

- Archive support: View, extract and create common compressed files.

- NAS support: View and manage files on FTP, SFTP and SMB servers.

- Themes: Customizable UI colors, plus night mode with optional true black.

- Linux-aware: Knows symbolic links, file permissions and SELinux context.

- Robust: Uses Linux system calls under the hood, not yet another ls parser.

- Well-implemented: Built upon the right things, including Java NIO2 File API and LiveData.

Show HN: Material Files – Open Source Material Design File Manager for Android
github.com

Re: Show HN: Material Files – Open Source Material Design File Manager for Android

#2

Post by pmontra »

I've been using this for months and it works well.

The reason I'm using it over the default file manager of my phone or others is that it's open source. It's a matter of trust.

I install from F-Droid because if an app is both there and on Google Play it's pointless to give Google an easy way to know what I'm using.

F-Droid got much better lately. Strange things don't happen anymore on updates.

Re: Show HN: Material Files – Open Source Material Design File Manager for Android

#3

Post by infamia »

This has been my go to file manager for years. It is the first thing I install on a new phone. It can even mount network file systems like ftp, sftp, and smb. I use the sftp and it works really well all things considered.

edit: double bonus points because it is available on the privacy centric/open source app store Fdroid.

Re: Show HN: Material Files – Open Source Material Design File Manager for Android

#4

Post by tredre3 »

I've been using Material Files for a couple years now. I use SMB and SFTP access every day. I also use the FTP server to backup my devices once a month. It's a bit slow but still faster and more reliable than using USB! (I don't know why USB support is so bad on Android, transferring thousands of small files is unbearable. Maybe some devices have better support? Maybe it would work better if I used ADB?)

I used to get it from F-Droid but I'm very thankful that the author took the time to put it on the regular app store as well, it's very convenient!

Re: Show HN: Material Files – Open Source Material Design File Manager for Android

#10

Post by mlinksva »

Supporting Android 5.0+ is impressive, though there was another file manager supporting Android 1.0+ discussed recently https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38789958 (I'm impressed by both, not an Android developer, curious how one ensures compatibility with ancient versions; actual testing, a compatibility linter, other?)

I also enjoy Material Files' README, particularly https://github.com/zhanghai/MaterialFiles#why-material-files (a clear articulation of "Why" is always informative) and https://github.com/zhanghai/MaterialFiles#inclusion-in-custo... (clear guidance to upstreams seems relatively uncommon, helps shed light on ecosystem dynamics otherwise invisible to me anyway).

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