Google has been regular with updates for the Files by Google app on Android — an app often pre-installed for file management on devices running stock Android. Earlier this year, a UI updaterobbed the app of its bottom navigation barwith tabs to sort through the clutter. Now, Google has delivered a much smaller update to the app that frequent users are bound to notice, but nothing seems to have changed functionally.
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Besides the compartmentalization in folders and segregation by file type, the Files app also allows users to star-mark documents to whitelist them from the app’s automated cleaning tools. However, Google recently updated the app to callFavoritefilesStarredinstead,9to5Googlereports. Logically, the renaming makes sense because to make a starred document, you need to long-press it and then hit the star icon in the toolbar.
Consistency concerns may arise
Google has renamed theFavoritessection in Files by Google toStarred
While this is a small change in the grand scheme of UI evolution, it would be noticeable to people who use the Star option to keep a few documents readily accessible. This minor adjustment helps users immediately form a mental association between starring a file and then finding it in theStarredsection. However, other apps like Google Photos also have the starring option, but they still place selected images in aFavoritesfolder.
We wonder if this small change in Files by Google will set the precedent for similar updates across other Google apps. However, it might be early to speculate along those lines because this relabeling is only available in beta version 1.3460.630797621.0 of the appavailable on APKMirror. We can expect an eventual stable rollout, but let’s just hope this doesn’t make the file manager an oddity among Google’s suite of apps for Android.
