Google is rolling out an update for the Files by Google app, which brings a new Favorites folder to the app. The new folder was first spotted in a teardown of the app back in August last year, and it's finally rolling out to users with the latest update. Although the update doesn't include the new Trash folder that we spotted in an APK teardown late last year, it does feature new strings highlighting a couple of other upcoming features.

Google has started rolling out Files by Google v1.0.362806406 via the Play Store. The latest update includes a new Favorites folder that will give you quick access to all your favorite files on the app. To add new files to the folder, select a file and tap on the three-dot menu button. Select the new Add to Favorites option in the drop-down menu, and the file will be added to the Favorites folder.

New Favorites folder

To access the files in the Favorites folder, head to the Browse tab and select the new Favorites option in the Collections carousel. This will open up a list of all your favorite files. As you can see in the attached screenshots, all the files added to the favorites folder will be marked with a star.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

While the latest Files by Google update doesn't include any other user-facing changes, it does feature a couple of new strings highlighting some upcoming features. The new strings suggest that Google is preparing a new Internal storage UI for the app, which will give you a breakdown of what's taking up your phone's internal storage.

While the new UI doesn't look all that different from Android's built-in Storage menu, it's still a useful addition as it gives you access to the information right within the app.

Files by Google delete blurry photos

The new strings suggest that Files by Google will soon be able to automatically detect blurry photos in your storage and offer to delete them to help you save some space. Furthermore, the following strings suggest that Google will soon replace the app's built-in transfer feature with Nearby Share.

<string name="nearby_receiver_failure_message">"If you can't receive files, your friend might need to update %1$s app and look for Nearby Share."</string>
<string name="nearby_settings_title">Nearby Share</string>
<string name="nearby_sharing_message">Powered by <a href="https://support.google.com/files/?p=FBG_Share">Nearby Share</a></string>
<string name="nearby_sharing_title">Fast file sharing with people nearby</string>
<string name="nearby_unavailable_message">"Nearby sharing isn't available on this device."</string>

Although the features aren't live in the current release, we managed to enable them manually, and the screenshots attached above show what they may look like upon release. While you may have to wait a while to use these upcoming features, you can start utilizing the new Favorites folder right away by downloading the latest Files by Google update from the Play Store link below.

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.