ES File Explorer is a file manager/explorer designed by ES Global, a subsidiary of DO Global, for Android devices. It includes features like

cloud storage Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools, said to be on "the cloud". The physical storage spans multiple servers (sometimes in multiple locations), and the physical environment is t ...

integration, file transfer from Android to Windows via FTP or LAN, and a

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

browser. It was removed from the

Google Play Store Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sys ...

for committing

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History

Popularization and functionality

In the early 2010s, ES File Explorer was equipped with then extraordinary features well beyond that of vendors' pre-installed file managers, which popularized the application before it developed into

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...

. The functionality included range selection,

tabbed browsing In interface design, a tab is a graphical user interface object that allows multiple documents or panels to be contained within a single window, using tabs as a navigational widget for switching between sets of documents. It is an interface ...

bookmarking Bookmarking (also "gene bookmarking" or "mitotic bookmarking") refers to a potential mechanism of transmission of gene expression programs through cell division. During mitosis, gene transcription is silenced and most transcription factors are r ...

directories, ability to create

home screen A home screen, homescreen, or start screen, is the main screen on a device or computer program. Home screens are not identical because users rearrange icons as they please, and home screens often differ across mobile operating systems. Almost ...

shortcuts to items (files and folders), ability to create new blank files, three viewing modes for items (grid, basic list, and detailed list), where detailed list previews modification dates, file sizes, and listed folders' file counts; three on-display size levels for items; file transfers in background, FTP server hosting,

network protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchroniza ...

client (ability to connect to other

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

WebDav WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a set of extensions to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which allows user agents to collaboratively author contents ''directly'' in an HTTP web server by providing facilities for concu ...

and SMB servers),

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...

, ability to manually select an application to open a file with, ability to automatically rename files during transfer in case of a file name conflict and merge directories, detailed statistics during file transfer, a built-in

text editor A text editor is a type of computer program that edits plain text. Such programs are sometimes known as "notepad" software (e.g. Windows Notepad). Text editors are provided with operating systems and software development packages, and can be us ...

with

UTF-8 UTF-8 is a variable-width encoding, variable-length character encoding used for electronic communication. Defined by the Unicode Standard, the name is derived from ''Unicode'' (or ''Universal Coded Character Set'') ''Transformation Format 8-bit'' ...

support, media player interface (

video player Media player software is a type of application software for playing multimedia computer files like audio and video files. Media players commonly display standard media control icons known from physical devices such as tape recorders and CD play ...

and music player with playback controls and

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...

ing),

image viewer An image viewer or image browser is a computer program that can display stored graphical images; it can often handle various graphics file formats. Such software usually renders the image according to properties of the display such as color depth, ...

and gallery browser,

download manager A download manager is a software tool that manages the downloading of files from the Internet, which may be built: into a Web browser, or as a, usually more sophisticated program Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Bu ...

drag and drop In computer graphical user interfaces, drag and drop is a pointing device gesture in which the user selects a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object. In general, it can be used to ...

support, bulk file renaming (adding

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

, changing extension and

numbering There are many different numbering schemes for assigning nominal numbers to entities. These generally require an agreed set of rules, or a central coordinator. The schemes can be considered to be examples of a primary key of a database management ...

), disk usage analysis, ZIP

archive file In computing, an archive file is a computer file that is composed of one or more files along with metadata. Archive files are used to collect multiple data files together into a single file for easier portability and storage, or simply to compress ...

creation and browsing,

recycle bin A recycling bin (or recycle bin) is a container used to hold recyclables before they are taken to recycling centers. Recycling bins exist in various sizes for use inside and outside homes, offices, and large public facilities. Separate cont ...

(like Microsoft

Windows Explorer File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file ...

) and the ability to define touch pattern shortcuts (''gestures''), ability to filter searches by date, size range, category (photo, audio, video, APK, and documents), and file type, ability to select multiple files from search results, ability to navigate to files' parent directory from search results, generation of MD5 and

SHA-1 In cryptography, SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) is a cryptographically broken but still widely used hash function which takes an input and produces a 160-bit (20-byte) hash value known as a message digest – typically rendered as 40 hexadecima ...

hash sum A hash function is any function that can be used to map data of arbitrary size to fixed-size values. The values returned by a hash function are called ''hash values'', ''hash codes'', ''digests'', or simply ''hashes''. The values are usually u ...

s from files, ability to copy the full path of a selected file or folder into the

clipboard A clipboard is a thin, rigid board with a clip at the top for holding paper in place. A clipboard is typically used to support paper with one hand while writing on it with the other, especially when other writing surfaces are not available. Th ...

, quick navigation history (list of recently opened files and directories), ability to install custom themes, ability to redirect shareable content into a file, and the ability list installed apps and to back them up Android application package (APK) files. A detail window which shows the total separate count of files and folders within a directory and their total size as both human-readable value and byte count to allow for an exact size verification after copying files. Since a 2015 version, files can be encrypted in a

proprietary format A proprietary file format is a file format of a company, organization, or individual that contains data that is ordered and stored according to a particular encoding-scheme, designed by the company or organization to be secret, such that the decodi ...

named ''ES lock''.

Range selection

Another early feature to allow the selection of many files and folders without the need to tap on each file individually was range selection, where only two items need to be highlighted to select all listed items inbetween.

Lock screen hijacking

Around May 2016, ES File Explorer began incorporating DU Charge Booster into the app, hijacking the user's lockscreen. Several news and blog websites such as AndroidPIT, which had once recommended the app, encouraged users to uninstall it. It was removed later after much criticism and many bad reviews.

Fire TV App Store removal

ES File Explorer was accidentally removed from the

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Fire TV App Store in August 2016.

Conversion into shareware

Though ES File Explorer had originally been a

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...

program, the app later converted into

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

. It began charging a monthly $9.99 fee in order to use its more advanced features, towards the end of 2019.

Controversy and removal from Play Store

ES File Explorer was removed from the

in April 2019, along with several other apps created by DO Global (formerly DU Group). It was reported by

BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' is an American news website published by BuzzFeed. It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was heavily criticized, and the FinCEN Files. Since its establishment in 2011, it ...

. It was claimed the company who owns ES File Explorer, DO Global, was committing 'click fraud' by clicking ads in users' apps in the background without permission. DO Global responded to these claims with the following: “In the past week, we have noticed a series of reports about our apps by the media. We fully understand the seriousness of the allegations. As such, we immediately conducted an internal investigation on this matter. We regret to find irregularities in some of our products’ use of

AdMob AdMob is a mobile advertising subsidiary of Google, originally founded by Omar Hamoui. The name AdMob is a portmanteau for "advertising on mobile". It was incorporated on April 10, 2006 while Hamoui was in business school at Wharton School. The ...

advertisements. Given this, we fully understand and accept Google’s decision. Moreover, we have actively cooperated with them by doing a thorough examination of every app involved. We would like to thank the media, our partners, and the public for their support. Moving forward, we will strictly follow relevant regulations and continue conducting a comprehensive review of our products. Lastly, during this process, we have caused misunderstandings and great concern due to our being unable to communicate in a timely manner and provide complete information. We offer our sincere apologies.”'' It is unclear if or when ES File Explorer will return to the Google Play Store.

Ban in India

In June 2020, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

banned ES File Explorer along with 58 other Chinese origin apps citing data and privacy issues.

Notes

References

{{Reflist File managers Android (operating system) software Delisted applications