How to find trash on android and how to restore it

Just like any other computer or brick and mortar establishment, phones must have the ability to trash some irrelevant items, gain extra space, and refresh with newly saved data. How else would we have room for gazillion selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower, or of our PSL at Starbucks?

However, when searching for it you might get confused with the options - because there’s more than one.

How to find the trash on Android?

There are two main trash locations for Android phones: the files trach and the photos trash.
Both can be easily accessed from the app.

Files trash:

1. Open the “My files” app.
2. Click on the 3 dots at the top right > then select “Trash” to view the list of dumped files.
3. If this is your first time clicking the “trash’ button, you’ll be prompted to turn on the trash option. This will leave your deleted files in the trash for 30 days.
   After 30 days, trash files are deleted automatically.
   

Photos trash:

1. Open the “gallery” app (make sure it says “gallery” and not “Google photos”)
2. Click on the hamburger menu on the bottom right > then select “trash” to view the list of dumped images and videos.
   Just like the files, these will automatically delete after 30 days as well. When viewing the list, it will tell you how many days are left for each item to stay in the trash.

How to recover deleted images on Android?

Within 30 days of deletion, you may recover photos, videos, and any files from your Android. 

Here’s how to do it:

1. Check out the first part of this article to reach the deleted file/image you want to recover.
2. Long-click on the item will select it and bring 2 options on the bottom: Restore / Delete.
3. Select “Restore” to bring this item back to its original location.

When should I empty the trash on Android?

As a general rule, Android is taking care of your trash emptying, but there are some occasions you might want to force empty your Android trash:

• If you’re running out of memory and need the space for new images. (a file in the trash is still taking memory space until deleted forever!)
• If you need to remove your SD card, and this is where the trashed files were stored before. Removing the SD card without emptying your trash before, might automatically restore trashed items back to the card, OR lose them completely.
  So before removing an SD - do yourself a favor and check the trash contents.