Articles and Lifehacks

To transfer the installation file of the program, for example, via Bluetooth, you need to know where the android stores the applications. Having opened the desired folder, you will see only one file with the apk. extension, this is the very installation file that you need.

Almost always, downloaded applications are stored in the following path: /data/app/. This section is responsible not only for installed programs, but also for their settings and system requirements.

If by default you have to install third-party programs on a memory card, then you should look for a folder with files along this path: /sdcard/android/data/.

What does the section where programs are stored mean

• The /data/ folder is a user section where all downloaded services are saved. This section has items, each of which is responsible for a specific function.
• For example, /data/app is the main folder where the installation files are located. Individual settings are stored at /data/data, and system program settings can be found in the /data/system/ folder.
• There is also a section /data/dalvik-cache, it is responsible for starting and correct operation of the service.
• In some more modern smartphones based on the Android OS, you can find the / data / app-lib section, here are additional libraries that are necessary for the programs to work.

How to extract the installation file from android

1. To find and extract this file, you need to know where it is located. As we found out above, this is the /data/app folder.
2. Now connect your smartphone to your computer and run ddms.bat, which is located in the "Tools" section.
3. In the "Name" line, select your device, and then in the sections indicated above, find "Device" and click "File Explorer".
4. It remains to find the / data / app folder and drag it to the computer.
5. After opening this folder, you need to find the apk installation file. and send it to your phone. Now you can easily transfer it in any convenient way.

Having downloaded a file to your smartphone or tablet for the first time, a novice user wonders where to find it now? After all, having just started using a mobile device, he still does not know where the files on Android are downloaded. In this article, we will try to find this place.

Where are downloaded files located on Android

In the Android operating system, files downloaded from the network use a folder named Download. The Download folder, as a rule, is located in the root directory of the internal memory available to the user. If a smartphone (tablet) is installed, then the system can also download files on it. The path for it can be specified in the settings of the application that downloads files.

To find downloaded files, you need to install any file manager on your smartphone (tablet).

If you did not find an object downloaded from the network in the Download folder, then the application probably created its own folder and saved the file into it. For example, UC Browser downloads files to its own folder called UCDownloads.

You can change the location for downloaded files in your browser settings.

Open the application settings, select the menu item " ” and specify the folder where the files uploaded by the browser will be placed.

Increasingly, photos are stored on the phone. On the one hand, it's convenient. However, over time, it becomes more and more difficult to clean up, in addition, it is not clear exactly where the images are stored. Worst of all, entire photo albums disappear this way. Where are the photos stored, where are the photos, etc. - we will answer the basic questions of Android users.

Where are images stored on Android

Photos taken with the Camera (standard Android app) are stored on the memory card or the phone's internal memory, depending on the app's settings.

The location of the photos is always the same - the DCIM\Camera folder. The full path looks like this:

• /storage/emmc/DCIM - if in phone memory
• /storage/sdcard0/DCIM - if on a memory card

How to quickly go to these folders on Android? Install any file manager (for example, ES Explorer or Total Commander) - the built-in tools of the mobile OS are inconvenient to navigate and limited in file operations.

Why DCIM?

The abbreviation DCIM stands for Digital Camera Images. For digital cameras, this name is a kind of standard.

iOS and Android devices support the DCF specification, within which the name DCIM is adopted. Therefore, desktop and mobile applications open this folder without problems.

Where are screenshots stored?

Screenshots taken in the usual way (via hardware buttons) are saved in the Pictures/Screenshot folder. If you have installed an alternative screenshot capture app, go to settings and check the image save path.

What is the thumbnails folder for?

This folder, according to its name, stores thumbnails - a reduced version of photos, downloaded images (for example, from Whatsapp or Skype). A smaller copy helps your smartphone open an image from the Gallery faster.

Where thumbnails are stored

Sketch files are stored inside the DCIM folder:

• /storage/emmc/DCIM/.thumbnails (if using only internal memory)
• /storage/sdcard0/DCIM/.thumbnails (if an sd card is inserted into the phone)

How to delete the thumbnail cache?

Often, thumbnail files “eat up” too much space on the phone: the bill goes to gigabytes. It is useful, and sometimes necessary, to clear the contents of the thumbnails folder. In this case, you do not lose anything, the necessary files will be recreated as needed.

There are two ways to clear thumbnail files.

Method 1(manually):

1. Install File Manager on Android
2. Enable viewing hidden files on your phone
3. Go to thumbnails folder
4. Delete its contents by selecting all files

Method 2(automatically):

1. Download and install the CCleaner app for Android
2. Go to the "Clear cache" and memory section and click "Analyze"
3. In the results, check the box “Thumbnail cache” and click “Clear”

The dcim folder is empty - what to do?

This problem occurs when you connect your phone to PC via USB cable. There is nothing in the dcim folder, while the photos are still displayed through the Gallery.

1. You need to check both locations - on the memory card and in the memory of the android device (you may need to transfer files from one DCIM folder to another).
2. Next, delete the cache from the External Storage and Media Storage app.

• Settings -> Applications-> Three dots menu
• Show system apps -> External Storage and Media storage
• Delete data and cache
• Reboot your phone

Questions and answers

I accidentally deleted photos from my Camera folder. In internal storage, I was deleting unnecessary items to free up space, and accidentally chose DCIM to erase. Can I restore a photo? It happened 5 days ago. I checked the Trash folder in the Gallery, but it shows files that won't open.

Answer. Thumbnails from the DCIM folder can be restored even without root, but you need it to get original photos. We have already talked about similar cases, study the cases of other users.

Help recover files on your phone. When connected to a computer, the photos in the DCIM folder (internal memory) were not visible, although the photos were viewed on the phone. I wanted to upload them to my computer. As a result, she created something incomprehensible. Now in this folder all the photos are in the form of gray squares with an exclamation point. When you try to open it, the cursor freezes and spins, and then writes that this format is not supported. I somehow merged two DCIM folders and replaced them. As a result, space was freed up in the internal memory of the phone. Is it possible in this case to reanimate photos and videos from this folder, and if so, how?

I have lost photos and videos on my Samsung galaxy j5 smartphone. I'm looking in my files, there is nothing in the DCIM folder, but the memory is busy. An Android notification arrives that memory needs to be freed. What to do?

I transferred photos from my phone to a memory card, but they disappeared there, instead of them a triangle with an exclamation mark ... I found them (on your advice) in a DCIM camera, but the quality leaves much to be desired (there is no clarity at all!).

I moved photos from phone memory to sd card. The operation was performed through a stationary computer by connecting a device to it via a USB port. There is access to the Android Gallery, photos in the DCIM / Camera folder. But there is no access to photos and videos from Viber and WhatsApp.

"does not open to view photos from the DCIM phone in the computer is, but CAMERA is not, How to transfer the photo? View?"

On the memory card of the phone, Samsung deleted the DCIM file and Android! Is it possible to restore photos and videos in the same case?

Hello! Tell me, is it possible to make it so that photos are displayed in the DCIM folder or that they are visible, I need to transfer the necessary and unnecessary spam and texts to delete how easy it is to automate. What do you advise how to save what you need in vatsap and delete unnecessary in one fell swoop to clear the memory?

Whatever the reason for searching for contacts on Android, they are easy to find in several ways. The article briefly describes where they are and what operations are available on them.

Where are the contacts

Smartphone contacts are localized in two places that are significantly different from each other. In the first case, these are application accounts that use contact book data as the basis for further work. The second point involves recording all contacts in one system document, which can store contact information from all accounts connected to the device. Most users are interested in this particular file, but below are more details about each way to find them and the extraction method.

App Accounts

Some apps collect your contacts and store them in their own phone book counterparts. This is how gadget manufacturers (Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, ASUS, etc.) do it already at the user setup stage at the first start, creating an account and offering it as an alternative place to store all contacts by default. Accounts of other applications that ensure the correct operation of the device, as well as access to their resources, collect phone book data. This is mostly a Google search engine account.

Among other applications, the book is copied or supplemented directly in the application environment manually, it can be noted:

File with contacts

Phone contacts can be pulled out not only from remote servers of various applications that can be installed on the device. There is a separate file located directly in the device itself, it can be modified, copied and viewed. It can be called contacts.db or contacts2.db .

Using a smartphone

The method will take some time, but will be justified for sure. Since you will find the file that is sensitive to data leakage, contacts.

Via computer

This is the easiest way to get contacts to use on a PC, requiring no special skills or time.

This completes the actions on the Android device, the following is performed on the PC.

Searches are often performed in order to transfer contact data to another device. There are few reasons for this, creating a backup on an external device or importing to another smartphone due to malfunctions.

Knowing where contacts are stored on Android will undoubtedly be useful if you decide to buy yourself a new device. After all, it is very long and inconvenient to manually rewrite the phone numbers of all your friends.

Fortunately, smartphone manufacturers have provided the ability to quickly transfer all the data stored in the directory. You can find out where contacts are stored on Android phones and how to import them to another device from this article.

Storage options

First you need to figure out what options for storing contacts exist. There are three options in total, each with advantages and disadvantages. More specifically:

• On the SIM card. This option, although considered obsolete, allows you to transfer contacts to another phone quite quickly and easily. It is enough to insert a SIM card into the device - and all the information stored on it will immediately become available for use. The problem is that the memory of the SIM card is limited, so many numbers cannot be stored on it.
• The second place where contacts are stored on Android is a Google account. In this case, the information is stored in the "cloud" and can be withdrawn from there if necessary. The downside is that data synchronization requires the Internet, so without it you will not be able to work with contacts.
• And finally, the third option is the phone's memory. This method of storing contacts is the most common and allows you to transfer information both using the manager built into the phone and using third-party programs.

By the way, you can use all these methods at the same time. This will help you not to lose information in case of unforeseen circumstances (for example, if your phone breaks down).

Export using the built-in manager

The place on Android where contacts are stored when using memory is the /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/ directory. It contains a file called contacts.db, which can be copied to another smartphone and thus access the information.

The problem is that in order to work with the aforementioned file, Root rights must be opened on your phone. If you do not want to bother with this, then you can use the built-in manager. It is done like this:

• Go to the Contacts app and press the Menu key.
• Select the "Import/Export" section.

• Click Export to Drive.

After that, a vcf file will appear on your device. You can transfer it to another phone, and then open it using the "Import from storage" function and specify the path to the folder where contacts are stored on Android.

Using Third Party Programs

If you are not satisfied with the built-in contact manager, you can use similar applications from third-party developers. There are enough such programs in the Google store. True, their use is not always justified.

In addition, smartphone manufacturers in most cases supply special software with phones that is installed on a computer. The advantage of such programs is that you do not even have to specify the folder where the contacts are stored on Android to work with them. It is enough to use the appropriate function, and the application will do everything for you.