15 Things You Didn’t Know Your ES File Explorer Can Do

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ES file explorer is one of those apps that everyone has, but no one uses it to its full potential. Don’t believe me? Well, go ahead and read this post.

On the surface, ES file explorer looks may like a regular file manager. But if you dig deeper, you will be surprised to see what ES file explorer is hiding in its bag. (No, I’m not talking about it sending user data to Chinese server, this post is not about that)

This single app can do work of 15+ apps. It’s like a swizz army knife.

For instance, it can extract apk & uninstall multiple apps at once, transfer files to your computer over WiFi, encrypted folders, edit host files and much more.

Following YouTube video, explaining top 10 hidden feature of ES file explorer in detail. However, in this article, we will see few more of them.So let’s get started.

Note: A year ago ES File Explorer was brought by an another company and since then, they have added unnecessary features, bloatware, and misleading advertisement etc. Therefore we no longer support ES File Explorer as our favorite browser. All the tips mention in this article works fine. But we suggest using Solid File explorer as an alternative. It’s as powerful as ES File explorer minus the bloatware.

Related: Top 10 Alternatives To ES File Explorer

ES File Explorer Features

1. Access your Computer from Android over WiFi 

You can browse your computer directly from your Android. Start by opening your ES file explorer then go to fast access menu by swiping the screen from left to right.

Tap on Network > LAN > Scan. Once you see your computer name, tap on that and enter the login credentials. And that’s it.

Also see: Easily stream videos from computer to Android [Video]

2. Browsing android files from your PC   

This one is useful for transferring big files from your PC to Android. Before knowing about this feature, I used Airdroid, but not anymore.

Update: I switch back to Airdroid, because of the interface.

From your ES file explorer > Network >  Remote Manager > turn ON.

Once you start the service, ES file manager will display an FTP URL. Enter it, in any computer’s browser (connected to same WiFi network as your Android) and access content of your Android SD card.

3. Quickly Uninstall multiple apps  

To uninstall multiple apps at once, open your ES file explorer > Library > App. Select the apps you want to uninstall and tap on uninstall. All the selected apps will uninstall one by one.

Related: Quickly uninstall multiple apps on Android

4. Hiding media from gallery 

If you wish to hide the content of any folder, from appearing in your gallery (or photo for lollipop users) then simply rename the folder, by adding a full stop in front of its name.

For example, to hide WhatsApp photos from appearing in your gallery, simply navigate to ‘WhatsApp_image‘ folder on your SD card and rename the folder name to ‘.WhatsApp_images‘.

Read more: How To Hide Whatsapp picture/videos from your Gallery

5. Extract apk from your install apps  

From quick access menu > goto Library > Apps > Select the application whose .apk you want to extract > and select a backup option from the bottom menu.

Related: Top 5 ways to extract apk

6. Quickly Transfer big files between two Android  

Connect the two androids under same WiFi network. If you don’t have WiFi, then you can create a hotspot from one device and connect the other one to it.

Next, launch ES File Manager > choose the files you want to transfer > then tap on the send option > it will list the other Android, select it and tap on send.

 

7. Remove pre-installed system apps [ROOT]

To uninstall system apps, launch file explorer > root explorer > turn it on > tap on the root explore name > select ‘uninstall system app’ from the pop menu.

A window will open with the list of all system apps, select the app you want to uninstall and tap on the uninstall app at the bottom.

8. Installing Any App As System App [ROOT]  

This is done in 2 parts.

First, move the apk (of the app that you want to install) as a system app folder. To do this copy the apk in the clipboard and navigate to Local > device > system > app, and paste your apk.

The second part requires you to, change its permission. To do this, select the .apk you have just pasted > tap on ‘more’ at the bottom right > select permission > change the permission to what shown below.

I use this to install Cerberus — the anti-theft app, as a system app.

Read detail guide at Addictivetips.

9. Deleting pattern lock on android  [ROOT] 

Android pattern is store is ‘gesture.key’ file which can found under  Local > device > data > system. If you delete this file, then your lock pattern will be disabled.

This is cool to trick to prank your friends.

However, it can come handy if you forget your pattern lock on a rooted device and your screen is ON. Then with this trick you can you can easily delete your pattern.

And on the flip side, if you turn OFF your screen and don’t know the unlock pattern, then it will become hard to unlock it.

I have gone through the same situation once, but I was not able to recall this. As a result, I ended up formatting my device.

10. Increase your flappy bird score [ROOT]  

Install Flappy bird and play it for once. Now from your ES file explorer, navigate to flappy bird’s data folder. It can be found under Local > device > data > data > com.dotgears.flappy bird >shared_pref > flappyBird.xml.

Edit the flappybird.xml file and put any score, you want under value field. Save the change and close the file. Next time you open flappy bird, your score will change to what you set.

Not useful, but fun.

11. Create an encrypted files with password protection

If you have sensitive data (like a private video or images) in your android, that you don’t want other to see, then encryption is the best option.  And you don’t have to download an extra app for that.

With ES File manager you can encrypt any file or a folder with a password. And once you do that the content will automatically be hidden from your gallery as well.

Don’t forget the password, though, or it’s almost impossible to get it back.

12. Edit host files on Android [root]

Like Computer, Android also has a host file, which is used to map host names to its IP addresses.

But if you want to block a particular website for your children (or for any other reason), then you can simple edit the host file by mapping the website name to localhost i.e. your android.

Go to your host file from device > system > etc > hosts. Edit the host file using ES text editor and put the localhost IP addresses (127.0.0.1) in front of the domain name of a website you want to block. (see screenshot)

13. Save files directly to your Dropbox & Google Drive

Very few people know that ES file explore built-in cloud storage. This is helpful because you don’t need to install third-party application for Dropbox or Google Drive.

Moreover moving files between cloud storage and your SD card is much quicker as this feature is built in right into your file manager.

14. Use ES file explorer as browser

Another less known feature of ES file manager is built-in Internet apps like Facebook, Google, and YouTube.

Now this is not a substitution of original Facebook app or browser like Chrome. But you can use it when your friends want to login to their account, and you don’t want to sing out yours.

Since Facebook native app causes a huge battery drain and has some of the worst permissions, I have seen many people uninstall the origianal app and using ES file explorer for Facebook.

15. Mount Pen drive on Android using ES file manager [root]

To do this trick, you will need- OTG cable, rooted android device that supports OTG cable, pen drive, ES file explorer and stick mount android app.

Install stick mounts on your Android and connect the USB end of the otg cable, to pen drive and micro USB end to your Android. After successful connection, the app will pop up an alert box, listing the directory where you’ll find your files in the file explorer app.

For steps by step, instruction checks out this article on a green bot.

EDIT 1

16. Extract the content of any Android App

This is useful when you are playing the game on your Android and want to see its music file, or you want to extract images from wallpaper apps, etc.

Start by taking the backup of the app, (see 5) and once you get its apk extract it. You will notice a couple of files. Music and images files are usually found in the assets folder. See the screenshot below.

Video