ES File Explorer, once the only Android file manager you’d ever consider, has dropped in popularity since it became ad-supported — invasively so. If you’ve finally decided to delete it and are in search of a substitute, a few exist that are more than capable of filling the role.
Our current recommendation is Solid Explorer, which you can grab from Google Play, however, if you want to explore all your options, Phandroid’s Ashley King has compiled a list with several other choices including:
Cabinet (Free, APK Mirror)
Total Commander (Free, Google Play)
ASUS File Manager (Free, Google Play)
All have nice interfaces, with Total Commander sure to satisfy those who love the Midnight Commander / XtreeGold look.
The point is you don’t have to put up with crappy apps (or great apps that do crappy things). With such a saturated market, you shouldn’t be afraid to look for replacements, regardless of how well your favourites have served you in the past.
ES File Explorer is loaded with garbage, here are 4 better alternatives [Phandroid]
Comments
7 responses to “Android Users, It’s Time To Stop Using ES File Explorer”
…or you could pay for the pro version without ads. I don’t think any other app has the same feature set. I use the pro version daily and it’s awesome. I can copy/paste to and from: Dropbox; Google Drive; ownCloud; LAN; SD card; internal storage.
I don’t get why ppl don’t just pay for the pro version of apps. I think of the ‘free’ version of an app as a ‘free trial’. You like it; You pay for it. Compared to PC software, Android apps are so cheap.
ES Explorer was the best file manager but has degenerated into an app that tries to be all things to all people and doesn’t do it very well. The ads became far too annoying and I moved on to cleaner and leaner offerings.
Another ex-ES user here too. I just got sick of all the crap. App optimizer popping up, all that garbage on the home page. I just want to be able to shuffle files around.
I’m currently on Solid (on your recommendation) but I’m not totally sold on it yet either.
I got rid of ES a while ago, and now use FX. The options are nice and it’s ad-free. Was happy to pay for the two add ons.
X-plore seems good.
No ads in my ES File Explorer and it only cost 20c
Do any of these other options support Smb shares? That’s what’s made me stick with ES.
Oh, please, please, help! I am flummoxed that I can’t find anything about this problem anywhere online. I have uninstalled ES File Explorer from my Android tablet over and over and over again, but shortly after, there it is, reinstalled. With all the people who have been dumping this monster, it seems someone besides me would have noticed this problem, but as I said, I find nothing about it, and more to the point, how to correct it. Can you please find someone to tackle this problem? I would be immensely grateful.
I bought the paid version and there were STILL ads on the home screen and I couldn’t find a way to disable them. I got a refund and installed Solid Explorer. All I want it a nice file manager with LAN SMB support and I have no problem paying for Solid Explorer. It works really well. ES File Explorer SHOULD NOT be displaying ads in the PAID VERSION and I SHOULD BE ABLE TO set the default screen to the file explorer rather than that obnoxious ‘home screen’. Solid Explorer is a really nice replacement for the functionality I need.
So I started out with file ES File Explorer free, quickly got super sick of the gas so I bought ES File Explorer Pro, and deleted ES File Explorer free, Um,,,,, okay except as soon as I started trying to do stuff with ES File Explorer Pro I found out that about a quarter of it I could no longer do because when I was click on it it would tell me that it couldn’t find ES File Explorer the free one with ads and bloatware that I deleted, because apparently the pro doesn’t have all of the functionality that the free one does????, therefore making me forcing me to download the free one again which of course is called upon an activated by the ES File Explorer Pro which again gives access to crappy adware…. I’m awake are you f’n kidding me what’s the point in all but invading me with obtrusive adware to the point where I get this Pro 1 to get rid of the adware, just to turn around and make me download the free one with all your adwear again, not to mention what a pain in the ass it is to have File Explorer, ES File Explorer, and ES File Explorer Pro, and one of them seems to like to install screenshots and shipped to my device without me knowing it or you guessed it….AD’s… only without the file locker for ES File Explorer you can’t see them on your device… I think the first time I found them I had something like 8 gigabytes or more of bullshit that it had stacked away can my screenshots and downloads folder… I mean give me a matherfarking break…. guess I’ll have to give one of these or try hope for something better than what I’ve currently got going on which is. FUBAR…