A long-time darling of Android aficionados, Astro File Manager hasn't always had a look befitting its excellent functionality. That changed somewhat through the 7.x version updates, with certain parts of the interface getting refreshed here and there — bottom tabs had been introduced by v7.9, for example. Now version 8 is upon us, and the Astro team has delivered an even more dramatic overhaul. The home page has been completely restyled and the much-requested dark mode has also arrived.
The header bars are now white instead of orange in a move reminiscent of what Google has done to many of its apps in recent years. It might mean apps lose a bit of their character, but this also makes it much easier to introduce a dark theme, which is likely why Astro now looks like this. The app's home page now features a prominent doughnut pie chart showing internal storage that borrows its look from Android's built-in equivalent, and categories get little rectangular buttons rather than the circles of old.
Left: v.7.9 Center and right: The v8.0 redesign.
Liberal use of drop shadows around cards and buttons break up the glaring white with a bit of added depth, too. Tab two in the bottom bar, Files, looks like it could still use a lick of paint, so we might expect to see that updated in the near future.
Dark mode is not only present but can be set to match your current system settings and change at the same time as everything else does. There's also an 'Auto Battery' option which presumably enables dark mode when you're running low on juice, although most battery saver modes will probably do that already.
While the release notes allude to a new widget, sadly this is just referring to the aforementioned internal storage wheel on the app's home page rather than an actual widget you can add to your phone's home screen, in case you were wondering. The usual bug fixes and stability improvements are also mentioned, but that's a given in any big app update these days.
Release notes for ASTRO v8.0.0
Version 8.0.0 is rolling out via the Play Store already, but you can also download it from APK Mirror if it's not reached you yet.