Files by Google is getting a porn folder

Android Police

Files by Google is getting a porn folder

By Ryne Hager

Published Jun 12, 2020

Google can call it a "safe folder," but we know what it's for

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Minutes after publication, XDA Developers was able to get the feature working. We've updated our post with that info.

According to a recent app teardown by the folks at 9to5Google (and further confirmation by XDA Developers, who got the feature working) the Files by Google app is picking up a new "safe folder" meant to protect files in a PIN-protected and encrypted hidden area, inaccessible to other apps. In other words, it's a porn folder.

Details dug up include an explicit "safe folder" name attached to the feature. Associated descriptions claim it's there so you can "Move any files you want to keep protected by a PIN to this folder," and that you can "Find your protected files in this folder." Details seem to use PIN and password interchangeably, but both the credentials you lock the folder with and its contents reportedly can't be recovered if you forget them, and XDA Developers has confirmed that they are encrypted. It also sounds like you'll have to re-enter the PIN to move files in or out of that folder.

XDA Developers was able to get the feature working and snagged some screenshots of it in action:

"Safe folder" in action in the Files by Google app. Images via XDA Developers.

The usual teardown caveats apply: Just because something is spotted in development doesn't mean it will materialize, details are subject to change, etc. However, this sort of tweak isn't an out-of-the-blue feature — hidden don't-call-them-porn-folders are all the rage. Samsung has its Secure Folder, OnePlus's File Manager has a Lockbox, and several phone manufacturers have options to hide or encrypt files and images in their built-in files and gallery apps.

There are a lot of euphemisms bandied around for what these sorts of solutions are used for, but almost no one is carrying around a bundle of important work files or plaintext passwords on their phone that they need always available as files separate from an app, locally stored but only tediously and intermittently accessed. There are a dozens of better solutions for that.

It's for porn. Files for Google is getting a porn folder.