How To Find Downloads History On Android Phone?

Very often while downloading any files on our Android phone, we can trace that file on our phone memory or on the card memory attached to that phone. But it’s a very easy task for most tech-savvy users. Still, sometimes we mess up while finding out the downloaded file on our Android Phone. In this article, we will have a thorough lookup to find out the downloads history on Android Phones.

But before we dig the possible ways to trace out the downloads history on your Android Phone, let’s focus on the ways we are downloading any file into your Android Phone. Are you and downloading any file using your browsers such as Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge, Opera, Brave, or any other mobile browser. Or are you downloading any file using any other app such as Google Drive or OneDive or dropbox or IceDrive or any other cloud drives? You may have downloaded any file from Social Media apps such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or Whatsapp. Or you might be trying to download any video from your YouTube app or on any song on your music app such as Spotify or Gaana, etc, and trying to figure out the video or song on your phone.

1. Find the downloaded file in the Download Folder

The is a general concept that the downloaded files are generally saved in the Downloads folder as in the Windows operating system, if not manually saved in some other folder. To view the Download folder on your Android Phone, just open the file manager of your phone and click on the folder view tab. You will be able to view the download folder there.

If you are using any third-party app as your file manager such as Files by Google, then the downloads folder is available on the front page of the app. However, Files by Google is the default file manager of some of the stock Android phones.

2. Find the file downloaded via Browser such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox

When you are downloading any file using your phone browser such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc. then you can easily trace out the downloaded files and their location from the downloads history of the browser. To access the downloads history of the browser just tap on the three dots menu on the top-right corner of the browser and you will find the downloads option. On clicking on the downloads option there, you will be able to view the history of the downloaded files using that browser. By clicking on the files, the files will start opening.

The same is applicable for other browsers too.

3. Track files downloaded from Cloud drives such as Google Drive, Icedrive, OneDrive or dropbox

When you are downloading any file saved on your Google Drive using the Drive app for android, the downloaded files automatically get saved in the download folder. Later you can access it from your phone’s file manager application.

But the scenario is a little different in the case of the Microsoft OneDrive app. When you are downloading any file from the OneDrive cloud storage, it will ask you to select the location as per your choice. However, by default, it will land you within the download folder. If you don’t want to change the location of the downloaded file, then directly tap on the Save option on the top-right corner of the window. Otherwise, click on the back button to choose a different folder for saving your downloaded file.

Thus check properly the app setting while downloading any file from other cloud storage applications. Although, while downloading and after the completion of the download, you will get a notification on your notification bar. Please check that in case of any confusion.

4. Trace out photos and videos downloaded from social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Whatsapp

In case you are trying to download any image from the Facebook app, then it gets downloaded into the Facebook folder within the DCIM folder. But in the case of video download, Facebook doesn’t allow to download any video uploaded on Facebook. You can just save videos into your watchlist. However, you can do it in the other way too. If you are in serious need of any video for education or some other decent purpose, then you can check the article on how to download Facebook videos.

Instagram doesn’t allow the physical download of any image or video. However, if you want to share any image or video of Instagram, you can only share the link and not the physical copy. But, taking a screenshot of the image is there for you to get the physical copy of the image. So, if you need any copy of the image uploaded on Instagram, just take the screenshot of the display.

The same is applicable for Twitter also. We would suggest taking screenshots or recording screens in case of any video if you are seriously in need of a physical copy of the image or video on Twitter.

But in the case of files shared on Whatsapp, you can easily find it within Internal storage>Android>media>com.whatsapp>Whatsapp>Media.

However, you can easily access the images and videos shared on Whatsapp from the Gallery app of your Android phone. And if you are using the files app by Google then the Whatsapp images and videos shortcuts will be shown on the front page of the app.

5. Figure out videos and songs downloaded from YouTube and other music app such as Spotify or Gaana

Please be noted that separate downloading videos from YouTube is not allowed or legal as per the policy of YouTube. You can only download any video, which can be accessed by the YouTube application only. And you can not physically trace out the video file separately within the memory of the phone.

The same is applicable for the music app too. You can download the song, which you can access from the same app only. The only advantage is that you can view or listen to the media file in offline mode too and without any kind of interruption.

6. How to access the download files of an Android phone from a Windows PC?

There are several ways to connect your Android Phone with your Windows PC. You can use the following to establish a connection with your Android phone and your PC.

1. USB Data Cable
2. Bluetooth
3. Internet
4. Wifi

Connection using a Data cable doesn’t require any kind of third-party app to access the downloads history of Android phones. Just choose the File Transfer option on connecting the data cable from PC to android phone.

Once you have selected the File transfer option, the phone will act as an external drive on your Windows PC.

You can now explore the folder and file of your Android Phone and fetch the downloaded file. However, for connection via Bluetooth, wifi, and internet, you will require a third-party app such as Your Phone by Microsoft corporation, Dell Mobile Connect, and so on.

Conclusion

There are numerous applications available for your android phone, which provides you the facility to download files. But it is not possible to cover all of them and the nature of downloading and their downloads history. In this article, we have covered the most popular and common ones. So if you are using any other application for any kind of download, try to search the default download location if any from its settings. Otherwise, the shortcut method is always there for you. When you are downloading any file, check the notification slide. The information regarding the current download will be available there. In case you face any other problem in searching the downloads history of your Android Phone, please feel free to get back to us and write us in the below comment section.

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