Recycle Bin is simply a folder that contains all deleted images, apps, files, documents, etc in your phone. It is also called junk files because most times the files inside the bin are just useless to the owner.
Just like in a PC, there is also a recycle bin in Android smartphones but it’s not easily accessible. Though in some smartphones like latest Samsung and Gionee phones, the recycle bin can be found within gallery while for other Android phones, you can access the recycle bin with a third-party app such as ES file explorer.
The importance of recycle bin is that you can always come back to it to restore a mistakenly deleted image or file from your phone. However, the bad part of it is that it can be a device memory gulper if the bin is not emptied.
Although, the files in the recycle bin stays there temporarily and gets automatically deleted after about one week or so without you knowing. But what if you deleted huge files in a short time and it started slowing your phone down and you started thinking of how to free those space by permanently deleting the temporary junk files.
So how can you empty a recycle bin in Android smartphone?
Well, the first thing you have to fashion out is how to get access to the recycle bin folder in your Android phone. Follow below steps to get it done without much stress.
How to Empty Recycle Bin in Android Phone
STEP 1:
Install ES file explorer and open the app.
STEP 2:
On the home-screen of the app, click on the three dotted horizontal lines at the top left corner of the app. A menu will pop out from the left side of the app screen.
STEP 3:
Locate “recycle bin” when you scroll down and activate it if it is inactive.
STEP 4:
Now return to the home screen and click on the “Analyze” button as you can see from the screenshot. The app will start analyzing your smartphone memory.
STEP 5:
A result of your memory usage will be displayed once the analysis is completed.
STEP 6:
Now scroll down the result till you see “junk files”, click on it to access it.
STEP 7:
Inside the junk file, you will see “recycle” (recycle bin) with the amount of memory it is consuming at its right side. Just click on the small circle beside the “memory value” so that it turns green.
STEP 8:
You can also select any other junk file you may wish to delete and finally click on “CLEAN NOW”.
All the junk files and recycle bin will be emptied and eventually boosting device performance as memory is freed.
In my own case, there is no file inside the trash folder because I usually clean it.
Emptying Recycle Bin in Android Phones Without ES File Explorer
Yes can empty recycle bin in Android smartphones without any third-party app such as ES file explorer but this is actually achievable only on smartphones that comes pre-installed with recycle bin folder.
For example, here is how to gain access to recycle bin on Gionee M6 and delete the junk files there.
- Open the Gallery app in your phone
- Click on the “settings icon” as indicated in the image below.
- Now locate and select “trash”.
- You will see a list of all deleted images from your phone in the past 7 days.
- From there, you can select the images to permanently delete or restore back to the phone gallery.
Note that if you don’t delete the files, it will be automatically deleted after one week.
See also: an app that identifies original micro SD card.
Conclusion
I hope this post will help you locate where recycle bin is located in your Android phone and also help you delete those files hidden there for better phone performance. Let us know if your device came with recycle bin folder or you got it using a third-party application.
