We've all been there: You're trying to find something, but you can't remember where you put it. It might be an app, a contact, a note, or even a photo—whatever it is, finding your saved items on your phone is a pretty simple process, but it can be a little confusing if you've never done it before.
But don't worry! There's an easy solution for that!
Here’s How to Find Your Saved Items on Your Phone:
The first step in looking for saved items on your phone is to check the default storage location. It will either be on your internal storage or microSD card if you have one.
If neither of these steps worked, then try checking each app individually by opening each app and looking for your files there. If this still doesn't work, then try looking in different folders (such as “My Documents” or “Downloads”) within each app's folder structure.
With that in mind, this article will explain further how to search for saved items on your phone, making it easier to find what you're looking for.
Find Your Saved Items on Your Android Phone: (Step-By-Step)
If you're looking for a specific file saved to your Android phone but are having difficulty finding it, you're in luck! Android provides many options for locating the file or app you're looking for. Here's how it's done:
To Locate Files
1. You must go to your phone's settings and tap on storage.
2. To see all the files saved on your phone, tap on internal or external storage.
3. You will then see all of the files saved in your Android phone, which will be organized into different folders (usually in the “Downloads” folder).
To Find Applications
1. Navigate to the Settings menu and select Apps.
2. A list of all the apps installed on your device will appear. Scroll to the bottom and select Downloaded.
3. You'll see a list of all the apps you've installed on your device and their storage usage. The amount of space they take up on your device is indicated in gigabytes (GB).
Find Your Saved Items on Your iPhone: (Step-By-Step)
1. If you want to find your saved items on your iPhone, use the search function in the built-in Files app.
2. To find a file, type its name into the search bar of your phone's Files app.
3. You can also look through your files by selecting one of the file categories at the bottom of the screen. Personal Documents; PDFs; iTunes U; Photos; Videos; Music; Ringtones; Podcasts; Audiobooks; Voice Memos; Mail attachments; and other items shared with you via iCloud Drive, such as Pages documents stored in iCloud Storage and Keynote presentations stored in iCloud Storage, are among the categories.
But what if none of these options enabled you to locate the saved items you're looking for? And you didn’t realize you accidentally deleted the file you have been searching for?
Don't worry. Here are some options for you!
How to Retrieve Saved Items on Your Phone:
To retrieve saved items on your phone, go to the Chrome app on your phone and tap the three dots in the upper right corner. Then, select Downloads. You should see a list of all the files you've downloaded using Chrome.
If you're unsure if some items are there but suspect they are, browse the list and see if anything looks familiar.
Retrieve Your Saved Items on Your Android Phone: (Step-By-Step)
There are numerous methods for recovering accidentally deleted files on Android. Here is a step-by-step guide for retrieving deleted files on Android:
1. Go to Google Drive or another cloud service set up as a backup cloud or storage for your downloaded files.
2. Select the file you want to restore from Google Drive or another cloud service, such as Dropbox or OneDrive. Choosing a single file will make it easier to find later if you need it. If you require multiple files at once, try searching for them by name.
3. When you've found what you're looking for, tap it once and then tap Download next to the file's name; this will download it back into your device's storage space so you can use it later if necessary!
This is what you can do if you don't have a backup and have completely lost your saved items:
1. From the Google Play Store, download an app that allows you to recover deleted files, including those that have been permanently deleted. You can, for example, use a file recovery app such as Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery or Photorec by Piriform.
2. Open the file recovery app and choose the type of data to recover, such as photos or videos. You should also decide which storage medium you want to recover data from, such as internal memory or an SD card.
3. Click “Next” and wait for your device to scan for deleted items. If nothing appears during this process, all of your data has been overwritten and is no longer recoverable.
4. If some files appear in the list of recoverable files, select them and click “Recover” to restore them to your device's internal storage or SD card, as appropriate.
Retrieve Your Saved Items on Your iPhone: (Step-By-Step)
If you accidentally deleted a file in your iPhone, don't worry—you can easily retrieve it using iCloud.
Here's how to recover iCloud files:
1.) Launch your web browser and navigate to icloud.com. Enter your Apple ID and password to log in.
2.) From the left-hand menu, go to “Settings,” then “Sign In & Security,” then “Find My iPhone,” then “All Devices” on the right side of the screen, where it says “Devices.”
3.) Choose the device containing the files you wish to recover (they will be listed alphabetically). A map with a blue dot representing that device and a toggle switch next to it should appear (if not, scroll down until you do). Click on this switch once to make it green rather than white; this will give you access to all of the files on that device!
Sources:
Apple Support: iCloud User Guide
Apple Support: Use the Files app on your iPhone
Android Authority: How to retrieve lost files on Android
Macworld: How to restore deleted files, photos, bookmarks, and more from iCloud
