Files by Google

When I joined Google's Next Billion Users team as product manager, I took on our largest product, Files by Google, which tackled the problem of helping low and mid tier Android device users (many of which were new internet users) navigate their phone's file system and clean up storage. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) file manager (Documents UI) was so poor that most Android OEMs (original equipment manufacturers, eg Xiaomi, Oppo) built their own file manager, some built a storage manager, but on the aggregate low and mid-tier Android users (ie 80% of Android users) were left to fend for themselves. Files had first growth through organic & paid ads focusing on the underserved storage management & cleaning value prop and then through pre-install deals with OEMs. Some of the strategic decisions & work I did are noted below. While hard to say definitively, Files would have likely reached 200M MAUs without any of these interventions but instead reach 250M MAUs by the time I left, so I had at 50M MAU impact :)

Growing Files

While File's storage cleaning feature was more differentiated in the market than its file management offering (and hence most of our Play Store download traffic came for this feature), the users with the highest retention rates were those where Files was pre-installed on their device and were primarily using our file browsing functionality. Additionally, given Files didn't generate revenue, we needed to find a (very) affordable acquisition strategy and Google already incentivized Android OEMs to leverage our apps through preinstall deals. So, it seemed like leaning into pre-installs (making Files attractive for OEMs to use), making sure we're the best file manager possible (which can include being a great file cleaner), and ensuring Google pushed it as such is where we needed to focus.

Step 1. Getting preinstalled on more devices & ensuring users discover

We were preinstalled on 25% of Android devices and there seemed to be 35% potential headroom (40% is Samsung & other OEMs who would always prefer their own file manager & suite of phone apps). Additionally, 40% of devices where Files was preinstalled never opened the app. This was usually because the OEM had another file manager on their device as default. We needed to either negotiate making us default or making the user aware of the differentiated value we offered (particularly file/storage cleaning).

• Getting Files pre-installed on Google Pixel: This was an important signal to the market that Google thought Files is the best file & storage manager. This required a lot of influencing and organizational strategy but after 6 months of discussions, Files was the default file manager on Pixel 5 and beyond. I also worked on some product collaborations with the Pixel Settings team, like adding a button in the Storage Management part of Pixel to open Files.

• BD deals that ensure Files is on more devices or became default: This was largely just ensuring we were talking to the right people at Google and ensuring Files was part of the deals they were negotiating, and while I waved the flag for this, my BD counterpart gets the credit :) This included:

  • Making sure Files was part of Google Mobile Services (GMS) deals

  • Make sure Files was part of the bilateral deals being done with the large OEMs - particularly Transsion, who sells the vast majority of devices in African markets (including the tablets for my ConnectMed kioks!) but probably 99% of Google employees have never heard of, was an important deal for us to be apart of.

• Diverting our ads spend from acquisition to activating preinstall users: We focused the spend on retargeting campaigns rather than new acquisition which we believe

• Android device callout to Files: I worked with the Google Guide team (they own the onboarding experience for Android devices that many OEMs leverage) to make sure there was a callout to Files during this flow. I also worked on having it noted in Android Settings storage area (see below).