Where downloaded files go on your phone

Android: the Downloads folder, then the Gallery

Chrome, Samsung Internet and Firefox all save to the same place: the phone's Downloads folder. Two quick ways to open it:

• Pull down the notification shade and tap the finished download. It opens in the right app straight away.
• Or open the Files app (on Samsung, My Files) and choose Downloads.

Photos and videos in that folder are picked up by the media scanner and show up in your Gallery, usually within a few seconds. If a video is in Downloads but missing from the Gallery, the scanner has not run yet. Reopening the Gallery, or restarting the phone once, settles it.

iPhone and iPad: Files first, Photos second

Safari never writes straight into Photos. It saves into Files → On My iPhone → Downloads, and shows a small blue arrow in the address bar while it does. Tap that arrow, then the file, to open it.

1. 01

   Open the Files app

   Go to Browse, then Downloads. The newest file is at the top when you sort by date.

2. 02

   Tap Share

   Open the file and tap the share icon in the bottom corner.

3. 03

   Choose Save Video or Save Image

   That is the step that moves it into the Photos app. Until then it lives only in Files.

If you changed Safari's download location to iCloud Drive, the file is in iCloud Drive's Downloads folder instead. You can change it back under Settings → Apps → Safari → Downloads.

Windows, Mac and Linux

Every desktop browser uses the system Downloads folder unless you told it otherwise. The fastest route is the browser's own download list: Ctrl + J on Windows and Linux, Cmd + Shift + J in Chrome on a Mac. From there, Show in folder takes you to the file itself.

When the file is nowhere

Four things account for nearly every missing download.

• It is still downloading. A long video can take a while on a slow connection. The notification shade or the browser's download list shows the progress.
• Private or incognito mode. The file still saves, but the browser hides its history, so there is no list to tap. Look in Downloads directly.
• Storage is full. A phone with no free space cancels the write silently. Free a little and try again.
• Only the sound arrived. If you pressed MP3 instead of Download, you have an audio file, and music files do not appear in a photo gallery.

Keeping saved files tidy

Downloads folders turn into a dumping ground fast. Two habits help: rename a file right after saving it, while you still know what it was, and move keepers into an album or folder the same day.

Our downloads already carry a useful name, built from the account and the post code, so the file is identifiable even a month later.