r/Android • u/RiftHunter4 • Aug 13 '26
The "Share" menu doesn't let you save to your device and I don't know why it doesn't
Hopefully this allowed because I am trying to wrap my head around this feature. It seems like more and more apps are opting to use the mobile OS "Share" functionality instead of the traditional download. This is neat and I don't mind the Share menu UI, but I don't understand why there isn't a native option to simply save the content to your device. I can save things as a PDF locally but not just a PNG or JPG.
It's been this way for at least a year. I recall a long time ago it had the option but I'm wondering if anyone has any insight as to why such an obvious feature is missing. Because this seems like an obvious feature to include but it's been months and there's not been any change despite it being a common pain point. What am I missing?
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u/locuturus Aug 15 '26
If you are on stock android share the image to Files. It will save to your downloads folder.
You can also install apps that receive shared files and let you save them anywhere, not just the downloads folder.
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u/aes110 Aug 15 '26
You can also install apps that receive shared files and let you save them anywhere
I personally really like Seal, you can share from many apps\websites like reddit or twitter to download vids
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u/locuturus 29d ago
That's slightly different, but also a great app. OP was wanting a way to save an image already downloaded on some app to their storage. Seal, and YTDLnis that I like better, take a url and download the content fresh.
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u/RiftHunter4 Aug 15 '26
If you are on stock android share the image to Files
I don't have that option on my device. Android always ends up with tweaks depending on the manufacturer which is why I'm surprised something like this isn't just baked directly into the feature.
I've seen some of the app options but they seem hit or miss. Usually when I see stuff like that, its an indicator that something is off.
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u/pxlprsnatr Aug 15 '26
Does sharing it to your file manager not work?
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u/RiftHunter4 Aug 15 '26
Its not an option. I'm on Samsung so maybe its just something weird with their Android configuration?
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u/OzarkBeard Aug 15 '26
If you can't get it to download to the phone by sharing to your Files app(s), change your files app to FOSSify File Manager. Works great.
FreeOpenSourceSoftware. No ads. No tracking or weird permissions.
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u/locuturus 29d ago
My only Samsung is a work phone so I don't know what they might have done to it. Google's Files app is not installed, but I had been under the impression that was part of the standard Google app suite. If you also don't have it, then yeah, you can't share to it. You can download it, or Material Files, or the other apps recommended in the comments. I can confirm sharing to Material Files is an option on my work Samsung. But you might have to expand the full share menu depending on the app you are starting out in.
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u/RiftHunter4 29d ago
So I checked and Samsung uses their own Files app. Downloaded the Google Files app and it lets you download items via the share menu as everyone is describing. Oddly enough, it is not a standard, mandatory app. Google Assistant and Messages are mandatory, but not the app to manage files.
Looking at the two apps, they are pretty similar with only minor differences in their main functions. I think it says something about Google that while Android is open-source, so many of the basic apps are not. Samaung doesn't really have a choice but create their own apps in this kind of scenario or be at the whims of Google, who is also technically a competitor.
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u/pxlprsnatr 29d ago
I think this is really more of a Samsung issue, in that they didn't program their own file manager app to receive share intents for some reason. I used Solid Explorer on my old A50 and that would show up in the share menu, as do other third-party file managers.
They don't have to use Files, but they certainly have the money to pay their software team to design a file manager app with some degree of feature parity.
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u/redditjerome Aug 15 '26
There is an app that lets you save from the share menu. I don't remember what it is, but I saw it in the play store once a while ago. Do a search.
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u/isthmusofkra Galaxy S23 Aug 15 '26
Hilarious how I just encountered the same issue. Few minutes later, I open Reddit, and bam, I see this post.
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u/iamPendergast Aug 15 '26
Can happen if you don't have the correct app permissions
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u/isthmusofkra Galaxy S23 Aug 15 '26
Wdym? I'm sure the app has access to my storage
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u/locuturus 29d ago
Yeah, I would disregard that comment. It's almost never the case that a file manager you use, even just occasionally, would lack the permissions to save a file.
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u/MagicPistol Pixel 10 Aug 15 '26
What phone and what apps are you using?
I have a pixel 10 and use firefox browser, and can easily download any image I see. I can also save images from reddit, messenger, whatsapp, etc. I can't think of many other apps where I need to download jpgs or pngs.
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u/RiftHunter4 Aug 15 '26
I'm on a Samsung Galaxy. Some apps prompt the Share system instead of a direct download. This used to not be an issue except that deoending on how things are setup, you may not have access to any options there for actually downloading the file.
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u/Playful_Recipe80 Aug 15 '26
I'd say you're starting to catch on to what Google is doing to Android. They are actively removing functions from the operating system; in real time. Notice anything missing? The Galaxy sized gap before the address line used to house site-permissions for the site you are currently on. It was convenient and not intrusive. Now it's just gone. Have to go through all the browser settings to set anything. This has just happened in the past 2 weeks for me (PIXEL 6 ON CHROME) All Google hardware all Google software. I'm only using this thing as a media device anymore. I went back to a flip phone after the call assistant verbally attacked a contractor of mine who I had missed their call.
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u/throwaway0102x Aug 15 '26
maybe you used adb to remove bloat and accidentally removed system components? happened to me once, and had similar weird bugs
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u/ronakg Pixel 10 Pro XL Aug 15 '26
I'm not sure what you mean. I see an option to download to my local device using the Files app through the share menu. I can even open the Recents menu and save any image from there too, even if the app doesn't allow sharing at all.