Dumpster for Android. Where is the Recycle Bin on phone and how to empty it?

Instructions on how to add the Recycle Bin on phone. Where to find the Recycle Bin, how to empty it and delete from a device, how to get access to deleted files and how to use Dumpster.

How the Recycle Bin works on desktop OS

The Recycle Bin on computer works as follows: you delete files and folders by pressing Del or by choosing “Delete” in the context menu. Data you delete is not actually deleted but it is removed to a different area of a physical disk.  

If there is not enough free disk space, you can empty trash. If this is not done, files can be easily restored within a month or even longer depending on the settings and size of the Recycle Bin. 

How to access Recycle bin on Android phone

So does Android OS have the Recycle Bin? Unfortunately, there is no Trash by default. Accordingly, if you delete files, you can restore them with the help of special program, and even then not always. 

There is a fast and free way to fix this flaw. The mobile application Dumpster is a complete counterpart of the Recycle Bin. After installing Dumpster you can safely delete data, empty the Recycle Bin from unnecessary files as it gets full, store files in the cloud.

Main features of the Dumpster application:

• Recovery of deleted photos, videos, music (all possible media formats are supported) from Trash 
• To install the Recycle Bin on phone you don’t need superuser privileges 
• Recovery of deleted Android apps from Trash bin folder
• File protection of Android trash with a blocker
• Storing deleted files in a cloud
• Auto-clean function: after a specified time the Recycle Bin in Android is automatically cleared.

Where to download Dumpster for Android

The Dumpster app is available for a free download on Google Play Market.

Download Dumpster

The last version of Dumpster was released on December 14, 2017,  the number of downloads has reached 10 million - a clear sign that Android-Recycle Bin is in demand.

Dumpster is installed as an ordinary mobile application and works without root. At the same time activated Root access will allow to use the Recycle Bin in more efficient way on phone.  

It is easy to activate root: just check the box next to 'Enable root access'.

How to use Dumpster. Selecting files to store in the Recycle Bin

In the Recycle Bin settings you should specify file types which needed to be taken under control of Dumpster: Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, Apps, etc.

By default all the flags are set, but if necessary you can disable those formats that are not going to be stored in Android Recycle Bin. 

In the next step the program will scan the disk and add to the database all the files that might end up in the Android Trash folder. Give the application time to perform this procedure.  

Android trash 'auto clean' option

Auto clean function relieves user from manual cleaning of the Recycle Bin. As function name implies files will be deleted in automatic mode.  

In the sidebar, select the Auto clean section.  Here the interval is adjusted: how often Dumpster will clean the Android Trash bin. The files are stored up to 3 months at most, but you can clean the files on Android manually.

Deletion and recovery of files from Dumpster

As soon as you delete a file it transfers to Dumpster for storing. The files are available on the main page of application. You can use a filter to search (drop-down menu with the list of file types), sort by date, size, type and name. 

It you press on any file and select Restore, the files will be restored from the Recycle Bin to the original folder. Bulk selection is also available. 

How to empty Recycle Bin on Android phone with the help of Dumpster

In order to delete all the files manually in Dumpster (to empty the Recycle Bin), you need:

Way 1:

1. Open Dumpster menu (thee-point button),
2. Choose Delete All.

Way 2:

To empty the Recycle Bin from all the files, you can use Empty Dumpster function. 

1. Open the side menu
2. Press Empty Dumpster. A window with total size of all the files will appear.  
3. Press Empty to delete everything.

Way 3:

An alternative option to empty trash in Android is to upload all files to the cloud, and it is the most reliable way. Use the upload to the cloud if you doubt. In case you need files they can be easily restored by downloading from the Web.

Note. This function is available only through a subscription (cost - $2,9/month). You can store up to 20 GB of files in the cloud. And a pleasant bonus: by activating subscription you disable advertising in Dumpster.   

Dumpster: Questions - Answers - Users reviews

There was the application Dumpster 1.0,508 on the smartphone with Android 4.4.4. Everything seems to work properly. Perhaps, I haven’t noticed at once, but now the files, that have been deleted earlier, are not restored from the Recycle Bin to the source folder. When restored they turn to end up in the Recycle Bin! And there is no way to get them back.

I have reinstalled Dumpster 1.0.508, installed newer versions of trash bin for Android. Nothing works. During this time I updated Android version and deleted «.thumbnails» folder. This folder appears on my phone memory in DCIM folder. This problem rarely occurs and the reason of it is not clear. File .thumbnails, which should be a base of thumbnail images from the gallery,  increases in size. There is a folder named .thumbnails (“.” before the name hides the folder in Android) on devices with Android OS. This folder stores all the thumbnails of the gallery even after the files are deleted. 

So if you made savoury photos and then deleted them, you should know that they are still stored in remote corners of system folders.  

Answer. Thank you for such a detailed description of the problem. Yes, it is true that the files you deleted through the Recycle Bin are stored on the device depending on where you installed Dumpster or set in the settings. The files are stored on phone in an unencrypted form including pictures, photos, thumbnails. While you reinstall Dumpster again and again you decrease your chances  to restore photos because it is likely that the soft is installed in place of deleted files (if they are actually deleted and not stored in the Dumpster folder).

I would recommend to stop looking for a problem in Dumpster and to restore photos with the help of data recovery software like Undeleter for Android. If the photos were deleted on memory card, it can be solved even easier.

I drowned my phone together with all the photos and videos. I bought a new one today thinking I could recover everything from the Cloud Recycle Bin, but it's been more than 60 days.

Apparently, we are talking about the Google Photos service. Of course, there is no chance of recovering your files from the Trash folder. But there are other ways, which you can read about here. In addition to Google Photos, you should check the Samsung Cloud, if you have synced your device with it.

I can't remove the shortcuts of deleted programs from my Samsung tablet. The Recycle Bin doesn't appear and I can't transfer them either. Even performing a Hard Reset didn't help.

Install an alternative launcher for Android. And, to be honest, your question is a little bit unclear. Most likely, you didn't perform a Hard Reset in the right way, so here's the manual.

After updating phone software, all photos and videos were deleted. When I clicked on the Recycle Bin, they were completely lost since now I can't detect them via any media storage drive.

An official OTA update would hardly lead to such consequences. Taken into account the outcome you describe, it looks like a Hard Reset has been performed. It's quite complicated to recover files after rolling back to the factory settings.

The Trash tab contains only deleted photos but no videos that have been recently deleted from my Android when they're supposed to be there!

Most likely, it's another example of a human factor case when you accidentally cleared the Recycle Bin (or set up auto-cleaning within a specified period of time).

I deleted and redownloaded the Dumpster app on Android which resulted in the disappearance of all the files placed in the Recycle Bin. Is there a chance of their recovery?

The deletion of an app doesn't lead to the loss of files. You can easily reinstall Dumpster on your mobile device via the Play Store.

**My phone was malfunctioning; all the videos were deleted from the Trash. Now, when I want to retrieve them, Android says that this file type isn't supported.**Reinstall the Dumpster app from the Play Store and check your memory card for errors. In order to do this, you have to insert the memory card from your phone, connect it to your PC and use the chkdsk utility for scanning.