Google is considering introducing the Trashcan to Android 12, giving smartphones a feature that Windows and Mac devices have long had.

The universal folder for deleted files has been part of desktop computing for decades; Mac fans will be familiar with the trashcan logo on their docks, and Windows users have had a desktop recycling box icon. These folders are a sort of "waiting room" for deleted files, to make sure you don't really need them before they're gone forever. Now, by digging into the latest Developer Preview code for Android 12, XDA Developers' Zachary Wander was able to enable a feature that allows Android users to manage a list of pre-deleted files ...

As you can see from the image below, Android's Trash Bin displays an overview of how many gigabytes of data are in this limbo, giving the option to empty it and permanently delete its contents.

Currently, the ability to restore these deleted files does not appear to exist, but something like this could follow.

Last year, this site discovered a similar feature that allows restoration of files hidden in the Google Files app; the Files trashcan has not yet been enabled in the app, but the fact that the "restore" button is there indicates that Google understands that accidentally deleting files happens shows that it understands that.

In-app recycle garbage can is possible because Google first introduced a recycle bin API for apps in Android 11, but it is not used much and is considerably more limited than what we are talking about here. Android's scoped storage limitations mean that apps can be deleted without extra permissions without permissions (as the Files app inevitably receives), meaning that it is only given direct access to the files it creates, which simply means that there is not one universal Trashcan area. Perhaps until now. [because] smartphone usage is very different from the desktop, where the Trashcan system has existed since the transition to the GUI. While file manager apps are certainly a niche for power users, Android phones have existed for 13 years without requiring the kind of file management that PC and Mac owners are accustomed to.

Still, for those who like to tinker and want full control over their OS, this could be an exciting development, and hopefully we'll hear more about this and other upcoming features at Google I/O 2021, which opens on Tuesday, May 18.