Unclouded App Lets You See What’s Eating Up Your Cloud Storage

Back when the PC was king, a number of software programs were available that would let you analyze your hard drive utilization, allowing you to delete and relocate files in order to free up more storage space. But now that we’ve moved to using cloud services, where overuse isn’t just an annoyance, but incurs additional monthly charges, gaining that same sort of visibility is more important than ever.

A new application called Unclouded, launching today, helpfully analyzes, explores and assists you with cleaning up your cloud storage in an easy-to-use app offering a level of insight into your online storage usage that you may have not had before.

After all, it’s not in tech companies’ best interest to help you clean out and save space on their cloud platforms, when that storage is a revenue-generating business.

Though the cost of keeping files in the cloud seems to be coming down all the time, the jump from one tier to another, and the use of multiple paid storage sites can add up. And this is especially true if you use the cloud to store larger files, like audio collections or videos, or are backing up entire photo libraries, for example.

With Unclouded, you can not only how much storage you’ve used on a cloud drive – the tech companies themselves will tell you that – you’re also able to drill down and see the largest files and folders, group them by category and time, locate duplicates, and more. The app will also work offline.

Unclouded’s creator is Lisbon-based Christian Göllner, a computer science engineer, Android developer, and longtime Dropbox user, whose account had grown to host an unorganized mess of around 170,000 files.

“I needed software to tell me which files and folders are using my space, what type of files – photos, music, etc. – [they were], when they were created or modified, and I also needed to clean my duplicates,” he explains. “Nothing like this was out there, so I decided to create it,” he adds.

The application at launch currently supports Google Drive and Dropbox because they provide the necessary API to make Unclouded possible.

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The app is being offered as a free download on Google Play, however it will only function in read-only mode unless you upgrade to a premium tier.

Göllner says the idea is to present the information about files for free to users, and when they realize they then want to take an action – like removing duplicates – they’ll be encouraged to pay to upgrade in order to delete the files from within Unclouded. (Of course, you could simply go back to the cloud storage service itself, armed with the information provided by Unclouded and take the necessary actions, but it’s more convenient to do so within the app.)

Premium users will also be able to upload files, share files or links with others, rename and move files, and create folders. The cost to do so is $1.99, available via an in-app purchase.

Overall, the app itself is simple to navigate and use, with thoughtful design touches like being able to toggle between grid and list layouts, or using gestures – like being able to press and hold to select items for deletion or relocation.

Unfortunately for iOS users, you’ll just have to be jealous of an app (for a change!): Göllner says he only knows Android development for now.