FAQs

No. ZArchiver is Android-only and there’s no iOS version. If you need a similar app on iOS, you’ll have to look at other file manager apps on the App Store. ZArchiver’s unique features are only available on Android.

Find the RAR/7z file in ZArchiver’s file list and tap it. Choose Extract here or Extract to…. ZArchiver will unpack the archive to that folder. If it’s password-protected, you’ll be prompted to enter the password.

Long-press the files/folders you want to compress, then tap the Compress option. You’ll see choices like Compress to .zip, Compress to .7z, or a full “Compress…” dialog. Choose .zip or .7z, name your archive, and hit OK. ZArchiver will build the archive. You can also set a password in the dialog if you want to encrypt it.

Since Android 11, Google has restricted access to some system folders for privacy. This means ZArchiver can’t list or modify files in Android/data or Android/obb. If you need to access those folders, you must grant special permission in Settings > Apps > ZArchiver, enable “All files access” or use ZArchiver’s picker to grant the folder.

No, ZArchiver does not auto-update itself. You need to update manually from the Play Store or by downloading the new APK. The developer updates fairly regularly, so check back here or on Play Store now and then for version 1.0.10+.

The only difference is that ZArchiver Donate is a paid version that serves as a donation to the developer and comes without any reminder message. The free ZArchiver has all the same features at no cost.

ZArchiver itself only runs on Android. To use it on a PC, you must install an Android emulator. Inside the emulator, install ZArchiver from the Play Store as described above.

You can create ZIP, 7z, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, XZ, and other common archives. It cannot create RAR archives because RAR is patented. (It can only extract RAR.) So if you need a RAR file, you’d have to use another tool. For encryption, ZArchiver’s ZIP and 7z creation support AES-256.

Not by default in the main app. ZArchiver can only work with files on your device or SD card. However, there is a ZArchiver Cloud Plugin available separately, which adds support for Google Drive, OneDrive, and similar services. If you often zip from or to cloud storage, consider installing that plugin from Google Play.

This usually happens when an archive has minor issues or if disk space runs out. First, check you have enough free space. If space isn’t the problem, try opening the archive in ZArchiver and use the “Test” option to see errors. Sometimes you can ignore minor warnings. If the file is badly corrupted, you may need to re-download it.

Yes. ZArchiver supports Android 4.0 and up. It will even install on very old devices. Some very old phones might have quirks, but generally any device from Android 4.0 onward should handle basic tasks like unzipping without issues. For best compatibility, use the ARMv7 or ARMv8 APK variant that matches your CPU.

ZArchiver needs permission to read and write your storage so it can open archives from your SD card or internal memory and save the extracted contents. Without that permission, it wouldn’t be able to access your files at all. Rest assured, it won’t use the permission for anything else besides reading/writing archives.

SUI stands for Surface-based UI, which is part of Android 13’s new design language. The update added compatibility so ZArchiver UI works well on Android 13 and above. As a user, it just means the app looks integrated with new Android features. You don’t need to do anything – it was a dev update.