Google Drive is rolling out Ask Gemini on mobile, letting people summarize a folder full of contracts or ask a question about a spreadsheet without opening a single file. That is the clearest sign yet that an AI file assistant has moved from a desktop novelty to something people expect on their phone. We looked at seven Android apps that put AI on top of your documents, from the storage giants adding assistants to their existing apps to chat apps that now double as document readers when you hand them a file. Some of these already lived on your phone. What is new is what they can now tell you about the files sitting inside them.
What to look for in an AI file assistant
Not every app that says “AI” over files does the same job, so it helps to know what separates a useful assistant from a gimmick. Source connectors matter first: does the app read only its own storage, or can it pull from Drive, OneDrive, and Notion at once. Retrieval quality is the harder thing to judge from a feature list. It shows up as whether answers cite the specific file and page they came from, and whether long PDFs get chopped into chunks that lose context. File-type support varies more than people expect, with some tools handling PDFs and Word docs well but choking on spreadsheets or scanned images. Privacy stance deserves a direct question: is your content used to train models, and can you opt out. Cost closes the list, since most of these tools bolt AI onto a plan you already pay for, and the AI layer itself often has its own tier.
Comparison
| App | Best for | Free tier | Paid tier | Source connectors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive (Ask Gemini) | People already living in Drive | Yes, limited Gemini queries | Google One AI plans add higher limits | Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides |
| Microsoft OneDrive (Copilot) | Microsoft 365 households and offices | Basic file access, no Copilot | Microsoft 365 Copilot, from about $30/user/month | OneDrive, SharePoint, Outlook |
| Dropbox Dash | Searching across many cloud accounts at once | Limited search | Dash add-on on top of a Dropbox plan | Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Slack |
| Notion AI | Teams whose notes and docs live in Notion | Notion free plan, capped AI use | Notion AI add-on, billed per member | Notion pages and databases |
| Perplexity | Quick answers that mix the web with your own files | Yes, daily upload limits | Perplexity Pro, $20/month | Local file upload, web search |
| ChatGPT | General-purpose file Q&A and drafting | Limited file uploads | ChatGPT Plus, $20/month | Local file upload |
| Claude | Careful reading of long, dense documents | Limited daily file uploads | Claude Pro, $20/month | Local file upload |
The apps
1. Google Drive with Ask Gemini
Google Drive is the app most people already have open when they need a file, and Ask Gemini turns that habit into a search box that answers questions instead of just listing matches. Ask it to summarize a folder of meeting notes or pull the delivery date out of a contract, and it responds with an answer plus a link back to the source file. Because it runs inside the app you already use for storage, there is no new account or connector to set up.
Where it falls short: Ask Gemini works best on Google-native files and PDFs stored in Drive. Files you have not uploaded, or content locked in other people’s shared drives with restricted permissions, stay out of reach.
Pricing: Free with a standard Google account, with usage limits. Google One AI plans raise those limits and add more storage.
Platforms: Android, iOS, web.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: The easiest starting point, especially if your files already live in Drive.
2. Microsoft OneDrive with Copilot
Microsoft OneDrive brings Copilot into the same app that syncs your Office documents, so questions about a Word file or an Excel sheet get answered without exporting anything. It reads across OneDrive, SharePoint, and Outlook attachments, which makes it useful for people whose work files are scattered across those three places. Copilot can also draft a reply or a summary you paste straight into an email.
Where it falls short: Full Copilot access requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription, which is priced for organizations rather than individuals. Personal accounts get a lighter version with tighter limits.
Pricing: OneDrive itself is free with limited storage. Microsoft 365 Copilot runs around $30 per user per month for business plans, with more limited consumer availability.
Platforms: Android, iOS, web, Windows, Mac.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: Makes sense if your organization already pays for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Not worth it just for personal files.
3. Dropbox Dash
Dropbox Dash does not try to be another storage app. It searches across the cloud accounts you already have, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Slack, and answers questions using whatever it finds across all of them. That makes it the pick for anyone whose files are split between two or three services and tired of checking each one separately.
Where it falls short: Dash is an add-on, not a free feature of a Dropbox account, and setting up every connector takes some initial effort. Search quality depends on how well each connected service exposes its content.
Pricing: Sold as a subscription add-on on top of an existing Dropbox plan.
Platforms: Android, iOS, web, Windows, Mac.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: Best pick if your files are spread across multiple cloud accounts and you want one search box for all of them.
4. Notion AI
Notion has quietly become where a lot of teams store project docs, meeting notes, and wikis, and Notion AI answers questions using that content directly. Ask it to summarize a project page or pull action items out of a meeting note, and it works inline without leaving the app. Because it reads structured databases as well as plain pages, it can answer questions that touch both notes and tracked data.
Where it falls short: Notion AI only sees what lives inside Notion. If your files are PDFs sitting in Drive or email attachments, they are invisible to it unless you import them first.
Pricing: Notion has a free plan with capped AI usage. The AI add-on is billed per member on top of a paid workspace plan.
Platforms: Android, iOS, web, Windows, Mac.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: The right choice if your team’s documentation already lives in Notion rather than loose files.
5. Perplexity File Search
Perplexity started as a web answer engine, and its file upload feature carries that instinct over. Upload a PDF or a spreadsheet and ask a question, and it answers using the file plus, if useful, a live web search for context the document does not contain. That combination is handy for research tasks where a single file is not the whole picture.
Where it falls short: File uploads are not the app’s core strength, and there is no persistent connector to your cloud storage. Each session works with whatever you upload manually.
Pricing: Free with daily upload limits. Perplexity Pro costs $20 a month and raises those limits.
Platforms: Android, iOS, web.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: Good for one-off research questions that mix a document with a web search, not for ongoing file management.
6. ChatGPT with file attachments
ChatGPT treats a file attachment the same way it treats a typed question, so you can drop in a PDF, a spreadsheet, or a set of images and ask it to summarize, extract numbers, or rewrite sections. It handles a wide range of file types reasonably well and is the app most people already have installed for other reasons, which lowers the barrier to trying it on a document.
Where it falls short: There is no persistent connection to your cloud storage. Every file has to be uploaded manually per conversation, and very long documents get compressed in ways that can lose detail.
Pricing: Free tier allows limited file uploads. ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month and raises the ceiling.
Platforms: Android, iOS, web, Windows, Mac.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: A solid general-purpose option if you just need quick answers about a file you already have on your phone.
7. Claude with attachments
Claude is built to handle long, dense documents without losing the thread, which makes it the app we reach for when a file is a 40-page report rather than a one-page memo. It reads attached PDFs, text files, and images, and tends to stay accurate on detail-heavy questions like specific clauses or figures buried deep in a document.
Where it falls short: The free tier caps how many files you can upload in a day, and like the other chat apps here, there is no direct connector to Drive or OneDrive. You still have to attach files by hand.
Pricing: Free tier with limited daily file uploads. Claude Pro costs $20 a month and increases usage limits.
Platforms: Android, iOS, web, Windows, Mac.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: The one to reach for when the file is long and the details actually matter.
How to pick the right one
If your files already live in Google Drive, start with Ask Gemini, since it needs no setup and reads what you already have. If your organization runs on Microsoft 365, OneDrive Copilot is the natural fit, though the cost only makes sense at the business tier. If your files are spread across two or three different cloud accounts, Dropbox Dash is built exactly for that problem and nothing else on this list searches across services the same way. If your team’s documentation lives in pages and databases rather than loose files, Notion AI answers from that structure directly.
For one-off questions where you just want to hand over a document and get an answer, ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity all work without a subscription to try first. Choose Claude when the document is long and precision matters, Perplexity when the question needs a web search alongside the file, and ChatGPT when you want one app that also handles everything else you ask it. None of these three connect to your cloud storage automatically, so if that matters more than raw answer quality, look at Drive, OneDrive, or Dash instead.
FAQ
What is the best free AI file assistant for Android?
Google Drive’s Ask Gemini is the strongest free option for most people, since it works with files you likely already have stored in Drive and does not require a new subscription. ChatGPT and Claude also offer free file uploads, though with daily limits.
Is Microsoft 365 Copilot worth paying for on a phone?
It depends on whether your organization already pays for Microsoft 365 Copilot. The consumer pricing is aimed at businesses, so paying for it just to ask questions about personal files on OneDrive is unlikely to be worth the cost.
Can these apps read scanned documents or images?
Most of them handle scanned PDFs and images to some degree, though accuracy drops with low-quality scans or handwriting. ChatGPT and Claude both accept image attachments directly, while Drive’s Ask Gemini works best on text-based files already stored in Drive.
Do AI file assistants use my documents to train their models?
Policies vary by provider and by plan, and most offer some form of opt-out or enterprise-grade data controls on paid tiers. Check the current privacy settings inside each app before uploading sensitive files, since defaults can differ between free and paid accounts.
What is the difference between Dropbox Dash and the others?
Dash is built specifically to search across multiple cloud accounts at once, including Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Slack. The other apps on this list either work inside their own storage service or require you to upload files manually.
Which app is best for long documents like contracts or reports?
Claude tends to hold up best on long, detail-heavy documents, since it is built to track context across many pages without losing accuracy on specific details. Ask Gemini in Drive also works well for long files already stored there.
