ZIP and RAR on Mobile: A Guide to HELPERG's File Extractor

A colleague sends a RAR file of scanned site photos. A supplier attaches a 7z archive of price lists. On a phone, whether you can open them depends on the archive format and on what is already installed.

This guide covers HELPERG’s archive app, which the two stores list under different names: Unzip - RAR, Zip, Unrar, 7zip+ on the App Store and ZIP & RAR File Extractor on Google Play. Both store descriptions call it “ZIP & RAR: File Extractor 7z”, and HELPERG’s catalogue calls it Unzip. The two listings describe the same tools, but the iPhone listing marks several of them Premium, and that difference matters more than the list of formats.

First, check whether you need an app at all

For a plain ZIP file on an iPhone or iPad, you may not. Apple’s support documentation describes opening a ZIP file directly in the Files app, where tapping the file creates a folder containing its contents, and creating one with the Files app’s Compress command.

That page is written for ZIP files and does not mention RAR, 7Z or TAR archives, so it does not tell you whether the Files app can open them. Those are the formats this app’s store listings name for extraction. HELPERG’s own product catalogue describes the app as a way to “extract and create ZIP, RAR, 7z and TAR archives on iOS and Android”. The store listings are narrower on creating archives: both describe Compress & Archive as a tool to “create new ZIP files”, and the iPhone listing marks both extracting and compressing Premium.

Three jobs, not one

Both store listings describe an app that can “unzip, extract, compress, and organize” files, including ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR and GZ archives and documents and images such as PDF, DOC, PPT, TXT, JPG and PNG files. It helps to split that into three separate jobs, because on iPhone the Premium labels fall unevenly across them:

• Looking inside an archive. The listing’s “Read & View ZIP/RAR” tool is described as giving access to compressed files “without extracting”.
• Extracting and creating archives. “Unzip & Extract” opens ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR and other archives; “Compress & Archive” creates new ZIP files to share. Both are Premium on iPhone.
• Managing the files afterwards. A viewer for PDFs, images, documents and videos, plus new folders, rename, delete, sort, a “Move To” tool, cache cleaning, importing photos and videos from the gallery, and a feature called “Password Protection”. Of these, Move To and Password Protection are Premium on iPhone.

What the iPhone listing marks Premium, and what the Android listing leaves unsaid

On the App Store, four of those tools carry a Premium label: Unzip & Extract, Compress & Archive, Move To and Password Protection. Read & View, the file viewer and the basic file-management tools carry no label.

The same listing says the app “is based on freemium model: it’s absolutely free to use”, and in the next sentence offers a subscription for “unlimited access to all features with unlimited usage”. It lists two in-app purchases on the US storefront, “File Compressor (ZIP & RAR)” at $3.99 and “File Extractor: 7z, unrar, opener” at $44.99, but does not say which, if either, is a subscription or what period a price covers. It says subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period.

Read together, the iPhone listing does not present extraction as free. On its own labels, Read & View ZIP/RAR, the tool for looking inside an archive “without extracting”, is not marked Premium, while getting the files out is. The listing does not say whether the free version limits how much the unlabelled tools can be used; the subscription it offers is for “unlimited usage”.

The Google Play listing uses the same feature list without any Premium labels, and on 4 October 2026 it did not show an “In-app purchases” notice. That is not evidence that every Android feature is free. The listing simply does not say where, or whether, a paywall appears, so check inside the app whether a feature is paid before you rely on it against a deadline.

A routine for an archive you did not create

An illustrative example. The file, the sender and the contents are invented.

A property manager emails you inspection-photos.rar and asks you to forward three of the pictures to a contractor.

1. Check the sender and the file name first. If you were not expecting an archive from this person, confirm with them through a channel other than the email it arrived in.
2. Look before you extract. Use Read & View to see the file list. You are expecting photos. If the archive contains something else, such as an app, an installer or another archive inside it, stop and ask.
3. Keep its contents separate. On iPhone, extracting is one of the tools the listing marks Premium, and so is moving files between folders. The listings describe creating new folders but do not say where extracted files are saved, so check where they land before they mix with your existing documents.
4. Open each file with a suitable tool. A photo opens in the built-in viewer. A PDF that needs signing or editing is a different job, covered in our guide to PDF Edit & Convert.
5. Clean up. Delete the archive once you have kept what you need. The listing describes its Clean Cache tool as a way to free up space with one tap.

Neither listing describes malware scanning, so the app should not be treated as a safety check. That is why the first step is checking where the archive came from.

What “Password Protection” does not tell you

The listing describes Password Protection as a way to “keep private files safe and secure”. It does not say which encryption method is used, whether the protection applies to archives or to files kept inside the app, or what happens if you forget the password. A password feature is not the same thing as a documented encryption standard, so for genuinely sensitive material, use a method whose protection you can verify.

The listings also make no claim about repairing damaged or incomplete archives. If extraction fails, ask for the file to be sent again rather than assuming the app can recover it.

Three privacy descriptions that do not match

Each store asks the developer to describe the app’s data practices, and the three descriptions available for this app do not agree:

• Google Play’s data-safety section says “No data collected” and “No data shared with third parties”.
• The App Store privacy label says usage data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies, and that usage data, including product interaction, may be collected, not linked to you, for third-party advertising, analytics and app functionality.
• The privacy policy published by hrhelperg s.r.o. and last updated in October 2025 lists application usage data including advertising identifiers, analytics providers such as Google Analytics, Firebase and Appsflyer, advertising services including Google AdMob, Facebook, TikTok and Liftoff Mobile, and, under other services, Google’s reCAPTCHA and OpenAI. It does not say what OpenAI processes.

All three are the developer’s own statements, not independent audits. The privacy policy is the most detailed of them, and it is the one to read.

Who it suits

The app fits someone who regularly receives RAR, 7Z or TAR archives on a phone and is willing, on iPhone, to pay for extraction and archive creation. Its tool for looking inside an archive without extracting is described for ZIP and RAR files only. It fits less well if you only handle ZIP files on an iPhone, where the Files app already opens them, if you need free one-off extraction on iPhone, or if you need documented encryption.

The App Store lists the app for iPhone, requiring iOS 13.0 or later, with HRHELPERG LLC as developer and hrhelperg s.r.o. as seller. Google Play lists hrhelperg s.r.o. as developer and showed a last update of 16 March 2026 when this guide was checked.