Why is the iOS Finder only for iCloud?

darkgoob · Aug 26, 2014

For years I've been begging Apple to make Finder for iOS. Now they finally kind of made it in iOS 8except it only works for iCloud, and it's not Finder... it's merely "Finder-like".

I don't get it, Apple. If Finder is good enough for viewing files in iCloud then why not just give us the freakin' Finder app already!?

I want to be able to at least access all the files on my iPhone, yes including the ones stored in my app bundles, even if they're read only. I want iOS Finder so I can back up saved docs if I need to delete the app that made them and later reinstall it without losing work. I want to be able to save any type of non-executable file to my device wherever I want, and be able to access those files from any app. What's so wrong with that?

I'm tired of not being able to organize my photos in my phone. And no, "Albums" are not a solution because adding things to an album does not remove them from the main view. I still am confronted with a list of thousands of unorganized photos that is always sorted by date, every time I open Photos app, including every copy that Instagram made, and every file downloaded through my DSLR's wifi app. This sucks!!! I want to be able to have Instagram photos go to their own folder, DSLR photos go to their own folder, and everything else be sortable into folders and thus hidden from the main list, so when I look at it, I can know which files haven't been sorted and organized yet! (I'm not saying get rid of albums... JUST GIVE US FINDER!)

I'm really really sick of this mess. Please for the love of God let there be an iOS Finder, and soon!

If you agree please tell Apple!

markosb · Aug 26, 2014

Cause it provides a better way to get files to an iOS device and another computer.

I don't know the ins and outs of the API's for iOS, but it would be neat to let photo programs put images anywhere and not the photos app.

Planey28 · Aug 26, 2014

It's not only for iCloud. Third party developers can create their own document providers as well. Cloud based storage makes more sense for iOS.

The Phazer · Aug 26, 2014

Because nobody at Apple has the balls to admit that the file system is better than any of the alternatives they've come up with in the last decade.

afsnyder · Aug 26, 2014

The Phazer said:
Because nobody at Apple has the balls to admit that the file system is better than any of the alternatives they've come up with in the last decade.

No its not (for me at least). With iOS 8, you don't need to mess with files unless you need them. Clean simple. I like it. And I'd rather not store files on my device, dropbox or iCloud is good enough.

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darkgoob said:
For years I've been begging Apple to make Finder for iOS. Now they finally kind of made it in iOS 8except it only works for iCloud, and it's not Finder... it's merely "Finder-like".

I don't get it, Apple. If Finder is good enough for viewing files in iCloud then why not just give us the freakin' Finder app already!?

I want to be able to at least access all the files on my iPhone, yes including the ones stored in my app bundles, even if they're read only. I want iOS Finder so I can back up saved docs if I need to delete the app that made them and later reinstall it without losing work. I want to be able to save any type of non-executable file to my device wherever I want, and be able to access those files from any app. What's so wrong with that?

I'm tired of not being able to organize my photos in my phone. And no, "Albums" are not a solution because adding things to an album does not remove them from the main view. I still am confronted with a list of thousands of unorganized photos that is always sorted by date, every time I open Photos app, including every copy that Instagram made, and every file downloaded through my DSLR's wifi app. This sucks!!! I want to be able to have Instagram photos go to their own folder, DSLR photos go to their own folder, and everything else be sortable into folders and thus hidden from the main list, so when I look at it, I can know which files haven't been sorted and organized yet! (I'm not saying get rid of albums... JUST GIVE US FINDER!)

I'm really really sick of this mess. Please for the love of God let there be an iOS Finder, and soon!

If you agree please tell Apple!

You can do all those things without needing a finder app. All the data you save to the app will stick around even when you delete the app. You can save data to it without actually being able to open it with apps. Now keep in mind you can save locally with apps that have yet to be developed and released. I'm sure someone will create a finder-like app that will allow you to store data from any app that supports the iCloud doc picker (browsers that allow downloads for instance). With iOS 8 APIs, its possible. It's just not preinstalled like Finder is.

darkgoob · Aug 26, 2014

samplane123 said:
It's not only for iCloud. Third party developers can create their own document providers as well. Cloud based storage makes more sense for iOS.

But why can't you use it to access local files? That's what makes no sense!

darkgoob · Aug 26, 2014

afsnyder said:
No its not (for me at least). With iOS 8, you don't need to mess with files unless you need them. Clean simple. I like it. And I'd rather not store files on my device, dropbox or iCloud is good enough.

What *you* would rather is totally irrelevant. You obviously have never heard of bandwidth. Or throttling. Or data usage limits.

My band records songs at practice and mixes them down to MP3s of appx. 10-15MB each. I just want to copy them to a folder on my iPhone so I can listen to them without having to redownload each file every single time I want to listen to it (iOS doesn't let you save MP3s anywhere from Safari, another huge slap in the face).

What I *don't* want is having to use "the cloud" for anything beyond syncing small text files and appointments and small saved games perhaps. I DO NOT want to have my photos, videos, or audio recordings stored or synced through any internet-based technology. It's going to hose my bandwidth and further I simply don't want my intellectual property on a server that could get hacked at any moment or that someone who gains access to one of my computers or devices could easily access. Screw that!!!

Blindly embrace "the cloud" all you want, lemmings. I'll be laughing MAO when a solar flare, data center fire, nuke, or other disaster wipes out all your data as I restore everything from my 50-year-archival blu-rays. Besides, who knows what kind of data gathering is being done on all your precious info?

Or just wait until a syncing bug wipes out all our files like I've seen happen to numerous folks... that's right, all their iWork files, simply gone, and no easy way to recover them since there's no TimeMachine in "the cloud." It's not like you can just roll back your entire iCloud account to what it was like yesterday at noon. And good luck getting Apple to do it at all, let alone in a timely fashion!!

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You can do all those things without needing a finder app. All the data you save to the app will stick around even when you delete the app. You can save data to it without actually being able to open it with apps. Now keep in mind you can save locally with apps that have yet to be developed and released. I'm sure someone will create a finder-like app that will allow you to store data from any app that supports the iCloud doc picker (browsers that allow downloads for instance). With iOS 8 APIs, its possible. It's just not preinstalled like Finder is.

No, no, no. This is all contingent upon being willing to store docs "in the cloud". But basically all of the files I'm concerned about dealing with using a Finder-like interface are huge files that are way too big to deal with via cloud technology, even if I could let go of my completely reasonable and totally justified level of paranoia about the stability, security, and reliability of "cloud" systems.

The fact is on EACH of my iOS devices I typically generate an average of 30-40GB of photos, videos, and audio recordings, many in uncompressed formats like AIFF, WAV, and RAW, on a monthly basis. AT&T has a limit of 5GB of bandwidth usage before they throttle me down to the 500kb/s 3G freaking stone age. Using the "cloud" is totally impractical for dealing with the file management issues that I must contend with on these devices.

Right now I have to use iTunes File Sharing which is the worst joke ever. Yet I can't rename or organize anything until I get it back to my computer. It's giving me migraines!!!

END THE MADNESS

ADD FINDER TO iOS

IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR 30 YEARS OF THE MAC

IT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR iOS

END THE MADNESS!!

charlituna · Aug 26, 2014

darkgoob said:
For years I've been begging Apple to make Finder for iOS. Now they finally kind of made it in iOS 8except it only works for iCloud, and it's not Finder... it's merely "Finder-like".

I don't get it, Apple. If Finder is good enough for viewing files in iCloud then why not just give us the freakin' Finder app already!?

It's simple. Apple doesn't agree that it is that vital. Probably never will.

So it comes down to either you getting over it or not using Apple's stuff.

----------

darkgoob said:
What *you* would rather is totally irrelevant.

The same could be said right back at you. YOU want a finder. YOU think it is vital. That's not fact that is YOU giving a personal opinion. Based on personal needs. Nothing more or less.

if iOS doesn't have what YOU need/want then find what does have it.

afsnyder · Aug 26, 2014

darkgoob said:
What *you* would rather is totally irrelevant. You obviously have never heard of bandwidth. Or throttling. Or data usage limits.

My band records songs at practice and mixes them down to MP3s of appx. 10-15MB each. I just want to copy them to a folder on my iPhone so I can listen to them without having to redownload each file every single time I want to listen to it (iOS doesn't let you save MP3s anywhere from Safari, another huge slap in the face).

What I *don't* want is having to use "the cloud" for anything beyond syncing small text files and appointments and small saved games perhaps. I DO NOT want to have my photos, videos, or audio recordings stored or synced through any internet-based technology. It's going to hose my bandwidth and further I simply don't want my intellectual property on a server that could get hacked at any moment or that someone who gains access to one of my computers or devices could easily access. Screw that!!!

Blindly embrace "the cloud" all you want, lemmings. I'll be laughing MAO when a solar flare, data center fire, nuke, or other disaster wipes out all your data as I restore everything from my 50-year-archival blu-rays. Besides, who knows what kind of data gathering is being done on all your precious info?

Or just wait until a syncing bug wipes out all our files like I've seen happen to numerous folks... that's right, all their iWork files, simply gone, and no easy way to recover them since there's no TimeMachine in "the cloud." It's not like you can just roll back your entire iCloud account to what it was like yesterday at noon. And good luck getting Apple to do it at all, let alone in a timely fashion!!

----------

No, no, no. This is all contingent upon being willing to store docs "in the cloud". But basically all of the files I'm concerned about dealing with using a Finder-like interface are huge files that are way too big to deal with via cloud technology, even if I could let go of my completely reasonable and totally justified level of paranoia about the stability, security, and reliability of "cloud" systems.

The fact is on EACH of my iOS devices I typically generate an average of 30-40GB of photos, videos, and audio recordings, many in uncompressed formats like AIFF, WAV, and RAW, on a monthly basis. AT&T has a limit of 5GB of bandwidth usage before they throttle me down to the 500kb/s 3G freaking stone age. Using the "cloud" is totally impractical for dealing with the file management issues that I must contend with on these devices.

Right now I have to use iTunes File Sharing which is the worst joke ever. Yet I can't rename or organize anything until I get it back to my computer. It's giving me migraines!!!

END THE MADNESS

ADD FINDER TO iOS

IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR 30 YEARS OF THE MAC

IT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR iOS

END THE MADNESS!!

Get an app that doesn't use the cloud for storage and goes through iTunes to allow you to transfer files...

darkgoob · Aug 26, 2014

charlituna said:
It's simple. Apple doesn't agree that it is that vital. Probably never will.

So it comes down to either you getting over it or not using Apple's stuff.

----------

The same could be said right back at you. YOU want a finder. YOU think it is vital. That's not fact that is YOU giving a personal opinion. Based on personal needs. Nothing more or less.

if iOS doesn't have what YOU need/want then find what does have it.

This kind of attitude is what will absolutely ruin a company. If I was Tim Cook and you were my employee then I'd fire you.

Because every company should listen to each of its customers needs and desires or risk losing those customers.

No company should ever take the attitude of, "If you don't like our product, suck it! There's the door."

Successful companies make their products better based on customer requests.

The feature I'm asking for would not negatively impact your own experience of iOS, since you could simply ignore that the Finder is even there. That is why your opinion about an iOS Finder app is irrelevant! You're not who it would be for.

But for the legions of people who are loyal Apple customers and who depend on these products for professional use, iOS Finder would be a God-send. No matter what you think.

And believe me I just might switch to another brand if anything existed that was capable of the things I use iOS for, but I've tested Android- and Windows-based devices and they both fail super-hard at many of the things I do, and are sorely lacking many of the critical apps I use. So they're not really an option.

Even worse than the lack of a Finder is the attitude of people like you that because you don't need one, and Apple didn't provide it, therefore it's not necessary and the rest of us should go fly a kite or drink the Koolaid and learn to smile, nod, and bend over.

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afsnyder said:
Get an app that doesn't use the cloud for storage and goes through iTunes to allow you to transfer files...

No!

iTunes requires a Mac. I am trying to get away from having to tether my device to a Mac to do all this stuff! Why is that so hard to understand?

I find it super-ironic that Apple purports to push a "post-PC" world yet it forces you to tether to a PC to do anything as basic as add an audio file from Mail into Music or put your pictures into freaking folders! It's infuriating.

Zcott · Aug 27, 2014

Your issue here is more with your network provider than Apple it seems.

But to address your point, there'll always be local storage for apps.

ZombiePete · Aug 27, 2014

darkgoob said:
Because every company should listen to each of its customers needs and desires or risk losing those customers.

No company should ever take the attitude of, "If you don't like our product, suck it! There's the door."

Successful companies make their products better based on customer requests.

Companies can never cater to every single on of their customers' desires; trying to do so would ruin the product. Apple has made a successful business model out of anticipating what the majority of its customers need vice what they think they might want and rolling forward. Dropping optical drive support, for instance, before the industry had gotten around to seeing that discs were on the way out. People complained then, but now I don't think that most people really bat an eye over not having disc drives in the latest computers.

Your use case might be totally legitimate, but I seriously doubt that it reflects the needs of a great many users or more people would be clamoring to join your cause. Unfortunately for you, Apple does not seem interested in catering to your highly specific needs and, like most of the major tech industry giants, is pushing the cloud as the storage solution of the future. Were I you, I would start seriously looking at either Android as an alternative solution (you can download MP3s from the browser to your heart's content, and the Samsung phones generally have expandable storage) or jailbreaking.

roadbloc · Aug 27, 2014

I agree. iOS needs a real file manager. But I don't think Apple are very keen with the idea.

canesalato · Aug 27, 2014

charlituna said:
if iOS doesn't have what YOU need/want then find what does have it.

Appearently many people are doing just that

matttye · Aug 27, 2014

They might extend it to support local files, who knows.

bushido · Aug 27, 2014

well lets just hope the iOS 8 jailbreak wont take long. the community will take care of it once again

charlituna · Aug 27, 2014

canesalato said:
Appearently many people are doing just that

And Apple is still getting tons of sales so it's unlikely they are really bothered that much. After all, they have never viewed this as a zero sum game where someone else's win is their loss. Rather Apple seems to view it as being that there's plenty of market to go around.

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darkgoob said:
Successful companies make their products better based on customer requests.

And yet Apple has ignored a number of customer requests over the years and they continuously make money hand over fist.

Planey28 · Aug 27, 2014

darkgoob said:
But why can't you use it to access local files? That's what makes no sense!

Because A. iOS devices are not desktop computers. B. iOS is an internet first operating system - it makes more sense to use the cloud to get files from your main computer onto a phone or tablet C. Pretty sure you can (might be wrong on this, it might be cloud only), if you download a file manager app that has a document provider extension.

illusionmist · Aug 28, 2014

IIRC, you CAN copy (good old "open in"), move, import, or export local files between apps now in iOS 8. Is that what you wanted?

EDIT: Oops. Guess not (still limited to iCloud or other third-party cloud storage services as it seems.)

canesalato · Aug 28, 2014

charlituna said:
And Apple is still getting tons of sales so it's unlikely they are really bothered that much. After all, they have never viewed this as a zero sum game where someone else's win is their loss. Rather Apple seems to view it as being that there's plenty of market to go around.

I think they are REALLY bothered by the decline in iPad sales. I think they expected growth, maybe not in marketshare, but in sold units. But that's just my opinion, maybe they are happy like this...

darkgoob · Sep 3, 2014

samplane123 said:
Because A. iOS devices are not desktop computers. B. iOS is an internet first operating system - it makes more sense to use the cloud to get files from your main computer onto a phone or tablet C. Pretty sure you can (might be wrong on this, it might be cloud only), if you download a file manager app that has a document provider extension.

Many of us DO NOT WANT TO USE THE ****ING CLOUD for many damn good reasons as Jennifer Lawrence just found out.

They need to make an iOS Finder with local file access that lets you share over the LAN so you can share files even if you NEVER connect your device to the internet.

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illusionmist said:
IIRC, you CAN copy (good old "open in"), move, import, or export local files between apps now in iOS 8. Is that what you wanted?

EDIT: Oops. Guess not (still limited to iCloud or other third-party cloud storage services as it seems.)

No what I want is to be able to search and find all files bigger than 100MB on MY device so I can delete them or copy them off quickly without touching my computer or connecting to the internet.

Not to mention organize them into folders etc.

When I go from my Mac to my iPad, I feel like I'm entering a retarded zone where idiots won the war against smart people and ruined everything (at least when it comes to file management).

I sincerely think Apple's success with these devices has CLOUDED ITS MIND into being unable to think critically about how to fundamentally improve their OS.

I hate the 2010's.

darkgoob · Sep 3, 2014

canesalato said:
I think they are REALLY bothered by the decline in iPad sales. I think they expected growth, maybe not in marketshare, but in sold units. But that's just my opinion, maybe they are happy like this...

If they'd start designing the iPad for smart people instead of stupid people they'd be fine. I'm sick and tired of stupid people being the reason for everything and smart people being the reason for nothing.

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afsnyder said:
Get an app that doesn't use the cloud for storage and goes through iTunes to allow you to transfer files...

NO!!! iTunes ****ing SUCKS!!

iTunes' file sharing interface is THE WORST SOFTWARE EVER MADE, EVER. Because with the damn near infinite resources that Apple has, they could have made a masterpiece interface by now. BUT INSTEAD THEY F*%#ING GAVE US ITUNES FILE SHARING where you can't even delete anything!! I'm so angry and appalled it makes me SICK! Mac OS 1.0 on the 128k Mac was better than that s*%}show.

You'll excuse my french but sometimes it's called for.

MattInOz · Sep 3, 2014

darkgoob said:
END THE MADNESS

ADD FINDER TO iOS

IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR 30 YEARS OF THE MAC

IT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR iOS

END THE MADNESS!!

If it's only "good enough" then why settle?
Sure it worked but it's hard to find someone who thinks it worked well. Even then those people would still have a wishlist of features.

iOS is Apple chance to do it "Right" (what ever that means these days) not just a "good enough" with all the problems that haven't been resolved in 30 years.

Madness is doing the same thing and expecting a better outcome as someone wise once said. So to stop the madness you have to do it different.

That said I think iOS 8 will offer you what you want with or without iCloud, iCloud is local storage with nice things after all.

Planey28 · Sep 4, 2014

darkgoob said:
Many of us DO NOT WANT TO USE THE ****ING CLOUD for many damn good reasons as Jennifer Lawrence just found out.

They need to make an iOS Finder with local file access that lets you share over the LAN so you can share files even if you NEVER connect your device to the internet.

----------

No what I want is to be able to search and find all files bigger than 100MB on MY device so I can delete them or copy them off quickly without touching my computer or connecting to the internet.

Not to mention organize them into folders etc.

When I go from my Mac to my iPad, I feel like I'm entering a retarded zone where idiots won the war against smart people and ruined everything (at least when it comes to file management).

I sincerely think Apple's success with these devices has CLOUDED ITS MIND into being unable to think critically about how to fundamentally improve their OS.

I hate the 2010's.

Sorry I offended you on a personal level for you to hate me, but I don't really care

Maybe you should calm down and realise you are talking about a phone/tablet... not a matter of life and death.

It's not really Apple's fault a few celebrities used weak passwords. If people managed proper account security, things like this would most likely never happen. But no, people are stupid and will go blaming somebody else for it.

What you are wanting is simply never going to happen, so suck it up and switch to competing product if it bothers you so much.

Small White Car · Sep 4, 2014

I think your real complaint is that you want them to make a Macbook with a touch screen and a detachable keyboard.

You'll have more people on your side if you approach it that way.

I'm happy they haven't tried to mash iOS and Mac OS together. Leave them alone, step back and look at what you really want: A Mac. If the problem is that a Mac doesn't come in tablet form, well that's the problem here. Not iOS.

Why is the iOS Finder only for iCloud?

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