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Apple Announces New 'Files' App Coming With iOS 11
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The iPhone's smaller screen may be an impediment for some features, but I'm sure Apple will be experimenting with what they could possibly bring over to the iPhone in future iOS updates.
Which default apps would you change on iOS? I've gotten by without stock Mail and the Weather app.
It looks like macOS Finder, but I sincerely doubt that it acts like macOS Finder. Sure it has spring loaded drag-n-drop abilities, and sure synchronized cloud files count as "local", but it's still just a slight expansion of the walled garden from the iCloud Drive app. I hardly see any difference, except that now it's going to press app developers to more visibly integrate their creation content into iCloud Drive making its use more apparent and perhaps add other cloud storage sync options.
Let me see the apps listed, and be able to see content packages. Perhaps even let me access the user and system libraries. Then perhaps we will be getting somewhere! What happens when Apple actually removes some of these capabilities from macOS when they add the cloud storage solutions? I think that's the more likely progression than iOS getting true Finder-level file access.
Why? You do know that people can actually use different technologies simultaneously? I have been using Macs for over 25 years and I use Android too.
Because we both also use Android we can also point out that it has always been an incredible dumbass idea that iOS does not have a documents folder or anywhere to save files received online locally. Storing PDF's in a Books app? Dumb. And the fact it's taking this long for Apple to do something about it is even dumber.
It's not iPad only – it works great on my iPhone 6! I can't figure out how to add Google Drive or OneDrive, though.
Is drag & drop supported too? They showed how you can drag multiple apps on the lock screen. I would love this on an iPhone.
Yes, though from what I can tell, as of now, drag and drop on my phone is only from somewhere on the home screen to somewhere else on the home screen, or from somewhere in the Files app to somewhere else in the Files app – not from one app to another.
Yes, when you long-press on a file (without dragging) it brings up a menu with options to copy, rename, move, share, tag, see info, or delete.
I wonder why didn't they call it Finder. That would have gone a long towards symbolically uniting Mac and iOS.
If anything, it's more likely they'll rename Finder on macOS to Files--that seems to be the direction they're headed lately, both using generic nouns (e.g., Photos) for former specially named products (e.g., iPhoto) and doing so by borrowing the names originally used on iOS.
PS - to everyone wondering if this supports local file management, demos suggest it does: https://arstechnica.com/apple/2017/...ile-manager-hits-the-app-store-ahead-of-wwdc/
He was right and Files doesn't undermine that. You see you're files only, the system is completely hidden away. We like to organise and sort into folders as it's the way our minds work and how we manage things in real life. It's nice to think we can rely on one app for each type of file but in reality you need interoperability and thankfully this will finally let developers have software rely on assets in ONE PLACE! It's the bit of workflow the iPad has been missing for creative use. I'm super excited about the iPad again for a few key apps that might flourish for me.
Now all I need is time to wait and see what iOS11 really offer and a new iPad if it comes true.
Well, iOS has always stored files locally, that’s nothing new whatsoever. There is a real file system Apple just don’t allow consumers to access it.
This “Files” app though, sorry I’m not getting excited about it just yet, though it is obviously ridiculously early days. It’s nothing we couldn’t already do, it just makes it slightly quicker in some cases.
It’s not a unified file location, more of a unified cloud storage location. It doesn’t offer any expanded access to the iOS’s underlying file system. Nor does it offer any kind of collation of the files in the iOS file system.
For instance, I’ve just created a document in Word and saved it to the iOS local storage. Does it show up in the Files app? No.
In fact I can’t even add it to Files from the sharing centre. Files created in Apple apps do seem to show up of course, no surprise there.
So at the moment, Files isn’t any kind of major breakthrough as far as access to the iOS file system goes. But there’s plenty time yet.
Perhaps once more apps support it and perhaps support saving directly to it, it will become a more useful central file location.
Or perhaps once apps adopt support for it, it will be irrelevant where we store the files, by supporting the app they may just automatically show up there.
Not that that bothers me, I’ve always managed perfectly fine using, accessing and storing files on my iOS devices.
But the Files app is ultimately a step in the right direction for those clamouring for an “iOS file system”. By the time iOS 11 goes live I’m sure all of the big players will support the Files app in one way or another and it will become the one simple place to find everything.
You can already do this in Safari in iOS without a Mac.
Just tap download (e.g a font on this site - http://www.dafont.com/) and then open in the local app of your choice. I use Transmit app as my local File system, or I save my files onto my Synology using the DS File app.
The problem is there isn't a proper download manager in mobile Safari - so you can't track the progress of large files - this is an area that I hope sees improvement in the future.
Does anyone know if you can mount a ligthning external drive and see its contents in Files?
I have the Files folder on my iPhone. So maybe not iPad only
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I haven't tested it specifically yet, but it should.
It shows up on the iphone beta. Does not show third party apps, just icloud and on this device, as of now.