Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Lack of a unified file system across apps is annoying.

Dammit Cubs

Dammit Cubs

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 31, 2007
2,128
746
I have to say it's been a while since I"m back on the Ipad. I had to first one for a year and then skipped the second one waiting for the third one. But after 2 years, its really annoying to me that Apple will not create a unified file system where apps can share data across one another.

I had to upload pictures to goodreader so I can zip it and then upload it to dropbox. The upload didn't work for some reason, so I went to the dropbox app, but it doesn't detect nor do I know a way to get the zip file generated in Goodreader to port over to the dropbox app.

It's things like this that makes me wish apple created a unified downloads or dummy folder for all apps to use. They are gimping it on purpose to only keep their mobile laptop line more relevant. It blows.

Please fix this apple!!!
 
Is there a reason why you had to zip the files on goodreader in the first place?

Why can't you just upload photos directly from your iPad to Dropbox?
 
Most people probably won't need a file system. If you're working with office files, it's good to use quickoffice for transfer, editing, creation, as well as connectivity to dropbox. It's a fast solution that doesn't require too much. If you're using iWork, they sync directly to iCloud but if you want to drop it into dropbox, you just set up webDAV to your dropbox account and voila, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote can get deposited to Dropbox. You can also use an FTP to store documents if you have an FTP server. FTPOnTheGo is a great way to access FTP if you want access that's a little more seamless.

It seems like for your usage, you could use an FTP with FTPOnTheGo for access.

Edit Additional Content:
Ah, on the flip side, Airprint is pretty busted which is why I e-print. There's just a lot more control. Airprint normally seeks to use the best settings for what you're printing but for those of you not running color laser printers, you will see your ink usage increase. Even though I'm using color laser e-print, I still want a lot of web content in black and white so at least I can set e-print for color or black and white and print anywhere worldwide.
 
Last edited:
pelicanflip said:
Is there a reason why you had to zip the files on goodreader in the first place?

Why can't you just upload photos directly from your iPad to Dropbox?
Click to expand...

Because I need to share these photos with an organization. I'm sure they don't have dropbox and the file size is too large for email. Dropbox doesn't link folders they link single files. So I need to compress all the files into a zip to make it a single file for transfer.
 
lilo777 said:
Do you mean Android tablet?
Click to expand...

He means a laptop lol :D.

Yousendit is pretty good if you're doing informal file sending. if you're really a stickler for security like me, secured FTP is the only way to go.
 
Check out Box.net . . . I think you can share folders and they support WebDAV without another web site since Dropbox won't do it itself.

I think you can share folders there also.
 
App sandboxing is a big problem on iOS and soon the Mac. Apple needs to come up with a workable safe way to have apps talk to each other.

A basic Finder with a downloads, documents, photos, etc. would be a step in the right direction. But I know it probably won't happen. Something like Dropbox built into iOS.

Because of the iOS limitations I carry both an iPad and a MacBook Air to do work on.
 
Well, I just now discovered iExplorer, and although it is not a solution to this problem, it is a GODSEND!!! I can now browse my iPad's file structure without jailbreaking, and delete files to my heart's content. Haven't tried copying yet, but at least I can see!!!!
 
If you are jailbroken check out iFile it is litterally a file browser for your device, and it is also the single reason I jailbreak my device every update.

Download a .zip file with some download enabled browser, you can unzip it and manually distribute its contents across any app you have.
 
Redjericho said:
If you are jailbroken check out iFile it is litterally a file browser for your device, and it is also the single reason I jailbreak my device every update.

Download a .zip file with some download enabled browser, you can unzip it and manually distribute its contents across any app you have.
Click to expand...

iExplorer seems to do the same thing, but doesn't require jailbreaking. How'd they do that?
 
ZBoater said:
Well, I just now discovered iExplorer, and although it is not a solution to this problem, it is a GODSEND!!! I can now browse my iPad's file structure without jailbreaking, and delete files to my heart's content. Haven't tried copying yet, but at least I can see!!!!
Click to expand...

Just downloaded it but can't figure put how to access iPads file structure. Any hints?
 
ZBoater said:
Well, I just now discovered iExplorer, and although it is not a solution to this problem, it is a GODSEND!!! I can now browse my iPad's file structure without jailbreaking, and delete files to my heart's content. Haven't tried copying yet, but at least I can see!!!!
Click to expand...

It gets horrible reviews, what are the positives?
 
To me, this is the worst thing about iOS--my only genuine complaint about the OS in general. The lack of a real file system sucks and the idea of having to copy files between apps is an inelegant, confusing workaround that wastes a lot of disk space. It seems like a big pain in the ass that could be avoided with access to a part of the real file system.

This sort of Sandboxing is why I won't use the Mac App Store version of various programs (instead, I always just directly download them from the developer's site) and will likely not upgrade to Mac OS 10.8 (err, OS X Mountain Lion).

I haven't done a jailbreak on my iOS devices since back in the day, but I might when the JB for the iPad 3 hardware is perfected.
 
protobiont said:
It gets horrible reviews, what are the positives?
Click to expand...

The horrible reviews are most likely from non-hackers. People with no understanding of the iOS file system structure.

The positives is the ability to view your iPads file system and copy or delete files to and from it.

For example take a save file for a game from one iPad/iPhone and add it to another. iFile is a on board version of File Explorer and very powerful app.
 
ZBoater said:
iExplorer seems to do the same thing, but doesn't require jailbreaking. How'd they do that?
Click to expand...

From what I see iExplorer doesn't seem to do much of anything.

Just look at it like this: If it is a necessity for you to have the ability to transfer any file on your device around to other apps, jailbreak and get iFile

If it is not, I would not recommend going through the jailbreaking process, it turns into a handful on some occasions.

Here you go, I got the link to the iFile description page,
http://moreinfo.thebigboss.org/moreinfo/depiction.php?file=ifileData
Sound like what you need?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back