Do they really? Don’t they really just have to access the Files App, which has built in cloud service integration (Dropbox, Box, iCloud, OneDrive, Google Drive) That is how I understand it, the Files App provides iOS extensions that remove the requirement for developers to integrate individual cloud services themselves manually.
Maybe an actual developer can chime in here?
It’s still messy, but that’s what Apple intends. The problem is that apps needed this before iOS 8, so they implemented integration themselves using libraries provided by Dropbox/etc. Then when Dropbox/etc dragged their heels integrating with the document picker (which became Files later), there was a good period of time where despite Apple having “the unifying solution”, apps weren’t really getting anything important by integrating, so they keep writing more custom integration.
So a lot of legacy still exists with the old integration. And there’s still services that don’t integrate into the document picker, even now, but it’s becoming rare.
The document picker does a lot of smarter things that devs/users should be interested in, such as allowing an app to reach into Dropbox’s sandbox for a file, eliminating the need for copying files all over the device, but that support is spotty too since the provider and “consumer” of the file both need to support in-place viewing/editing, leading to another chicken/egg problem.
The big gap though in my mind, is that Apple really should be integrating some core functionality as “providers” in Files, such as flash drive and SSD support. I’d also like a good SFTP provider that lets me reach into my Mac server more easily through the document picker (the existing ones are meh, at best, and Panic killed Transmit so that’s starting to age from lack of fixes).
As a developer, I can see what Apple has been trying to build and how it is a good approach long term for having both a security-conscious filing system, and dealing with the reality that more folks are storing files on servers. Elevating cloud providers to be “equal” in the document picker & Files is a worthy goal. But as a developer, I also have to laugh at Apple expecting devs to spend effort adopting it without some carrot or stick involved. It just doesn’t work if you can’t bypass the bean counters’ input on the decision to do the work or not, or give them something juicy they can send onto the users that greatly outweighs the costs.
