APPLE

Take Another Look at the iOS Files App

It’s come a long way since iOS 9

Ever notice this?

What Is the Files App?

You might not have ever noticed this on your Apple iPhone or iPad even though it has been available since iOS 9, when it was called iCloud Drive and had far weaker abilities.

Originally, the intent of this app was to give your iOS devices access to files stored on your MacOS computer. This was done by automatically putting the Desktop files from the computer(s) in iCloud, and then the iCloud Drive app could access them. Of course, you could also use it to transfer a file from your phone or iPad to your computer.

When iOS 11 arrived, the Files app replaced iCloud Drive (except on the Mac; it retains the old name there) and added the ability to access other services like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and many others. That opened up a whole other world of possibilities, including easy copying from one service to another.

More recently, collaboration was added. You can now let other people work on a file you keep in your iCloud or just be able to always see it as you work on it. You can also give them the same access to an entire folder.