Using Files and the iOS File System

When the first iPhone was launched, it wasn’t an immediate success. In fact, if you go back and search for news articles, you’ll discover some major complaints about the product. One of the biggest was the absence of connectors (such as USB) to attach other devices to the iPhone in the way that users were accustomed to attaching devices to personal computers.

The fact that the entire iPhone file system was hidden from the user’s view was one of the common complaints. There were reasons for the hidden file system architecture and, over the decade of iPhone use, users, developers, and analysts have come to learn the benefits (and sometimes, drawbacks) of this architecture.

With the advent of iOS 11 in 2017, Apple released its Files app, which approached the issue of file management in a very different way from the architecture that people were accustomed to from the beginning of the personal computer era. In the basic personal computer file architecture, which was built on the traditional Unix file architecture, users managed files and folders, which could be placed almost anywhere on the device. The Files app takes a different approach in that files are accessible from specific areas that are usually related to apps. In other words, instead of thinking of files that can be moved anywhere on a personal computer’s disk, users are now encourage to think of files that can be moved anywhere within an app’s file space (often referred to as a sandbox).

Recognizing that people are not simply using disk space on a personal computer, the Files app incorporates access to cloud storage services that go beyond a personal computer such as iCloud, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and OneDrive.

Here are some details about using Files.

Choosing Document Storage Locations

Remember that file storage is primarily determined by the app a file is associated with. Your primary tool for choosing the storage location is by setting it in Settings for an app. For example, in Settings, you can see the various settings for installed apps on your iOS device (Figure 6-1).

Find your app and then choose the storage location, as shown in Figure 6-2. Your choices depend on what you have installed on your iOS device. If you use iCloud (a very common choice), you can choose to store your data there. You can choose to store it on a local device or you can use Dropbox, Box, or another service.

Browsing Documents

When you use Files, you can choose to browse files in a specific location (this, of course, depends on what you have chosen for locations and the files that you have). It’s important to understand the browsing data that Files shows you, so the following images show you what you might see.

If you have decided to use your iPad for storage, you might see the browse results shown in Figure 6-3 when you choose the On My iPad location.

If you use iCloud Drive, you may see a browse window such as the one shown in Figure 6-4.

Note that when you browse, the locations are at the left of the window. When you select a specific file or folder, you will see its container indicated either in Locations at the left or at the top of the right-hand list, as in Figure 6-5.

Looking at Recent Documents

Using the tabs at the bottom of the window, you can switch between recent files and folders and ones that you want to browse. Figure 6-6 shows recent files and folders.

If some of your documents have not yet been downloaded from a remote server, you will see the cloud icon shown in Figure 6-7, indicating that they are waiting to be downloaded. If you tap a specific file, you can speed up its downloading process.

Note that in addition to indicating if a file needs to be downloaded, you can see its location. For example, in Figure 6-7, in the lower right, you can see a document that is marked as On My iPad rather than iCloud Drive.

Viewing Files and Folders for an App

When you look at apps on an iOS device, you can tap and hold an app icon to see the files and folders that may belong to it, as shown in Figure 6-8.

If necessary, a Show More button will appear at the top right, as you can see in Figure 6-8. When you use Show More, a companion Show Less button appears, as you can see in Figure 6-9.

When you look at the apps in Files (Figure 6-7), you will see a list of the files and folders, as shown in Figure 6-10.

Summary

Use Settings to control where you store the files and folders for an app, and use Files to browse files and folders as well as recents.

Remember that you control where the files and folders are placed not by selecting locations on your personal computer but by selecting locations on the device you’re using or on a cloud storage function such as iCloud or Dropbox.