Files is a file management app developed by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

for devices that run

iOS 11 iOS 11 is the iOS version history, eleventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., Apple, being the successor to iOS 10. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, 2017, and w ...

and later or

iPadOS iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple for its iPad line of tablet computers. It was given a name distinct from iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones to reflect the diverging features of the two product lines, suc ...

. Discovered as a placeholder title in the

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

just prior to the company's 2017

Worldwide Developers Conference The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...

, the app was officially announced at the conference shortly thereafter. Files allows users to browse local files stored within apps, as well as files stored in cloud storage services including

iCloud iCloud is the personal cloud service of Apple Inc. Launched on October 12, 2011, iCloud enables users to store and Data synchronization, sync data across devices, including Apple Mail, Calendar (Apple), Apple Calendar, Photos (Apple), Apple Ph ...

Dropbox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropbox w ...

OneDrive Microsoft OneDrive is a file-hosting service operated by Microsoft. First released as SkyDrive in August 2007, it allows registered users to store, share, back-up and synchronize their files. OneDrive also works as the storage Frontend and backe ...

, and

Google Drive Google Drive is a file-hosting service and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files ...

. It allows for the saving, opening and organization of files, including placement into structured folders and sub-folders. iPadOS and recent versions of iOS are able to drag-and-drop files between Files and other apps, while iOS versions before iOS 15 are limited to drag-and-drop inside Files itself. Further organization can be done through the use of color-coded or custom-named tags, and a persistent search bar allows for finding files inside folders, though not inside other apps. A list view enables different sorting options. The app offers the exclusive playback of high-quality

FLAC FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software ...

audio files, and also offers support for viewing

text file A text file (sometimes spelled textfile; an old alternative name is flat file) is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists stored as data within a computer file system. In ope ...

s, images, "Music Memos", and Zip archives, as well as limited support for video.

History

Hours before Apple's June 5, 2017

, developer Steve Troughton-Smith discovered a placeholder title in the

for a "Files" app, requiring

. Apple officially announced the app at its conference shortly thereafter.

Features

Files allows users to browse local files stored within apps, as well as files stored on

cloud storage Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which data, said to be on "the cloud", is stored remotely in logical pools and is accessible to users over a network, typically the Internet. The physical storage spans multiple servers (so ...

services including

Box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

, and more. Users are able to save, open, and organize files, including placing files into structured folders and sub-folders. On the

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

, users can drag-and-drop files between the Files app and other apps. On the

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

the functionality was initially limited to only inside each respective app but was later updated to behave like on the iPad. Users can add colored and custom-named tags to files, adding them to a dedicated "Tags" section. A persistent search bar at the top enables finding files inside sub-folders, though it doesn't search within other apps. A list view enables optional sorting according to size or date. Upon long-pressing a file, the app offers several options, including "Copy", "Rename", "Move", "Share", "Tags", "Info", and "Delete". Files stored on third-party services can be copied to the device for offline access. iCloud Sharing is brought out from Apple's dedicated

iWork iWork is an office suite of applications created by Apple Inc., Apple for its macOS, iPadOS, and iOS operating systems, and also available cross-platform through the iCloud website. iWork includes the presentation program, presentation applicat ...

apps to become a standardized feature across the operating system, enabling the sharing of any file in Files; the dedicated "iCloud Drive" app is removed, replaced by Files, with iCloud available as one of the cloud storage providers users can connect the app to.. A built-in player inside the Files app allows for the playback of high-quality

audio files. The app also supports the viewing and extraction of Zip archives. If no compatible app is installed, Files allows for the viewing of

s, and experiments in watching videos in AVI or MOV formats have shown limited, but partially successful, results. Images and "Music Memo" files can also be previewed and played.

References

External links

iOS 11 Files App Tour - YouTube
{{IOS File managers iOS software 2017 software iPadOS software IOS-based software made by Apple Inc.

History

Features

See also

References

External links