If you install iOS 11, there will be a new app on your home screen. The iOS 11 Files app replaces iCloud Drive and finally gives your iPhone and iPad a convenient place to collect all your documents. We show you how it works.
Get started with iOS 11 Files
Apple wants to make iPhone / iPad users more productive, and so comes with a brand new Files app. It is derived from the Finder on the Mac, with a similar design and function.
The app can seem cluttered and confusing when you first start it up. However, if you set it up correctly, this will become the repository of all your files that you have collected in different cloud services.
Set up the iOS 11 Files app
The Files app compiles an overview based on the apps that are already on your iPhone or iPad. This allows you to log in to your iCloud account, but Google Drive and Dropbox are also supported. By logging in with your accounts, the app quickly fills up with the files that you could previously view in separate apps. Tap Edit to add services to the app or turn them off.
Edit, share and tag files
After choosing a cloud service, you can create new folders, open, edit and share files. Based on the files used, you can find all the files you were working on in the ‘Recent’ tab.
Pressing firmly on a document will bring up a menu with various options. For example, you can choose to quickly edit it, share it or attach a tag to it. These tags are especially important, because they allow you to organize different documents quickly and clearly.
Missing features
Although the Files app is off to a promising start, there are still some things that can be improved or are missing. For example, it seems that apps like Google Docs and Sheets must first build in support for these files to work. This now ensures that you can look at all your Google Docs in Google Drive, but cannot do anything with it. So let’s hope Google has updates ready before iOS 11 comes out.
In addition, the Files app especially comes into its own on the iPad. Thanks to a number of smart improvements, the app makes it easy to view or edit your documents, after which you can put them side by side with the help of the new Dock and split screen. In addition, the extra screen space comes in handy when some folders quickly consist of more than a hundred documents. On the iPhone, we mainly use the app when we want to quickly view or look up something and our Mac and iPad are not around.