Importing data from phone files no option

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Level 1

22 points

Importing data from phone files no option

My desktop Obsidian files have been rsynced to my iOS 18.5 phone directory folder iOS/Files app/Browse/Locations/iSH/mnt/ObsidianSync/4GbOfDirectoriesAndFiles, but won’t Move/Copy into the obsidian phone app at path iOs/Files app/Browse/Locations/On My iPhone/Obsidian/vault.

Here’s the error when I manually try to Move/Copy 4GB data from iOS 18.5

iSH app to Obsidian app’s path in iOS/Files app/On My

iPhone/Obsidian/vault: Error: The Operation Can’t Be Completed. Couldn’t

communicate with a helper application. OK.

This has succeeded 2-3 times, but now something broke. The storage is fine with 51.17 GB of 64 GB used.

I appreciate and understand iOS has sandbox file movement restrictions, however I need this to function. I am researching Android which also has sandbox protections, but research leads me to believe this may solve the issue. I have been with iOS since the beginning but I need the local PKM (personal knowledge management) app to work rather than using cloud.

iPhone 11

Posted on Aug 16, 2025 10:04 AM

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Answer 1

SravanKrA

Level 10

435,236 points

Aug 17, 2025 5:30 AM in response to eiger3970

Uploading to iCloud directly is the smoothest path if you already have the 4 GB vault sitting on your desktop!

Here’s why:

Obsidian on iOS can open vaults directly from iCloud Drive — it doesn’t need the vault to live under On My iPhone/Obsidian.
Apple’s sync layer for iCloud Drive is far more reliable than the iSH → Files bridge. No “helper application” crash, and it handles huge folders.
Once the vault is in iCloud, your desktop and iPhone stay in sync automatically.

Steps (Desktop → iCloud → iPhone)

On Desktop (Mac or Windows):

Locate your vault folder (ObsidianSync or whatever you named it).
Move or copy the entire vault folder into iCloud Drive → Obsidian.
1. On macOS Finder: just drag into iCloud Drive/Obsidian/.
2. On Windows: install iCloud for Windows → copy into iCloud Drive.

On iPhone (iOS 18.X.X):

Open the Obsidian app.
Tap “Open another vault” → “Open folder as vault”.
Browse to iCloud Drive → Obsidian → [YourVaultName].
Done — the vault opens directly from iCloud.

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Answer 2

eiger3970 Author

Level 1

22 points

Aug 17, 2025 4:40 AM in response to KiltedTim

No, 3rd parties typically restrict syncing to their clouds as a business model. However this can be circumvented by local file rsyncs.

The challenge remains with iOS' restrictions bridging iOS Files app to 3rd party apps like iSH's sandbox file management.

I have the bridge working, however iOS error appears when Moving/Copying 4GB of files a 3rd time (worked 2 times): The Operation Can’t Be Completed. Couldn’t

communicate with a helper application. OK.

Much like the apple forum login password field with no option to view entered password/passphrase, this challenge appears to lie with iOS.

A work around is for me to split the 4GB of files into the 40MB of txt/md files, which can be git controlled and moved/copied via the bridge (the Apple error appears when data is >200MB and a 3rd time moved (even with iPhone Storage cleared to have 10GB available)).

Then the remaining 3.96GB which are Binary files (non text/md) and be stored in the 3rd party app iSH somewhere. These can then be rsynced with my desktop.

A hassle with the binary and txt/md files not together, but the only other work around is to buy a Linux phone or subscribe to Obsidian's cloud sync. This defeats the purpose of moving to local PKMs like Logseq or Obsidian...to have some digital privacy...kind of over the surveillance capitalism business model as corporations inevitably take the profits for investors too far.

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Answer 3

KiltedTim

Level 10

230,874 points

Aug 16, 2025 10:24 AM in response to eiger3970

Sounds like you need to talk to the developer of the obsidian app.

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Importing data from phone files no option

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