Files App - how to add files to the "On My iPhone/iPad" folder

Actually, I've got it now... Thanks to you GB I started trying left/right and figuring it out. So after my previous reply I figured out the answer to my last question. Not all apps are designed to "Browse" in the Files app. For example, Documents 6 does not have this feature, since you can only browse the files inside the Documents 6 app. But for example Pixelmator (a photo editor) does have this Browse function, and will show up in On My iPhone/iPad!

Solved!

Hi GB, you are absolutely correct! For example, I was able to add a pdf to the Numbers folder in On My iPhone... and it's sitting there, and can be opened as well! And there I also can make new folders and shuffle the pdf around... If I open Numbers app, I can select "Browse" and see the pdf sitting in the Numbers folder in the Files app, but not able to open it, of course... Interesting. I tried this with a txt file as well: by opening it Numbers will automatically make a duplicate of it and convert it to a Numbers file. Next, trying this with Pages, but there was no Pages folder in On My iPhone. So I created a new Pages document, which is automatically uploaded to iCloud Drive (iCloud still "On")... but nothing yet in On My iPhone and the document can not be dragged from iCloud Drive tab to the On My iPhone tab. But dragging something (anything) from my MacBook to Pages in the iTunes FileSharing menu does actually put it "On My iPhone". If I turn off iCloud, any newly created Pages/Numbers document will now automatically be added to On My iPhone. We're getting there... :-)

The question for me remains though, will it be possible to add a third party File Manager app folder to the On My iPhone tab in Files app?

Cheers!

Hi GB,

Thank you, very helpful. That explains, partly, my question...

So even though I have enough storage in my iPhone and iPad, I will need to individually click all the files over approx 1MB to get them downloaded on the devices. It would be nice to have somewhere the option to just download all, as long there is enough storage, but that's up to Apple's philosophy.

Anyway, I still don't see the function of the "On My iPhone/iPad" folder in the Files app. For what is this one used then? Only for apps like Numbers, Pages, and the like? For example, if I print a webpage as pdf and want to save it in Files, there's the option "On My iPhone", but the button "Add" is greyed out. Kinda weird philosophy to me...

Thanks again and regards,

Joe

Hi Eric,

Usually it's the "Share" menu (where you also can Airdrop) which shows the "Save to Files" button in the bottom row, so wether it be directly from Safari or another app is irrelevant... Then it gives the option where to save it, also showing "On My iPhone/iPad", but clicking that option gives a grayed-out "Add" button, making it impossible to add it there... I use other third party File Manager apps like Readdle's Documents 6, but they have their dedicated folder in "Files". Apparently my "On My iPhone/iPad" folder is now only used for Apple's own files like Numbers and Pages...

Presently moving back to an iCloud-less setup (iTunes File Sharing using other apps) until Apple makes it the way it works for me.

Nice weekend!