Flat surfaces that apps can ‘project’ on to are rapidly discovered, and interacted with accurately. It’s power-hungry, too, and so on older hardware will tear through your battery. It needs an A9 chip or above to run, and is therefore restricted to the iPhone 6s/7/8/X families, any iPad Pro, and 2017’s iPad. This crack at merging the real and the virtual is all about reshaping your world – within the confines of your device’s screen. Add in drag-and-drop, tagging, and the means to set favourites, and Files means you’re now running low on excuses if someone suggests you do some actual work on your iPad.Īugmented reality is Apple’s other flagship feature. But if you’ve a Dropbox, Box or Google Drive install, you’ll find those work seamlessly within Files. Not every app’s ready – Transmit merely loads a pop-up window. Default locations include iCloud Drive and ‘On My iPad’ (individual app iCloud folders) but Files encourages you to add more. On iPhone, you get a single-pane view, but the same functionality. On the left are locations, tags and favourites, and on the right are your documents. On iPad, Files resembles a modern take on Finder. It’s because Apple’s decided other services can exist within Files on equal footing.
That’s not because Apple’s recognised a file system is necessary (unlike in the iPad’s early days) – that ship sailed long ago.
This bit of iOS 11 feels distinctly ‘not Apple’ – and in a good way.
