Since updating to iOS 17 there doesn't seem to be a way to automatically open files AirDropped into any applications. The files get downloaded to the Files application and you can open them from there, but previously you could open them straight in another application. There doesn't seem to be any documentation to this change.
Is there still a way to open AirDropped files directly in a non-Apple published application?
On iOS 17, the behavior of saving an AirDropped file to the Downloads folder (and then launching Files.app) is intended. That is part of the effort to avoid directly passing a file to an app that declares itself as a handler of the file type but isn’t really the file handler that the user expects. If you have feedback on the behavior change on iOS 17, feel free to file your feedback report <http://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/>.
This is a horrible update! Please change the workflow as it adds so many unnecessary steps.
I agree with mframirez. Horrible UX change. This change adds lots of steps to a task I do many times every day. I really, really hate it.
I've had the exact same issue. It created a problem to solve a problem I didn't have. Now I have to go through about 7 extra steps to do the same thing, and when I transferred multiple files, I ended up having to do the process multiple times because I had to then find and reselect all of them before moving them to the correct app. Please go back to the prompt that allowed me to choose which app I wanted to open the file in.
The same behaviour. Didn't find the solution yet.
Easily one of the worst UX decisions Apple has made in iOS. Likely in an attempt to fill up people's iCloud storage forcing them to buy more space. Either way, it's just a ridiculously horrible user experience for such obvious reasons that I don't have to explain them. Change this back immediately.
Same issue. Experimented with CFBundleDocumentTypes, UTExportedTypeDeclarations, UTImportedTypeDeclarations, UIFileSharingEnabled, LSSupportsOpeningDocumentsInPlace with no success. Seems to be a bug in iOS 17, and it still persists in Beta 17.1 (21B5045h).
On iOS 17, the behavior of saving an AirDropped file to the Downloads folder (and then launching Files.app) is intended. That is part of the effort to avoid directly passing a file to an app that declares itself as a handler of the file type but isn’t really the file handler that the user expects. If you have feedback on the behavior change on iOS 17, feel free to file your feedback report <http://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/>.
This is a horrible update! Please change the workflow as it adds so many unnecessary steps.
I agree with mframirez. Horrible UX change. This change adds lots of steps to a task I do many times every day. I really, really hate it.
I've had the exact same issue. It created a problem to solve a problem I didn't have. Now I have to go through about 7 extra steps to do the same thing, and when I transferred multiple files, I ended up having to do the process multiple times because I had to then find and reselect all of them before moving them to the correct app. Please go back to the prompt that allowed me to choose which app I wanted to open the file in.
Poor choice in the intentional change. It made AirDrop far less user friendly. I would air drop a .pdf and it would at least prompt me to select an App like iAnnotate. This only added extra steps to my workflow. I get not allowing direct app selection without a prompt to select a specific app but forcing it to files only was a poor change.
I wonder if this restriction applied only to Airdropped files, or to any custom file types? I noticed that my app's custom file type wouldn't open in the app automatically by the click on it in Files app even if I moved that file to the Files app manually, not via Airdrop. Though other file types (eq. .epub, .fb2) continue to open in their corresponding apps. Do I need to provide some additional setup to custom file type? Now I have the same custom type registered in both DocumentTypes and Exported Type Identifiers on my target's Info tab, and it opened in the app before iOS 17.
This change has made Airdrop extremely unfriendly. Can we please revert back to getting a prompt and being able to open the files directly in the app instead of it going to files?
Hello,
we are experiencing the same problem. iOS 17 / 17.1.x. We set both the UIFileSharingEnabled and LSSupportsOpeningDocumentsInPlace toggles in Info.plist, as well as the UISupportsDocumentBrowser toggle. Before iOS 17 we were able to edit files in an external app without problem (e.g. Excel files in the MS Excel App), since iOS 17 we are not.
We have found the following threads that describe the same or at least a similar problem, all have no solution so far:
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/740777
A quick fix would be greatly appreciated, our cutomers depend on this feature.
Yes, in-place editing of files seems completely broken in iOS 17. We see the same. So this may not be just an AirDrop problem. Seems no app can have a file open in-place in another app. Severely limits usability.
This is a substantial regression in terms of UX. Having a dialog asking users "Do you really want to open this file with app XY?" would be much better.
Seriously, is this not getting reverted? How many users have to come **** up your dev thread before someone pays attention?
Seriously, is this not getting reverted? How many users have to come spamming your dev thread before someone pays attention?
Why try to fix something thats not broken 😭 This adds so many extra steps and adds files to the Files app that i dont want, so i have to go back and delete them. Why not give an option to chose where I want to open the file? That was really the best way to go about this
This is a horrible change. This adds an extra step and guarantees that users will get duplicates of their files everywhere
I'm running 17.3.1 on iPad
AirDrop automatically sends a text file to my OpenOffice App.
I would like to change this to another app but don't know how. Reading here, others may be interested that this version, in one instance, performs like the old version. Albeit unable to alter the behavior. Not recognizing the supposed "design intent".
Further, my desired app is not accessible from the Files app. Thus, unable to open the file as desired... period.
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natjzele23
Add a CommentI AGREE!! PLEASE CHANGE IT BACK OR GIVE US THE OPTION!! I HATE THE FILES APP!!