alt Hacker NewsApple’s implementation of enabling access to files is entirely different. I actually much prefer it because it sidesteps the self-dealing permissions bomb that Google just set off.
In iOS, applications can use the File Provider API to present themselves in the Files app. You can move/copy/delete data there using the normal human interface constructs native to iOS, including mouse support and keyboard shortcuts on iPadOS.
Apps can also present the same directory internally (inside the app). Cloud-backed applications can then do useful things like materialization, eviction, and dataless file presence.
It doesn’t allow standing access to the entire filesystem, though. iOS only has support for applications reading outside their sandbox if the apps are from the same developer, and then they can call a pooled storage location for all apps that share the same “Team ID” (e.g., top level developer account/organization).
It’s actually far easier (functionally) to grant access to your entire photo library, so for example you can have an app query and backup your photo library.
“True” filesystem-wide backup requires hooking into the iOS backup/MobileFile hooks. Apple isn’t as hostile to third parties doing that as Google is to anyone accessing their own device data. But the process is more cumbersome by far.
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Cloud applications can do nil, because the api for the background transfers is only working for iCloud, Nextcloud and other apps in the background get a couple of kb/s effectively pushing you to pay apple. Great Dark pattern from Apple that has been going on for years.
This is basically exactly how Android MediaStore API works too: https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/shared/m...
The difference is that Android also has APIs (which require user permission and are, at this point, mostly deprecated or heavily discouraged through Play Store policy, hence what happened to NextCloud) which offer filesystem-level access to files created by other apps. This has historically allowed for apps like NextCloud and SyncThing to offer automatic backup or syncing.
SyncThing ran into similar problems recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41895718
> In iOS, applications can use the File Provider API to present themselves in the Files app. You can move/copy/delete data there using the normal human interface constructs native to iOS, including mouse support and keyboard shortcuts on iPadOS.
> Apps can also present the same directory internally (inside the app). Cloud-backed applications can then do useful things like materialization, eviction, and dataless file presence.
In Android apps can do all this with the SAF API.
More importantly, on Android the user can give multiple apps access to the same directory, allowing apps to work together with files. iOS doesn't allow this AFAIK.