iPhone Files App - can't open files when away from house!

[Willie Heckaslyke]

I've done some Googling, hoping to find an answer (amongst page after page of 'issues' with the Files App), but haven't found anything that sounds like the one I've got yet.

In the house, it generally works fine, but whenever I'm out & about, it becomes a different story. I have lots of images like wallpapers, screenshots etc that I don't want cluttering up my Photos app, so have them in folders. They just will not open - I can see the thumbnails of them, but tapping on any of them does nothing. It's not just restricted to pics, nothing opens - not even folders themselves sometimes!

I thought it might be something to do with having Mobile Data on (or off) and it was trying to connect to my NAS drive, laptop etc in the house, but enabling or disabling it makes no difference. ?‍♂️

 

[0128672]

Which device and model are you using?
Which iOS version is that device on?
Is cellular data enabled for iCloud Drive?
Has this functionality ever worked for you and then stopped working?

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

Which device and model are you using? - iPhone 11 Pro Max
Which iOS version is that device on? - recently on 15.1, but was happening on previous version too.
Is cellular data enabled for iCloud Drive? - It is/was....but I don't use iCloud, all my stuff over the years either DropBox, Google Drive or elsewhere...
Has this functionality ever worked for you and then stopped working? - Only had an iPhone since March and due to pandemic, have rarely accessed Files app when out of the house, so can't answer that 100% for sure...

Thanks....?

 

[0128672]

Thanks....👍

OK so this is a possible third-party storage app/cellular data issue. I don't use any third-party storage to test this, but are any that you use also enabled for cellular data (Settings > Cellular > app list)?

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

OK so this is a possible third-party storage app/cellular data issue. I don't use any third-party storage to test this, but are any that you use also enabled for cellular data (Settings > Cellular > app list)?

Although it’s not listed as one of ‘My Locations’ (I just have One Drive & Google Drive, both of which don’t have Mobile/Cellular access, along with my NAS Drive and my laptop’s local IP addresses) - Dropbox DID have access and is on my device (the app), so I’ve denied that too and I’ll see if it makes any difference when I’m out next time. I doubt it, but you never know. Thanks for your help…

 

[NoBoMac]

I use Files and Dropbox, the others are archives for me, so no idea how they are implemented in iOS, but...

You will need to turn on cellular for those apps to get those stores updated when out of the house. Even in the home, not instant re: syncing. For example, I was working on a Shortcut to read a file off Files. File was there, created by iPhone, but on iPad, could not read it in until I did an initial viewing of it (was showing cloud icon). Basically, only pulls them when needed (see attached view of a couple of recent files in iCloud that are "on" my iPad).

In the case of Files, there is some "intelligence" going on as they implement some storage management, not keeping everything on device and uncaching when space is running low.

For Dropbox, not a lot of stuff in it, and what is is generally cached (tagged as "Available Offline").

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

I’ve had it set up previously where all locations I have in Files app were allowed mobile network access….but still locked up and became unresponsive - even if I left it enough time for the app to ‘see’ the cloud locations via 3G/4G…?

 

[bradbomb]

Ok, where are these files being stored?
-iCloud
-On this iPhone
-One Drive
-Google Drive
-Dropbox
-Your NAS Drive
-Laptop SMB Share

If it is anything other than the 2nd or the last two, your issue would be making sure your cellular data access is working. If it is the 2nd, there is no reason it shouldn't work. If it is the last two, then those will not work when outside your home network unless you have setup either port forwarding to your external IP in your router (not recommended) or are using a home VPN to connect to your network (not a VPN service you pay for).

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

Thanks for replying. I see where you’re coming from - and the data connection is pretty crap locally, even on 4 bars with 4G it can struggle to get 1-2meg ?…but if I’m on ‘My iPhone’ browsing, any other location should be ignored and irrelevant, unless or until I tap on it to try to establish a connection to browse there! If it is that what’s locking up the whole app, it needs a major rethink.

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

As a follow-up on this....it's confirmed that it was the app trying to connect with my NAS or laptop - even if I was already in 'My Phone' folders from when I was last on the app. It must be trying to connect to them in the background so it will instantly open if I try to access it (to speed things up), but it does the opposite...and the phone freezes! Surely it would be better to not do this and just attempt to connect to the server when requested to. I now have to always try to remember to disconnect from them after I've finished copying/moving things.....