iPhone Files app on iPhone

[scouser75]

Hi guys, I'm running iOS 14 and have a few questions about the files app.

If I drag and drop files (documents, pictures etc) on my Mac to the iCloud drive, when I look at these files on my iPhone they have a cloud icon with a downward arrow. I know this means that the documents are held in the cloud and I need to click the arrow to download them. But, is this normal? If I drag and drop documents to Dropbox, they're instantly available on my iPhone.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[bsamcash]

It’s normal. You can also airdrop them directly to your iPhone and save them to the Files app instead.

 

[scouser75]

It’s normal. You can also airdrop them directly to your iPhone and save them to the Files app instead.

Thanks mate. But by downloading to the phone, will that now eat up data?

Unfortunately I have a 2009 Mac Pro which for some reason doesn't let me AirDrop.

 

[bsamcash]

Thanks mate. But by downloading to the phone, will that now eat up data?

If you mean cellular data, only if you’re not on a WiFi network. If you mean storage on your phone, yes it will.

 

[scouser75]

I thought the whole point of having documents in the cloud was that you can access them without the need to store them on your phone. Is it not possible to view the documents I have on iCloud without downloading them to my phone and using up storage?