On My iPad in the Files app

[hajime]

Hi, in this video at 0:46, the guy is able to access all the folders and files on his iPad using the stock Files app. However, when I opened the Files app and clicked ‘On My iPad’, it lists only File Browser Pro and File Browser folders which are empty. What Have I done wrong? How do I get to access the folders and files on my iPad likes he did?

 

[Wando64]

Not all apps store data in a dedicated folder.
It depends on what you have installed on your iPad.

For example, on mine I have a bunch of folders, including Cubasis, Affinity, LumaFusion, Procteate, and many more.

 

[Wando64]

Is there anything in particular that you are expecting to find but it is not there?

 

[hajime]

Not all apps store data in a dedicated folder.
It depends on what you have installed on your iPad.

For example, on mine I have a bunch of folders, including Cubasis, Affinity, LumaFusion, Procteate, and many more.

Thanks. I have also installed Affinity. However, there is no Photo nor Designer Folder in ‘On My iPad’ nor any available folder. Where are they?

 

[hajime]

Is there anything in particular that you are expecting to find but it is not there?

Actually what are supposed to be in that ‘On My iPad’ folder?

 

[Wando64]

Actually what are supposed to be in that ‘On My iPad’ folder?

For example, as you have Affinity, you should see a dedicated folder within ‘on my ipad’

 

[Wando64]

This is what I have on mine:

 

[hajime]

This is what I have on mine:

View attachment 1943181

That is nice! Did yours automatically show up under ‘On My iPad’? Why I only have FileBrowser 1 item and FileBrowser Pro 2 items. Even strange is that both folders are empty when clicked upon.

Another strange thing is what when I searched ‘aff’, Affinity Designer On My iPad, Affinity Designer (up arrow symbol) Waiting…, Affinity Photo On My iPad, Affinity Photo (up arrow symbol) Waiting… and Affinity Publisher (up arrow symbol) Waiting show up. However, they are not visible in ‘on my iPad’. clicking any of these Affinity folder shows nothing. Also, I only tried Publisher on my Mac which I returned and my Windows PC which I uninstalled. There is no Publisher for iPad. Firefox also shows up under search with ‘on my iPad’ tab selected but it is not shown in ‘on my iPad’.

 

[NoBoMac]

"On My" only contains things a user puts there or apps that have set themselves up to save data there. It does not have any access to iOS filesystem. So no access to items saved in, for example, Apple native apps.

So that there is nothing to see is "normal".

 

[Wando64]

"On My" only contains things a user puts there or apps that have set themselves up to save data there. It does not have any access to iOS filesystem. So no access to items saved in, for example, Apple native apps.

So that there is nothing to see is "normal".

With a brand new iPad, yes.
But the OP has apps installed (e.g. Affinity) that should have created a folder, as long as the OP has actually used Affinity and saved a project (I am starting to think this might be the issue).
Likewise for GarageBand.

 

[hajime]

I got a brand new iPad. Then, manually installed some apps such as Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, FileBrowser Pro, FileBrowser, Things 3, GoodNotes 5, Firefox, etc. I did not install as many app as I did on the replaced iPad.

In Files, under Locations->iCloud Drive, I have several folders like Downloads, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Shortcuts, TextEdit, Vectormator which I have not installed on this new iPad. They were added automatically by whatever. I did not do anything.

Under Files->On My iPad, I only have: FileBrowser and FileBrowser Pro. It shows that the former has 1 item and the latter has 3 items (it was 2 items yesterday). However, both are actually empty when I clicked on them.

Just upgraded from 15.1 to 15.2.1. Same thing. No improvement.

 

[hajime]

I did a test. I uninstalled Affinity Designer. Then, searched "designer" in the Files app. Only 'Affinity Designer Waiting' showed up. Then, I reinstalled Designer and searched for Designer. Now, 'Affinity Design On My iPad' and 'Affinity Designer Waiting' show up. However, under On My iPad, I still see only FileBrowser and FileBrowser Pro. So it seems that Designer is inside the On My iPad folder as it showed up in the search result but it, along with other apps such as Affinity Photo and Firebox, became invisible under On My iPad.

When I pressed and held on the On My iPad screen and chose Get Info, it shows 'File Provider Storage' folder.


BTW, what does an up arrow symbol with the word 'Waiting' mean?

 

[hajime]

With a brand new iPad, yes.
But the OP has apps installed (e.g. Affinity) that should have created a folder, as long as the OP has actually used Affinity and saved a project (I am starting to think this might be the issue).
Likewise for GarageBand.

Thanks for mentioning this. It looks like installing those apps alone allows search to find them in ‘on my iPad’. However, those folders are invisible even they were found. In order to see those folders in ‘on my iPad’, I have to create a file in the app first. After creating a file in Affinity Photo and Designer, both folders show up in ‘on my iPad’. When I deleted those files, they disappeared. For Firefox, I have to launch it first. Then, a Firefox folder became visible automatically in ‘on my iPad’.

So app folders although exist, do not become visible in ‘on my iPad’ after installation until we have created a file or launched the app depending on the app? Did this happen to all of you when you first got your iPad?

 

[hajime]

"On My" only contains things a user puts there or apps that have set themselves up to save data there. It does not have any access to iOS filesystem. So no access to items saved in, for example, Apple native apps.

So that there is nothing to see is "normal".

Thanks for mentioning this