Filed under: Cool tools, Internet Tools, iPhone, App Store
Cloud file sharing on the iPhone, four ways
Among the crowded field of cloud sharing and file synchronization services, there are plenty of interesting options (we've been partial to Dropbox around here, but check around for more), but when you add 'must work well with iPhone' to the requirements list, the choices narrow a bit. I've been testing out two business-focused options in Readdle Docs and box.net, and two other iPhone-friendly options (ZumoDrive and Drop.io) have just poked above the horizon.Readdle Docs may be on the pricey side for the App Store at $9.99US, but there's a lot of functionality bundled into that ten bucks. In addition to turning your iPhone or iPod touch into a WebDAV file server -- accessible easily and securely in the Finder, Windows Explorer, or via clients like Transmit -- Readdle lets you access hosted storage on your MobileMe account or other WebDAV services.
Once you get the files onto your device, it's easy to view all iPhone-friendly formats, or forward documents and images by email. I'm particularly fond of the full-screen PDF and PPT viewers in the app. Of course, it's no Documents to Go, but it's a good start (and for those waiting eagerly for D2G to arrive on the iPhone, word from DataViz is that the app is on track for a Q2 release).
Update: DistortedLoop points to veteran Palm developer QuickOffice and the $9.99 Mobile Files Pro product, which offers iDisk connectivity and also allows editing of Excel files. I hadn't heard of it before and we'll definitely be checking it out for a future review.
While you can use Readdle with iDisk or any WebDAV-enabled storage service, you also get a bonus account on the Readdle servers with 512 MB of storage (yes, not much, but it's handy). Upgrades to the Readdle storage start at $5/month for 2 GB. On the other hand, if you need the cloud access but not the onboard server, you can save $2 and get Readdle's OneDisk product for $7.99. Per Michael's question in the comments, the Readdle team does have OneDisk working with JungleDisk and Amazon S3, and it should work in the same fashion with Docs.
Though box.net is focused on enterprise users, it's plenty functional for personal use; with a free 1GB storage account that permits 5 collaboration folders and files up to 25 MB in size, you've got some room to maneuver (paid plans start at $7.95/mo). The companion iPhone app, also free, lets you upload images from your photo library or camera, view a list of recently modified files, and open up any of your files for viewing (unfortunately the new box.net webdoc format reads in as raw HTML, which is a drag). You can also forward sharing links to your colleagues directly from the iPhone app, which can be extremely helpful in the midst of a collaborative project.
The box.net app is more streamlined than Readdle Docs, but offers a lot less of the bidirectional functionality, and the viewer isn't fullscreen or landscape enabled; it also doesn't appear to cache large documents locally as Readdle does, and it's crashed on me once or twice while downloading large PDFs. Still, if you're already using box.net or you don't have a WebDAV-enabled storage option for use with Readdle, it's a fine app to try.
Details of the two new kids on the block, in the 2nd half of the post.
A promising startup in the cloud storage area has just moved from private to public beta: ZumoDrive is now available for use, with 1GB free storage (paid plans start at $2.99 monthly for 10 GB) and a straightforward Mac client. The ZumoDrive app shows your remote files on a mounted drive and caches them locally on your machine, so iTunes playback of hosted music or movies is smooth and graceful.
Since those files are stored online, should be a snap to get them onto your iPhone, right? Enter the Supersize Me app, normally $4.99 but currently free in the App Store. Media files from your ZumoDrive are actually playable in Supersize Me (sadly, not in the regular iPod app, but that's to be expected), and documents/photos are viewable. It's not as full-featured for iPhone file viewing and management as the box.net or Readdle Docs apps, but it's definitely usable.
Meanwhile, one of our other favorite online storage services, drop.io, has been polishing up an API to allow developers to build tools that work with the service. Where there's an API, an iPhone app cannot be far behind, and this week Droppler hit the App Store for $1.99.
Developer Chris Patterson built the DropKit Objective-C libraries for using drop.io data storage on the iPhone and in Mac OS X, and Droppler is his first public project using the framework. Since iPhone apps don't have a native model for cloud storage of data, using Chris' code would allow them to store semi-persistent settings or files in drop.io with ease. As drop.io 'drops' can be created on the fly (with up to 100MB of storage per drop, free of charge), this is a good way to quickly share files from your iPhone to the rest of the world without having to go to the trouble of setting up a service account in advance. You can get a drop.io upgrade for an individual drop ($10 for 1GB for a year) or a professional plan providing 20GB of storage and 25 managed drops for $19.99 a month.
Since those files are stored online, should be a snap to get them onto your iPhone, right? Enter the Supersize Me app, normally $4.99 but currently free in the App Store. Media files from your ZumoDrive are actually playable in Supersize Me (sadly, not in the regular iPod app, but that's to be expected), and documents/photos are viewable. It's not as full-featured for iPhone file viewing and management as the box.net or Readdle Docs apps, but it's definitely usable.
Meanwhile, one of our other favorite online storage services, drop.io, has been polishing up an API to allow developers to build tools that work with the service. Where there's an API, an iPhone app cannot be far behind, and this week Droppler hit the App Store for $1.99.
Developer Chris Patterson built the DropKit Objective-C libraries for using drop.io data storage on the iPhone and in Mac OS X, and Droppler is his first public project using the framework. Since iPhone apps don't have a native model for cloud storage of data, using Chris' code would allow them to store semi-persistent settings or files in drop.io with ease. As drop.io 'drops' can be created on the fly (with up to 100MB of storage per drop, free of charge), this is a good way to quickly share files from your iPhone to the rest of the world without having to go to the trouble of setting up a service account in advance. You can get a drop.io upgrade for an individual drop ($10 for 1GB for a year) or a professional plan providing 20GB of storage and 25 managed drops for $19.99 a month.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MIchael Carnell said 7:40PM on 2-28-2009
If there was an iPhone client that worked with JungleDisk using Amazon's storage servers, life would be perfect!
Reply
Michael Rose said 7:55PM on 2-28-2009
You're about to be a happy man: Readdle Docs and OneDisk work fine with JungleDisk, apparently.
http://forum.jungledisk.com/viewtopic.php?t=18715
MIchael Carnell said 8:01PM on 2-28-2009
Michael Rose - Excellent! Good stuff.... :)
Gabe said 11:22PM on 2-28-2009
Dropbox is already iPhone-friendly - http://m.getdropbox.com
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Jay said 12:29AM on 3-01-2009
I have testing ZumoDrive and it's the same as JungleDisk with iPhone/Touch App. Amazon S3, 1GB Free and more space for a Fee, works great. www.zumodrive.com
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Sam said 2:48AM on 3-01-2009
I have been a user of Zumodrive and I have to say that it really shines in the Media space. They stream files based on your connectivity (transcoding them when necessary) so you get a great experience even on edge. Once the files are streamed they are then cached and dont use any bandwitdh at all. Very clever. Also on the laptops and netbooks the itunes integration is outstanding. Overall a dynamite experience.
On the documents side they are read only on the iphone, but if you edit on a laptop as simple save will automatically update the iphone. I dont really do much file management on my iphone it is much more of a read device so this is just fine.
I do wish that they would allow me to share or send a file using my iphone. They have some great functionality on the laptops for sharing but it hasn't made its way to the iphone.
On the music side, of course it would be great of they could integrate with the ipod on the iphone but that isnt going to happen but they could make playlist happen which would be great.
Given that they are really new kids I have great expectations.
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Taylor said 2:56AM on 3-01-2009
I personally love Dropbox for its simplicity and cross-platform capability (ZumoDrive is not available on Linux). However, since Dropbox doesn't offer an iPhone client yet, I'm stuck using both service to access my file on all my platforms. As a workaround, I figured a way to link Dropbox and Zumodrive, so they share the same folder. The guide is designed for another OS, but the concept is entirely applicable to OS X.
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Taylor G said 2:57AM on 3-01-2009
Sorry, the URL is http://www.ideaexcursion.com/2009/02/26/howto-synchronize-dropbox-and-zumodrive-on-windows/
Andrei said 9:15AM on 3-01-2009
What about SugarSync? It's a similar offer, it would seem, as Readdle and/or box.net
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mikez.cn said 2:26AM on 3-31-2009
I used SUgarSync and finally gave it up, simple reason is : too slow to sync.
Theo said 7:49AM on 3-01-2009
I must say that Dropbox so far for me has been great. It simply "Just works" and keeps all my Macs synced. They also have an iPhone interface (via Safari) that is stellar as well.
If you have more then one machine, and would like to keep your important files in sync, then give it a go. Also they offer 2GB's of space for free. They also offer a 50GB plan that costs 9.99 dollars a month, or 99 dollars for a year.
They are running a promo right now, where you get 250MB extra space for free if you sign up via a referal. You also get 250MB extra if you refer your friends, so its totally win-win. So if you feel like trying it out, then give it a go.
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTI1MTE3OQ
PS: Yes, if you use this link then I also get 250MB extra, but as I said you do aswell :)
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DistortedLoop said 9:26AM on 3-01-2009
Mobile Files Pro for the iPhone. Access to iDisk, and the big feature the ones you've listed don't seem to have (based on your review), it lets you EDIT your documents. I've been using it to update an Excel spreadsheet on the go via my iPhone for a while now. Works great.
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Michael Rose said 2:36PM on 3-01-2009
Added to the main post, will definitely check it out.
ghigo said 7:08PM on 3-01-2009
Dropbox still seems the best solution but does anyone know whether it's possible to sync Apple mail between computers? That would be a real boon.
One of the reasons I hardly ever use my iPhone for mail is that my sent mail doesn't get sync'd and then I end up losing threads. Any solutions out there?
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Randy said 10:21AM on 3-06-2009
Yes there is a solution. MobileME. If you're interested but think it's too expensive, look on Ebay for a code. I bought mine there for $40 and used the Microsoft LiveSearch rebate to get it even lower. Ended up being like $30 for the year. Not too bad!
yakov chodosh said 8:51PM on 3-01-2009
I guess you could maybe put your mail folder in the dropbox folder? There must be a way to move the mail messages and tell Mail that your stuff is on the drop now…
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ghigo said 7:45PM on 3-02-2009
Thanks Yakov. I did think of placing the mail folder in the dropbox but, since the dropbox website doesn't even mention this, it might be that this is simply not recommended. I guess if you start to mess around with mail folder sync whilst also implementing mobileme syncronization, you might be creating problems. What do you think?
ps I did email the dropbox designers about this but they never replied...
exNewt said 8:28AM on 3-02-2009
One thing that makes OneDisk so good for me is I can open a file on MobileMe and then e-mail it to someone as an attachment.
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Chris P. said 9:22AM on 3-02-2009
Hi all! Chris Patterson, author of Droppler, here. Just wanted to point out that drop.io does in fact use Amazon S3 for its storage, as well, and adds a nice layer of easy-to-use input/output options on top of it, including email, fax, phone, twitter, facebook, and, of course, the iPhone (with Droppler).
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tves said 10:58AM on 3-02-2009
Is there a "FREE" app (non-jailbroken) that will allow the iphone to be used as mass storage? Or a setting in Itunes that I'm overlooking?
Thanks
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