Review: Files App From Sonico Mobile

Sonico Mobile has been churning out stunning apps for iOS devices over the past so many months. We’ve featured a couple of them, here and here, and are continuing the trek into their portfolio with Today’s release of Files App. I’ve been using Files App for the past week as my go-to application for all file management, and that is exactly what it is, a housing for all of your precious files, consolidation if you will of local and Cloud documents, movies, music and so much more.

Right off the bat you get a simple icon showing four shelves, each with a different file type. Essentially that is what you get here, a shelving unit for all of your digital goodies. Upon opening the app you see the gorgeous iOS linen background with a cute little font telling you where to start. This is where the fat of the app lies. So many options to choose from to add to your collection of digital stuff.

You can easily add files via your Mac or PC, all you do is hit that option and you are given an IP address. You simply enter that address into any browser on your computer (located on the same WiFi network of course) and you are given the drag and drop linen background. It works quite well, you can either use the add button and search via Finder, or you can just drag that file you want in Files App to your browser and drop it on in. You can also create new folders that will appear in your Files App in real time. The only issue with this way of adding files if you happen to add the wrong file, or create a folder and name it incorrectly, you can only make changes via the iOS app. I know this isn’t a huge miss, but something to call out. You can also download files saved in Files App from the web browser to your Mac or PC, great file management across everything!

You can add photos straight form your Camera Roll, or any other photo album in the Photos.app, which works just as you would think it would. If you have shot any video using the Camera.app, or any other 3rd party application, those saved in the Camera Roll can be added to Files App as well.

A nice way to get files into Files App is the Email option. Simply open Mail.app and find the attachment you want to upload, tap and hold it until a menu appears, and you’ll then see Files App as an option in that list. This works great if you want to house all of the attachments from emails, or photos you’ve been sent without junking up your camera roll.

If you’ve been given a URL to a file that you would like to save, easily enter that web address into the space given and it’ll download and import straight into Files App. You can also use Safari to download files and import them using the Open In feature.

The biggest part of Files App that I’ve used the past week was the ability to link Cloud services with Files App. Currently, you can link Dropbox, Box and Google Drive to your Files App application. After approving the Files App to gain access to these services, you are giving a simple list of everything stored in the Cloud, easily allowing you to import into Files App and keep a local copy of whatever you might have. I’ve grown to use this for documents I’ve stored in these services to download straight to my iPad for viewing. I’ve also used this for watching some TV I’m behind on. Simply drop the media file into my Dropbox folder at home, it’s synced up and ready to be accessed after a short while, then I can just download and import into Files App and watch whenever is convenient.

As you grab files from one outlet, you can easily share them to another. If you grab files from your computer, you can zip them within Files App and upload them to any of the Cloud services you have linked. You can also share straight into mail.app to send off whatever file you’d like. It was nice being able to download a Pages file from Dropbox, open and then edit in Pages, then send them back to Files App for easy management. When I was ready I could just send it off via email. The options and cross app integration works really well and is almost seamless.

I would like to see more ‘Share’ options integrated within the app, only allowing sharing via email seems almost backwards. We should be able to have the option to Tweet and Facebook share any images we might have, or even short movies. I would also like to see more Cloud options, it’s nice we have the main 3, but with a few other heavy hitters around, it would only make sense. The URL function can work for this, but really only if you have the exact link to a file saved within any other Cloud app.

A nice feature about Files App is that when listening to music, you can close the app and it’ll play in the background. This is a great feature for those that want to stream their local music collection that they may have saved in Dropbox or one of the other services. You can download to Files App the songs you want and let em play.

Wrap Up

Files App is actually the missing iOS file manager. It gives you the ability to have gorgeous gesture control over everything within the app. Pinch to close your folders, swipe through your slideshow of images and quickly skim through pages to a document. Having access to all of your files, being able to move them from service to service, and having such control over them in such a gorgeous fashion is absolutely incredible. Sonico Mobile did an outstanding job creating an insanely functional app that you’ll actually want to use instead of the applications it’s getting information from. I’ve put the Dropbox, Box and Google Drive apps on my iPhone and iPad in a deep dark Home Screen page, never to be seen or heard from again. I have quick and easy access between my Mac and my iOS devices, all while having a media player at my disposal.

I highly recommend heading over to the App Store and grabbing this app, it is only $.99 and finally available to the masses today. You can’t go wrong having a file management this extensive all while being beautiful. Files App is available now for your iPhone or iPad. Check out the video and gallery below.

More: Files App [iTunes Link]

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