iCloud Folder Sharing
While iCloud storage is a great way to let apps store and sync data across multiple devices, it’s been lagging behind competitors like Dropbox and Google Drive for years when it comes to its features as a file-sharing service. It wasn’t until iOS 9 that Apple even offered its own very basic iCloud Drive app, and until iOS 11 that the more robust Files app finally came along.
Even then, while other cloud-based file services had long offering collaboration as a core feature, Apple didn’t introduce file sharing until iOS 12 two years ago, promising iCloud Folder Sharing would arrive in iOS 13 last fall.
However, Apple ran into some snags along the way, with some iOS 13 beta testers actually losing large amounts of data (as rare as problems like these are, however, that’s the price one pays for joining a beta program), forcing them to push the feature off until later, but with iOS 13.4 it looks like it’s finally arrived.
Sharing a folder is done through the Files app in iOS 13.4 (or iPadOS 13.4) in much the same way as sharing individual files was done in iOS 12, by tapping and holding on a folder and selecting the “Share” option that appears on the context menu. This brings up an iOS Share Sheet that will let you send out a link to the newly-shared folder.
While iCloud Folder Sharing will undoubtedly be a welcome addition to those who have basic collaboration needs, it’s still nowhere nearly as robust as what other platforms offer. You’ll be limited to sharing to either specific users that you invite (in which case they’ll each need to have their own Apple IDs) or anybody who happens to have the link, and everybody gets the same permissions at this point, which can be other read/write or view-only.