Add Clouds to the iOS Files App: Google Drive, Dropbox, and more

One of the great innovations that has reached the iPhone and iPad in recent years is the Files application, which responds to the demand of many users who asked to have a file manager on both the iPhone and the iPad. However, the Files app not only allows us to manage the files that we have inside our device, but we can also access and manage the files stored in the different cloud services, such as iCloud or Google Drive, therefore, in this post We are going to explain how you can add your clouds to the Files application.

Add any cloud to Files

The process to add any cloud storage service to the iPhone Files app is really simple. It works for both iPhone and iPad and we insist on emphasizing that it is valid for a multitude of clouds, but for the example in this post we will focus on Google Drive.

Add Clouds to the iOS Files App

First of all, what you need to be able to have Google Drive available in your Files app, both on your iPhone and on your iPad, is to have the service’s own app installed on your device. That is, you need to download the Google Drive app on your iPhone, therefore, the first step you have to do is download the application. Remember that you can do it from the App Store.

archivos 1

Once you have the app installed on your iPhone, you have to open the application and log in with your Google account. For the next step you only need the Files app, therefore, go to this app on your iPhone and go to the “Explore” section. As you can see, on the left side of the screen you have different “Locations” which will be the place where Google Drive will appear when you have added it. At this time, if you have never added any services, you will only see “iCloud Drive”, “On my iPhone”, “Shared documents” and “Just deleted”.

archivos 2

Now you are probably wondering, how do I make Google Drive appear here? Well, it’s very simple, click on the icon with three dots located at the top left of the screen and click on “Edit”. At this time, those applications that you have installed on your iPhone and that you can access their documents from the Files app will be displayed. As you can see, having the Google Drive app installed you can make it accessible and for this you just have to activate it and click “OK” at the top left of the screen.

archivos 3

Then you will see how in the menu available on the left of the screen you already have “Google Drive” accessible. If you click on it you can see that from now on you can access all your documents stored in Google Drive through the Files app.

Advantages of the Files app

Files is an application that has added a lot of value when it comes to managing your files with your iPhone or iPad. In the first place, this application serves as a meeting place for all your files, imitating “Finder”, the file manager available in macOS, therefore, you will be able to put aside all the applications of all those services where you have stored your different files and have everything organized in a single application. As you have seen, we do need to have the applications installed, but we can put them aside and access all our files through a single app, and this is Files. Another of the great advantages that using Files as a file management application will give you is being able to move these files between different locations, or services, just as you would on a computer.