Sharing Functionality is Limited

[dustrho]

Hello everybody. Yet another iPad newbie post coming to you from myself.

As I've stated in a few other threads, I've been using Android for over three years now. In the Android operating system, just about every app has the ability to share content via a large number of apps. For example, if I wanted to share a photo I took with my phone's camera, I could click "share" and would be presented with multiple options of sharing that photo. In this example the following would show up... Picasa, Messaging, Bluetooth, Google+, Twitter, Box, Facebook, Gmail or Docs (see screenshot below).



Now, if I wanted to share a photo while using my iPad, I'm only presented with the option of selecting one of the following... Email, Messaging, Assign to Contact, Use as Wallpaper, Tweet, Print or Copy Photo (see screenshot below).



Is it possible to change what options are available for sharing content? Remove the Messaging one would be nice since I have the WiFi only iPad. I'd love to have the ability to share this way via Facebook as well, instead of opening Facebook and then adding a photo that way. Sure, this could be me being nit-picky, but the Android operating system had it done right and it seems that iOS's sharing functionality is limited.

Thoughts?

 

[Walt Cullop]

A quick Google search revealed these postings

Friendly or MyPad will do this. They access your photos library for uploads. However they only allow one photo at a time.

There are, however, several ways to post pictures on the iPad directly to Facebook. One way is to use the familiar “Upload a Photo” option on the Facebook page — but instead of the Choose File button, click on the “Upload via email” link instead. Facebook then supplies an e-mail address for posting images from the iPad’s photo library by sending them as mail attachments.Skipping the Safari browser and using an app from the App Store is another option, as many have photo-uploading powers. Several third-party Facebook apps are available, including Friendly and Facely HD. Facebook’s own official mobile app (which allows photo-library uploads) was originally designed for the iPhone, but still works on the iPad — just tap the 2x button in the bottom right corner to expand it to a slightly blurry iPad size.​

 

[Seadog]

It sounds more like an app function than an iOS function. Have you read the manual on the iPad yet, and made sure about what they have on it?

 

[bassman99]

I share your pain.

While not a solution, something like this could help: Bdrive - Your social cloud. Still, as you note, it really requires app integration to be useful, given the "sandbox" architecture.

If iOS 6 doesn't greatly improve matters (presumably this summer), I'll be abandoning Apple for Windows 8 tablets, as funds permit. I really love the elegant "jewelry-like" feel of the iPad, but if Apple is content for the iPad to be nothing more than a "consumption" device, I'll have to find something that can "get 'er done". I shopped carefully, but really only went with the iPad for the high-res screen, as the industry moves toward touch-screen.

For now, all I use the iPad for is web, email & iTap (remote access) to a "real computer". I don't Twitter or Facebook, and I watch videos on my desktop; what I really need is an ultrabook or Windows8 tablet, but the industry was too unstable, so I went with the iPad until things settle-down.

I *love* the "kick-back" and "always on" nature of the iPad, but if all competitors will allow more reasonable file-sharing, I'll be shorting Apple stock, and looking to "jump ship"...
:thumbsdown:

Note: I skipped Android because I can't stand anything related to Java.

 

[EvilMonkey]

I share your pain. One of my major complaints about iOS and my iPad (and I've posted the same complaint in a couple "what are you hoping for in iOS6 threads here). One of the responses I got was that Apple got it right that the sharing is done from the apps....meaning they liked that they had to open the Twitter app to send a photo and then the Facebook app to send the photo, then the Flikr app to send the photo. I think they're crazy. To each their own, I suppose. Here is the post (and my original post is quoted)

I have an Android phone, and like you, love that I can open the gallery and do all my sharing with one click from there. Like in your screenshot above...it'll show any app that you have installed that can handle photos. I have about 25 sharing options on my phone....everything from Foursquare to my IM apps to my photo-editing apps. IMO, Android has this particular function right.

I assume Twitter is paying Apple to be the only real integrated sharing function (only thing that makes sense to me why that's an option at all and nothing else is)

 

[dustrho]

It sounds more like an app function than an iOS function. Have you read the manual on the iPad yet, and made sure about what they have on it?

I have not read the manual in its entirety, but how hard can this be? There's the universal "share" button within Photos and other apps, you click it, and you're presented with options of how you want to share that information. However in iOS, it's quite limited when compared to Android. That's the point I'm making here, and was curious to know if there's any way to change that. If not, hopefully it'll be changed in the upcoming iOS release.

 

[bassman99]

I have not read the manual in its entirety, but how hard can this be? There's the universal "share" button within Photos and other apps, you click it, and you're presented with options of how you want to share that information. However in iOS, it's quite limited when compared to Android. That's the point I'm making here, and was curious to know if there's any way to change that. If not, hopefully it'll be changed in the upcoming iOS release.

I *did* read the manual, and numerous forums such as this. Your understanding is correct; the problem is a design choice (I'd call it an "issue").

Each app lives in a "sandbox", with no common file-system (unless you jailbreak). The way an app exchanges data is app-specific, with very little commonality. Probably the most common file-sharing approach (along with DropBox) is "File Sharing" in the apps section in iTunes, which is app-specific. Since this requires iTunes (or connectivity in the case of DropBox), though, I'm displeased. My use-case is more Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), or Carry Your Own Device (CYOD) in an enterprise setting, where network connectivity is carefully limited, and iTunes is "personna non-grata".

With Windows 8 coming out, and Android use growing, I figure Apple gets one chance with iOS 6 to fix this, or be relegated to (very nice) "niche products".

Note: For the Apple evangelists, today, I *love* my iPad; I use it daily whenever I can! Just thinking ahead, as the touch-screen and cloud developments settle-down, and better options appear.

 

[Seadog]

Apple sandboxes its apps to prevent certain ways that an app can affect the iOS. Agree with it or not, it is a security issue that Apple employs. Apple is very locked down on things like this, so I do not expect them to go the Android route. Most people are very content to go through the app, an issue of how they are used to doing things.