I have everything I need here, but in the jungle I wanted to transfer a self-recorded MP3 file from an iPhone to an iPad and iOS would not let me do so other than as art of an iMovie project on the iPad, because there was no other suitable app on the iPad. Plus, or some reason known only to Apple, iTunes wouldn't accept it. This is the issue. Very simple. This is why PC people get frustrated, because there are certain very simple and useful and sometimes necessary things that iOS will not let you do.
Where is everything?
- Thread starter Spangled
- Start date
giradman
iPad Fan
Hello again - sorry about your frustration and continued problems - I was hoping that iExplorer would do the trick? But concerning your micro-SD card, there are 'wireless' devices that establish their own personal Wi-Fi networks and use SD cards for storage (or SD adapters to accept the smaller sizes) - check post #6 in this THREAD - I own the two devices pictured at the bottom of my comments - just another choice to solve issues related to iOS and file transfers - good luck! Dave
twerppoet
iPad Fan
There are a couple of things that are unclear to me here.
You said your friend Airdroped the videos to your iPad. Airdrop is a iOS to iOS (or Mac to iOS) protocol. If your friend airdroped a movie from his iPad to yours it should have ended up in the Photos app. Yes, you can see them in iMovie under the Videos tab, but they are actually stored in the Photos app.
It's fairly easy to get videos out of the Photos app onto a computer, even a Windows computer. All you have to do is plug the iPad into a USB port on Windows. It should mound as a USB drive (or launche a photos app). The pictures and videos will be in the DCIM folder, or a subfolder.
On a Mac, use the Image Capture app in the Applications directory to copy photos and movies off of the iPad.
I'm not aware of any simple mobile to mobile method of moving videos directly to iMovie. If what I'm describing is not what happend I'd appriciate a more detailed description; for my own education.
You said your friend Airdroped the videos to your iPad. Airdrop is a iOS to iOS (or Mac to iOS) protocol. If your friend airdroped a movie from his iPad to yours it should have ended up in the Photos app. Yes, you can see them in iMovie under the Videos tab, but they are actually stored in the Photos app.
It's fairly easy to get videos out of the Photos app onto a computer, even a Windows computer. All you have to do is plug the iPad into a USB port on Windows. It should mound as a USB drive (or launche a photos app). The pictures and videos will be in the DCIM folder, or a subfolder.
On a Mac, use the Image Capture app in the Applications directory to copy photos and movies off of the iPad.
I'm not aware of any simple mobile to mobile method of moving videos directly to iMovie. If what I'm describing is not what happend I'd appriciate a more detailed description; for my own education.
twerppoet
iPad Fan
Ok. Now I understand. I thought these were video files that you were going to convert to audio files. My bad.
The best answer then is to get a third party app that will handle the audio files. There are quite a few thrid party audio/video apps with better inport/export options than iMovie, and will handle a wider range of file types.
As a general rule any app that can handle a file type wills how up as an option in the share or Open In menus. I just tested airdropping an mp4 file to myself. VLC and OPlayer both showed up as save options. There are many other apps that will work. GoodReader is a favorite.While it's not a dedicated audio/video app, it can download almost any file type locally, and probably has the widest range of import/export and cloud service integration of any app. It is a bit complicated though.
What you will find with iOS is that you can almost always get the results you want, but you may have to give up on doing them the way you are used to. Much of the time the best iOS solution is a third party app, often a free (or at least really cheap) app.
The best answer then is to get a third party app that will handle the audio files. There are quite a few thrid party audio/video apps with better inport/export options than iMovie, and will handle a wider range of file types.
As a general rule any app that can handle a file type wills how up as an option in the share or Open In menus. I just tested airdropping an mp4 file to myself. VLC and OPlayer both showed up as save options. There are many other apps that will work. GoodReader is a favorite.While it's not a dedicated audio/video app, it can download almost any file type locally, and probably has the widest range of import/export and cloud service integration of any app. It is a bit complicated though.
What you will find with iOS is that you can almost always get the results you want, but you may have to give up on doing them the way you are used to. Much of the time the best iOS solution is a third party app, often a free (or at least really cheap) app.
What I have been trying to explain is I was completely off grid and iMovie was the only app on the iPad that would absorb an audio file. There were no other options - app downloads/SD cards/memory sticks or anything else. I just wanted to move an mp3 file from one iOS device to another. This should not be challenging.
twerppoet
iPad Fan
I was making sugestions for the future, not excuses for the past.
The rest of this is the greatly expanded more explainy/excusey stuff. Feel free to skip it
The expectation to 'just transfer a file' will make it hard to get a handle on iOS. It does not have an open file system. With the semi-excpetion of iCloud Drive, every file belongs to an app. This can either be a specific use app like iMovie, or a document service app like GoodReader.
Like most things there are both positives and negatives to this approach.
The bigest negative, as you experienced, is that if iOS does not have a native app that supports the file type you want, or that app does not have the import/export features you want, you are stuck until you install a third party app that does what you need. That's why I recommend GoodReader or another general document app as a stop gap. Even if it won't play the file, at least you can save it.
The biggest positive of an app centric file system is security. Because files are owned by apps, other apps can't access them without going through the users. This makes it difficult for malware to spread and infect other apps and their files. (In genreal terms this is called sandboxing. iOS does it with a vengence)
So, on iOS you have to think ahead a bit about how you are going to handle different file types. But you rarely have to think about security at all. On open file systems it tends to go the other way. You need to be careful and plan ahead to avoid malware, but you never really have to think about movering files around (though you might have to plan a bit if you expect to find them again).
I'm not saying good or bad here. Only different. Some people find the iOS way of doing files fine, even like it after they get used to it. Others can't live without an open file system.
None of this is an excuse for Apple to not make things easier.
I probably sound a bit harsh and preachy here, even though I'm trying really hard to just be helpful. Please give me a break and hold in mind I've been on iOS for so long that it's kind of hard for me to remember what it was like to adjust. These days switching between iOS and the iMac files systems is automatic. I've accumulated tools to deal with almost every file type I want. This makes it harder for me to make an accurate judgment on how hard/easy something is for a new iPad users.
For example, here are the options I get when I airdrop an MP4 to my iPad.
As you can see, I would have never even noticed iOS's baseline weakness when it comes to audio files. One of the reasons I hang out here is to learn what I'd never find out on my own, so yippee for me, if not for you. Sorry.)
The rest of this is the greatly expanded more explainy/excusey stuff. Feel free to skip it
The expectation to 'just transfer a file' will make it hard to get a handle on iOS. It does not have an open file system. With the semi-excpetion of iCloud Drive, every file belongs to an app. This can either be a specific use app like iMovie, or a document service app like GoodReader.
Like most things there are both positives and negatives to this approach.
The bigest negative, as you experienced, is that if iOS does not have a native app that supports the file type you want, or that app does not have the import/export features you want, you are stuck until you install a third party app that does what you need. That's why I recommend GoodReader or another general document app as a stop gap. Even if it won't play the file, at least you can save it.
The biggest positive of an app centric file system is security. Because files are owned by apps, other apps can't access them without going through the users. This makes it difficult for malware to spread and infect other apps and their files. (In genreal terms this is called sandboxing. iOS does it with a vengence)
So, on iOS you have to think ahead a bit about how you are going to handle different file types. But you rarely have to think about security at all. On open file systems it tends to go the other way. You need to be careful and plan ahead to avoid malware, but you never really have to think about movering files around (though you might have to plan a bit if you expect to find them again).
I'm not saying good or bad here. Only different. Some people find the iOS way of doing files fine, even like it after they get used to it. Others can't live without an open file system.
None of this is an excuse for Apple to not make things easier.
I probably sound a bit harsh and preachy here, even though I'm trying really hard to just be helpful. Please give me a break and hold in mind I've been on iOS for so long that it's kind of hard for me to remember what it was like to adjust. These days switching between iOS and the iMac files systems is automatic. I've accumulated tools to deal with almost every file type I want. This makes it harder for me to make an accurate judgment on how hard/easy something is for a new iPad users.
For example, here are the options I get when I airdrop an MP4 to my iPad.
As you can see, I would have never even noticed iOS's baseline weakness when it comes to audio files. One of the reasons I hang out here is to learn what I'd never find out on my own, so yippee for me, if not for you. Sorry.)
ardchoille
iPF Novice
Oh, I'll say it.. it's a very good thing. I will gladly change the way I do things if it means added security. I love iOS and my entire home is now iOS and OS X - other operating systems aren't even allowed here
Those are very clear explanations - thank you. I do see that security is improved this way - however, I think the audio file problem may be down to the politics of iTunes/Music as it relates to purchased music and so on. I read elsewhere that this is not possible, so its not just me.
The Goodreader app looks excellent - I will download it now.
The Goodreader app looks excellent - I will download it now.
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