How to implement iTunes built-in App "File Sharing" feature

Kalle picture Kalle · Jul 13, 2010 · Viewed 8.9k times · Source

I've noticed that several apps, when an iP* is connected, has a "File Sharing" feature inside of iTunes. Example applications are CloudReaders, Stanza, etc. This interface lets users Add files to the app and Save files from the app to their computers. Right now I've got a HTTP server running inside the app which lets users add files to it via Wi-Fi, but I'd like to support the aforementioned method as well.

Thanks to Art Gillespie, I got this working. Recently, I renamed my project and ended up having to dig around a bit again to figure out how to re-enable this since it went away.

This is how you do it.

  1. In your plist, add a new key for UIFileSharing. It should be listed as something like "Application supports iTunes file sharing".
  2. Build your code in "Release" mode.
  3. Go to the build/Release-iphoneos/ folder of your project and drag the appname file (not the .dSYM one) to iTunes. Click "Yes" if it asks about replacing.
  4. Now if you click on your device and go to "Apps" and scroll down you should see your app listed in the "File Sharing"'s Apps list.

Answer

Art Gillespie picture Art Gillespie · Jul 13, 2010

You want to add the UIFileSharingEnabled key to your app's Info.plist

Sharing Files With The User