You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Dropbox Arrives For The iPad

May 4, 2010

Those of you that have been getting by for the last month by pixel doubling to achieve your cloud computing needs with iPhone's Dropbox on your iPad, you need not sacrifice the resolution to get your files on the go any more. Dropbox for the iPad has officially made its way to the App Store.

For those of you unfamiliar, Dropbox is a free file hosting service that allows you to upload and store files on the Dropbox servers. With an account, you can access your files from any internet connected computer or through a dedicated app for your iDevice. The service will accept just about any type of file type from documents, photos, PDF's and even videos. It has tremendous use cases since you can sync your data simultaneously throughout all of your devices and access them easily without the need to physically sync with your computer. It's convenient and best of all, free.

With the newly released iPad version, all of that cloud storage access is available in a similar fashion to the iPhone but like most ports to the tablet, you get to take advantage of the extra screen space. All of your folders and files are available in an overlay menu when your iPad is held in portrait mode or as a separate window in landscape.  You can easily share your files as well by emailing links to your Dropbox folder for friends and colleagues to view.

While files are only accessible if you have a data connection, you can also mark them to your Favorites folder on the Dropbox app. By doing so, the file is downloaded to the app and saved locally for offline viewing. This is perfect for all of us that sprung for the WiFi only iPads. One additional iPad exclusive feature is the ability to export your file to third party apps like Keynote or Pages for native app viewing or editing on the go.

If you're already a Dropbox user with an iPad, this app is a must for your device. It'll make transferring any important file or document to your iPad a breeze and being able to view them all on the tablet's gorgeous high resolution screen even better. If you haven't used Dropbox before, there really is no reason not to try since the service and the iPhone and iPad app are completely free to use.

Dropbox is available now for free on the App Store.

Mentioned apps

Free
Dropbox
Dropbox
Dropbox

Related articles