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iPad Safari will not download folder with .mov files

Bob5545

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I received an email with a link to a folder of .mov videos. Folks that received it with Macs had no problems linking and downloading the folder. The .mov files played no issue.

However, follks with iPads Safari got the message Safari can not download.

How do I get this link to download using the iPad?

It is really annoying that the iPad has so many nuisances.

The folder was sent through an email via a link to a cloud drive.

Thanks
 

twerppoet

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As far as I know it's not possible to send or receive a folder on the iPad. Since the iPad does not have a user accessible file management app, there is no way to deal with folders, only individual files. At least for now.

There are two possibilities that I can think of. You can zip the folder so that it sends as a file, then your receivers will need an app that handles zip files so they can save and decompress it. GoodReader works, and the last I checked it was on sale for 99 cents. I believe most of the popular audio/video playback apps also have zip file compatibility; though you'd want to confirm that before spending any money.

Or you can upload the folder/files to a cloud service like DropBox or Box, and send the share link instead of the files. This is the better solution for everyone (in my opinion) since it means the actual emails are sent and received promptly (because they are small), and the recipient can choose what, when, and where to download the files.
 

scifan57

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Also, the iPad cannot play .mov files. They would have to be converted to a form playable on the iPad before they could be imported and played.
 

twerppoet

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Actually the .mov file format is the iMovie format. It should play on the iPad just fine.

From the iPad Air spec page:

  • Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second, High Profile level 4.2 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
 

giradman

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I received an email with a link to a folder of .mov videos. Folks that received it with Macs had no problems linking and downloading the folder. The .mov files played no issue.

However, follks with iPads Safari got the message Safari can not download.

How do I get this link to download using the iPad?

It is really annoying that the iPad has so many nuisances.

Well, iOS supports a LOT of video formats including .mov - see the quote below from HERE - NOW, as to how to get your video files to play on the iPad is still a question? Dave :)

iOS supports many industry-standard video formats and compression standards, including the following:
  • H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

  • H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

  • MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

  • Numerous audio formats, including the ones listed in Audio Technologies

P.S. Looks like TP beat me to the draw! ;) Dave
 
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Bob5545

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So back to my issue. I downloaded just a few .mov files sent from email links from the Cloud drive, and iPad folks were able to link, download, and play those clips. However, the folder that contains those clips and more, about 1GIG, will not download iPad Safari.

Not sure why the file itself download and plays, but the folder will not.

Folks with Macs were to download the folder and play the clips. However, based on their download speeds time to download the folder could take a while.

Comments?
 

twerppoet

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Like I a said. The iPad can't download folders (collections of files). Only individual files. This is because each file needs to be saved to an app that is compatible with that file type. While your folder may contain only files compatible with the apps you want, the Safari has no way of knowing this; so it won't download the folder.

On a computer, even a Mac, you are downloading to a general file system. It doesn't care what the file type is until you try to open it.

The root of the problem is that computers are file based. They work with files. They don't care what the file type is, so they will download, move, copy, whatever, a file anywhere you want it. The type of file is only important when you try to open it.

iOS was designed around apps. Files only exist within apps. Because of this all the files in an app (usually) need to be compatible with that app. You can check this with an individual file, but the nature of folders means they can contain any number of file types. That means allowing Safari to download a folder and save it to an app (because Safari on iOS can't save files to itself) would let you upload incompatible files to apps. So the easiest solution is not to allow it.

I'm pretty sure this will change as new features are added to iCloud Drive. It's already possible to create a folder (on the Mac) in iCloud Drive and place any kind of file you want in it. Then you use an apps' access to iCloud Drive to look at the folder. Of course, you can only open compatible files, but you can at least see the folder.

But iCloud Drive is new, and still lacks a lot of features that are present in a full file manager.

There are apps that act like file managers (within the app), and it might be possible to download a folder there. I've never tried. GoodReader is the best bet. It has a built in browser that you can use to navigate to the folder, or you can enter the folder's URL directly. Last I checked it was on sale for 99 cents. Again, I have not tested this. I make no promises. However, GoodReader is a pretty handy app to have. It's supposed to be a PDF reader/annotation app, but includes a lot of other bells and whistles. We commonly call it the Swiss Army Knife of apps.

Oh yes, GoodReader is also capable of downloading and unpacking .zip files. So even if it can't download a folder directly, it can still do that.

The thing to understand is that iOS started out as a far simpler OS that a full computer. To make everything secure and fast on the less capable hardware Apple limited what it could do. As the hardware has gotten better, and the devices more popular, Apple has added a lot of capabilities; but they don't just add stuff for the sake of a feature. They're still concerned with performance, ease of use, and privacy and security. As a result a lot of feature we take for granted on more traditional computing devices are either missing, or require a different approach.

For many people the iPad is still not a full computer replacement. But it's a lot closer than it was when it launched.
 

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