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Posted By: ryck Where are File folders on iPhone? - 09/16/21 09:51 PM
My wife and I downloaded our Vaccine Passports onto our iPhones. My wife went through the screenshot and "Save to" (either Photos or Files) and now has a File folder on her iPhone desktop with the passport in it. However, when I do it, the result is different. The document s saved "On my iPhone" but there isn't a File Folder on the desktop. It must be somewhere on the iPhone because, if I repeat the process and try to use the name "File", I get a dialogue box saying the name is already taken.

How do I locate the file folder and make it visible on the desktop? (iPhone SE, iOS 14.8)
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Where are File folders on iPhone? - 09/16/21 10:16 PM
May I suggest an alternate methodology. Go to VaxYes fill out the information from your "passport" wait a few hours for it to be verified then you will receive an email with an attachment that when clicked on will place a vaxination passport in the Wallet on your iPhones. It is widely accepted, far more readable than any picture of the written passport and even has an internationally recognized scan code. For Example.
Posted By: ryck Re: Where are File folders on iPhone? - 09/17/21 03:05 AM
Originally Posted by joemikeb
May I suggest an alternate methodology. Go to VaxYes fill out the information from your "passport" wait a few hours for it to be verified then you will receive an email with an attachment that when clicked on will place a vaxination passport in the Wallet on your iPhones.
That's not an option for me as the download is from a secure government site here is Canada.

Anyway, on my wife's iPhone a file appeared immediately on her desktop but did not on mine. So, it seems to me, there must be a simple way to do it....that I am just unable to figure out.

Edit: In looking around elsewhere I have seen references to a Files App that should just be on the phone. I don't have one. Could that be part of the problem?
Posted By: Ira L Re: Where are File folders on iPhone? - 09/17/21 05:51 PM
The Files App for the iPhone is provided by Apple. You can download it (again?) from the App Store. If you are not offered a download option, it is already on your phone and an "Open" button should be presented to you.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Where are File folders on iPhone? - 09/18/21 04:31 PM
There is no provision in iOS/iPadOS for having files and folders on the desktop. The only things that can be on the iOS/iPadOS desktop are…
  • the desktop picture
  • App icons
  • and Widgets (which are special cases of apps)

NOTE: The Desktop as we know it in macOS is a special type of folder and a creature of the Finder app. There is no provision in iOS/iPadOS for folders per. se. on the iPhone or iPad. Although iOS/iPadOS can access iCloud folders. Apps on the IPhone or iPad are sandboxed to the point any data files are actually encapsulated within the app or moved to the user's iCloud account. Files has some of the functionality of macOS' Finder and Preview. It can access files in iOS/iPadOS apps and on iCloud it can only show the contents of text, pdf, and graphics files and cannot launch an app to manipulate the file in any way.

I suspect ryck's wife has the Files app on her desktop and since the icon for Files is a white rectangle with a blue folder it would be easy to confuse with its being an actual folder instead of an app. Files has two different view options, Recents and Browse. and in the Recents view you will see all of the files that have been recently downloaded onto the device, no matter what app they were downloaded into. this is workable but it is not like having a folder and files on the macOS desktop. Given the "Passport" is an image, it might be preferable to download it into Photos where there are more options for control and management of the image. Alternatively it could be placed in a folder on iCloud and Files can reliably find and open it there. (Keep watching Wallet. It can handle a number of different apps and official documents in addition to credit cards and Apple is vigorously working with legal jurisdictions at accept Wallet images as official documents.)
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