FileBrowser Professional
reviews and complaints

I can connect and log into my iMac mid 2011, running High Sierra, but cannot with my new iMac December running latest Catalina. I understand Apple keeps moving forward, and developers have moving targets they must constantly adjust for. But FileBrowser is not the only tech I have that shows this problem. Yet no one seems to be acknowledging this or giving estimates as to when they will be fixing the problem. It is frustrating to handle the inconvenience. It is maddening to be kept in the dark.

I should have written this review before now, because this app has been very beneficial connecting to my desktop Macs in the last 2 years. Exchanging files back and forth with ease was the initial reason for purchasing it. Organizing files and connectivity is a breeze.
This app is always updating with new features and fixes. I’ve been a Mac user for 3 plus decades and very much appreciate a company that is willing to support older OS X, MacOS or in this case FileBrowser for supporting older IOSs. I may need that latter support someday good to know it’s there.

This app was always brilliant, but the developers hit it out of the park with the latest version released today. Incredibly intuitive. Drag and drop, multiple tabs so you can go back and forth without digging through directories, a way to access multimedia files playing in the background; andI’m sure a lot of stuff I haven’t yet discovered.

I use the app for file management via a NAS, Dropbox, iPad storage (provided by File Browser Business, etc. FB is my favorite iOS app, and it’s a centralized hub for me. Essentially it brings some PC-desktop organization and functionality to iOS.

Big shout out to the developers. Great work!

I find the Files app on iPad to be lacking in so many ways. A progress status for instance when transferring files. Also, I have recently been backing up video files on an external hard drive and, nearly every time, a number of them are corrupted. I was almost giving up on the iPad until I tried FileBrowser for Business. Someone on Reddit recommended it and I’m glad I gave it a try. All of the files I have transferred using this app have done so without error and it’s great to be able to have confidence that I can backup my valuable files. The interface is a little quirky but, once you get used to the way it works, it just works and I don’t need to break out in a sweat.. Highly recommended.

FileBrowser for Business is everything that’s missing plus a whole lot more when it comes to accessing files on servers, and doing all the basics like copying/moving files, up/downloading, editing text files, creating text files and folders - plus a whole lot more.

The fact that it connects instantly and perfectly to servers and cloud services and allows such tremendous interoperability among all of them makes it the all-time MUST HAVE app if you routinely access/create/edit/copy/move files around on cloud and network servers. It lets you do everything even easier than on a PC or Mac connected to your external storage. It’s just great from the look and feel to the functionality and reliability.

Hats off to this app and to the team behind it.

The perfect File Explorer App for the iPhone! I use both the FileBrowser and FileBrowser for Business App's. The major advantage that the FileBrowser for Business App provides is the ability to fully access network drives and attach files directly to e-mails from your various network drives. You can also edit and then save directly back to the network drives too. There is also the option to have 'bookmarks' to act as shortcuts to folders within any of the various network drives, this allows you to jump straight to the required folder without the need to go through all the folder trees to get to that required folder - a true Explorer File App!
If you ever have any questions the Technical Support from Stratospherix is prompt and comprehensive in their responses.

Convenient, fast, easy.

I work as an illustrator from my iPad & often have to transfer files to my PC for final adjustments in Photoshop. I recently had to quickly turnaround a project of 150+pages, that would typically mean exporting each one individually to google drive/Dropbox/etc, waiting, downloading on my PC, waiting. Because this project was so big I knew it would take too long to work that way.

After quick research I found FileBrowser for business and I don’t know why I didn’t get this app sooner. Such a game changer if you work across platforms like I do. It makes it so easy to transfer files instantaneously between my PC and iPad — it feels less like two separate entities and now more like two arms of the same entity. Can’t recommend this program enough.

Holy cow, I love this app. I've been trying to use my iPad more frequently for "real work," but file management is always an issue. This app gives me access to everything on my networked drive simply and quickly.

Example uses:

If I want to share a photo while I'm sitting on my couch, but it's on my networked drive and I'm not connected, I open FileBrowser, locate it, and share the photo that way.

I can check my email, take a PDF attachment, and save it quickly to a hard drive somewhere on my network, rather than saving the email, waiting until I'm back in front of my computer, and doing it there.

I think the file-sharing interface could be improved and made more clear, but for the most part, I have become far more productive on my mobile devices because of FileBrowser.

I love this app. I use it more than other file browser apps mostly because of the ability to email an actual file. I do want the ability to save files offline, which is why I still use the Dropbox app frequently.
This review is based on my last two days use of the app. I think it must have updated recently because I've not had this experience before. But this app just ate my battery up. It used half my battery in an hour. While in the background. I have a screenshot but can't upload. I've went in and disabled background refresh for now. Please even explain to me what an app like this is refreshing in the background?!?

Okay. I'm adding to this hoping someone sees it. I need this app but it's very frustrating to have my phone start acting like a hand warmer and drop 25% of battery in ten minutes. Please fix this!

Apple is great ..mostly. They make great hardware (except possibly the 2018 iPad pros and how fragile they are) but they are their own worst enemy sometimes. iOS is not a computer operating system and the iPad is not a computer replacement no matter how fast the a12x ship is...why? too many software limitations!

If you’re not an apple sheep you know what I’m talking about. Well this app helps with some of that. It gets around some of those stupid restrictions about as well as you can.. like connecting to smb folder shares. It does an amazing job with that and quite a few other things.

Tbh is not for this app, I would have returned my iPad long ago.
Get it if you know what about which specific apple limitations I’m talking about and want to find a workaround. It’s the best at what it does — with less adamantium.

Had the normal one for tears and planned to get the pro one but never did until a few days ago and it definitely worth the price. Amazing functionalities.
The app is the best browser app ive come across since for 10+ years. Its a great feeling to know you have a tool that can help you in every situation. Also the price is nothing compared to some other apps like Documents which has a monthly price of this app but cant compete with FileBrowser Pro.

But most important feature is an amazing support team that explain every issue as simple as they can for you to understand and help you in every way. The support team is famous for being fast and thorough. I have made some support teams angry at me for being a novice but stratospherix team take their time explaining everything which is the best support experience ive had ever.

This app solves so many problems!

• Moving files around your phone from any app or folder when no other onboard means is available. (No need to hop files from app to app to get them where you need them.)

•The ability to create folders and organize a variety of file formats very easily.

• CORRECTLY reflecting contents of network drives and moving files between those and your phone.

• Making any file, from any app or drive, available to an iPhone flash drive. (Example - saving recorded GPS tracks to a flash drive, from the Gaia app, for Search Management to upload to their Search and Rescue software at base.)

• Eliminating the need for that stupid iTunes app.

But one has to ask... if FileBrowser Biz does all this so incredibly seamlessly, then why does Apple make it so hard/impossible to move anything around an iPhone and/or drives?!

=== Updated for version 20.0 ===

This app just continues to evolve in thoughtful, useful ways. The new interface is *fantasticand makes an already powerful tool even more powerful.

=== Original review ===

Seriously, if you have any inclination to be using your iPad as a laptop replacement or “Pro” device, and you have to access files on servers, this needs to be your first purchase.

Apple’s Files app has undoubtably become more powerful, but FileBrowser does things that Files has not even dreamt of yet.

It connects to my mobile hub so I can interact with SD cards and portable hard drives. It connects to S3, SMB, SFTP, all the rest of the clouds, even if they don’t have Files-compatible apps. It even accesses my Photos app storage.

It lets me easily copy things between any connected locations, and it syncs stuff too.

Stop reading this, and buy the app already.

I had bought a flash drive to store all my procreate files on, however I quickly learned that plugging a usb c drive into the drive causes quite a few files to get corrupted. I was really upset that I seemed to lose drawings that I valued, so I checked out this app based on a recommendation from a Reddit post. At first I wondered if I should get this or the other version, but I figured I'd get this for the increased functionality.

Rather than connect my flash drive directly to my iPad, I am now able to connect it to my PC, connect to my iPad via the servers, and upload folders that way. The drag and drop is nice and the multiwindow is very helpful in saving files. At first I had troubles learning how to share PC folders and learn how to undo the read-only issue, but now that it works I'm really grateful that I can still back up my procreate pictures. Since I don't have a Mac for the apple ecosystem, this is doublely helpful.

This is good file management you guys/gals behind this.
I use it especially when I need to remote manage files on my computers at home so connecting and sorting out folders shares is reminiscent to Windows Explorer.

Some features additional features I would like implemented.

1. An 'always open with' so when selecting curtain files it will automatically open up with applications. E.g. Certain video files that Filebrowser can not support will be run automatically by other video players.

2. A playlist for videos like the audio files.
3. Play video in background - as I tend to manage a lot of music videos, I like to listen to when I close the Smart Cover on my iPad
4. Is it possible for support on wireless USBs?
I have a SAN Disk wireless USB and use the SAN app for accessing, managing and playing files off the USB, can 'FileBrowser' do that too?
I've tried to display the USB with all the available options, but can't get it to display as a shared folder.

This should be standard install for all iPads.

This is great because it allows me to use my desktop for heavy lifting with quick access from my iPad. Love that it allows you to connect to various cloud storage locations as well.

I love using it for my massive collection of movies stored on my local home network drive. Allows me to. Easily keep several gigabytes worth of movies on my iPad and open them in different video players without using some stupid cloud service.

Especially helpful with PDFs. On my iPad I can easily get the PDF into iBooks or Adobe Acrobat but I can't move it from one to the other. And if you're keeping many huge PDFs locally then you're doubling or triplicating or even quadrupling your storage burden by keeping them in different PDF reader/editors. This is where file browser is so awesome. I get to keep the file local but work with it in any PDF reader/editor I choose. So no more constant downloading of huge PDFs and other files.

Authenticating in Files repeatedly is a deal breaker.

The app generally works but there is no way to reach support for questions

Since updating to iOS 15 the app struggles to play videos. I hope an update is in the works to fix this issue. This used to be a 5 star app.

This app works well most of the time but every 1-2 weeks the startup passwords resets and my files are no longer protected. I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re looking for security

i have set up a ipv6 pc with win10, and applyed a domain name like ABC.org。 other apps are able to access the shared files by "\\abc.org" successfully, but filebrowser pro just can't.

Used to be able to VPN into my work's network and access the server. Since the iOS 8 update, the app will scan and find the server but can't access it. Checked with IT and they said nothing has changed on their end.

Got this to try to connect to a sftp and get it through the files app, but as it turns out, every time I want to look at it in the files app this file browser has to be opened, as it doesn’t try to connect automatically or send me back to the files app it just opens up and sits there.

O aplicativo funcionava direitinho. Fazia tudo que prometia fazer, de repente lançam uma atualização que simplesmente ficou horrível de usar no telefone, além de EXCLUIR TODOS aa minhas configurações de acesso. Tenho que refazer todas as conexões, porquê alguém esqueceu de habilitar o histórico de conexões.
Não vale a pena mexer no que está funcionando... nem todos aprendem isso!

I owned the original basic FileBrowser app and was content. Then when I attempted to attach a document from my nas drive, the basic app advised I need the FileBrowser for Business (FBB) version to perform the task. I have now purchased it and attempted to attach the documents with NO LUCK. It allows me to browse through the NAS Drive in FBB, however when I select the document to attach, it does not attach.
Very disappointed and going to ask for a refund.

Claimed USB support is not working
Only shows folders, No files
Want my money back

I was using it browse and edit photos on a NAS drive. It worked fine for a while then started crashing after 5 minutes of usage.

I saw a YouTube video from you on this app that I could select multiple photos from my iPhone and rename them in bulk. I bought the app, followed the steps just like the video and the rename feature wasn’t listed in the menu. Bummer. I asked Apple for a refund. :(

Purchased the bundle, not knowing what features were different. Can’t get it to work and immediately regret my purchase. I followed all the set up instructions for windows 10 and even though the file folders are showing up, no file information is available. Very disappointing!

This is the second app I’ve purchased trying to download large files via SFTP. This just says “Calculating...” after I try to copy a single file and get’s stuck there.

Also, this is supposed to be their professional version and yet you can’t even specify an initial directory for SFTP. Lame.

Just upgraded to IOS 11 along with the latest version of this software, not sure what was done to FileBrowser for Business but it crashes almost every time I try to use it and the folder views are so big that only a couple can be displayed without scrolling unlike previous versions. If you are looking for a good file app, pass on this and keep looking, at least until they fix this garbage... and to think I bought this disappointing revision... bring back the old one!