> the iOS Files app has allowed access to local files since 2019

Huh. I just opened my Files app on my iPhone 12 and went to On My iPhone (which was 2-3 more taps once arriving in the app). I don't see many of my files though, just a few. Some PDFs and a Spotify folder. But I don't see my pictures there? Or are pictures no longer stored as 'files'? Or do you mean that the app has allowed access only to some local user files? It's not all local files. And it's not all non-system local files. And it's not all user files. In fact it is missing > 99% of my user-space files (specifically ones created with default-OS applications on device, by the user).

And if I make a Note in the Notes app, will it show up as a file in the Files app? Probably not, I would guess. Because the note probably isn't really a file anyway. So pictures aren't files, and notes aren't files. What would a file be then? Are files only PDFs? That's the only thing that shows up for me. I guess PDFs are the only things that are files then!

Super confusing experience. I'm a mobile app developer by the way - on Android. Android sucks at this too of course. But the iOS Files app is much too limited to enable users to 'get' the concept of a file.

Photos taken on the camera, shared to you, or “saved to photos” will live in the Photos app. The files app primarily contains things you download from your web browser, including images downloaded and not “saved to photos” and images extracted from zip, etc. I guess some apps can save data there too. It would be nice if there was a back road to images stored in Photos app via Files app, but the distinction is otherwise well defined.

Aha! So some photos are actually 'files', but some are not! The confusion continues! I get why Apple has it this way - current iPhones are very very popular and selling them with the current UX makes Apple a lot of money.

But it's pretty clear that the Files app is not meant - in any way - to help users understand computers, what files are, etc. It is obtuse and confusing as soon as the user wants to leave the iOS ecosystem (even to go use a Mac).

My girlfriend had the craziest workflow. No laptop, only iPhone and iPad Pro. She had an external USB-C hard drive, she couldn't connect it to her iPhone but could to the iPad.

What she would do is airdrop photos from her iPhone to her iPad. Copy them from the gallery to the Files app. Move them in the files app to the hard drive. Then delete them from the gallery app, delete them from the Files app and the trash.

For some reason, deleting files in the Files app didn't free up space on the iPad. So she had to uninstall and reinstall the Files app to get the space back.

As a Linux user that grew up DOS, the whole thing just broke my mind. She was frustrated and I was frustrated I couldn't help her.

you're jumping to conclusions. One does not follow from the other.

(a) apple doesn't show users all the files on their iPhone

(b) apple makes lots of money

There is no evidence that a causes b. It's possible showing the files would make them even more money. It's also possible showing the files would have no effect on how much money they make.

Android's filesystem is borderline incomprehensible. Outside of accessing external storage I have done by best to avoid browsing files.

The five years since then haven’t been enough time to change 12 years of behavior.

Ios files is a useless nightmare. Most of the stuff that exists on the phone isn’t exposed through it.