Moving files from one place to another feels smoother than ever with sleek drag-and-drop gestures. Grab the files you want to move between apps and then drop them where you want them and you’re set! If you find this multitasking feature useful, you’ll be happy to know that Apple now lets you drag and drop images, documents, and text from one app to another in iOS 15. If you want to learn how to do that, here is how to drag and drop files between apps in iOS 15 on iPhone.
Drag and Drop Images and Text Between Apps in iOS 15 on iPhone (2021)
Although the drag-and-drop gesture between apps has been available on the iPad since iOS 11 (2017), the Cupertino giant was reluctant to introduce it on the iPhone for reasons it knows best. Maybe Apple thought it would be inconvenient to use drag-and-drag gesture on iPhone (with smaller screen size) or it probably wanted to keep the feature exclusive to iPads. While I can’t pinpoint the reason behind the change of mind, I was impressed with how smoothly the drag-and-drop gesture worked in iOS 15.
That said, let’s learn how to use the smash-and-drop gesture to move files between apps in iOS 15:
- On an iPhone running iOS 15, long-press and hold a text, document, or image to drag and drop files. Without lifting that finger, make sure to use a second finger to swipe from the current app and go to another app where you want to drop the file.
- You can swipe up from the bottom to go to the home screen and jump to the app where you want to paste the file. Alternatively, you can swipe from left to right on the pill to quickly switch between apps.
- When you’re inside another app, you’ll see a green “plus” icon in the top right corner of the file you’re moving between apps. Once you see this, you can drop the file into your preferred location in that app.
It is worth noting that it appears when you long press an image or file and it sticks to your finger. As a result, dragging the desired content feels more convenient. Also, beautiful animations and visual cues play an important role in determining the preferred destination where you want to drop the content.
Also, it’s better to show such a great multitasking feature live rather than explaining it with simple pictures. That’s why I’ve created a few GIFs to help you better understand how drag and drop works in apps in iOS 15. Here you can see how I easily drag and drop photos from the Photos app to Notes:
You can also seamlessly drag and drop text between apps the same way. Take a look! It can be helpful when you’re lazing on the couch and want to share an interesting fact with your friends or do research for a project.
Get the Most Out of Drag and Drag Between Apps in iOS 15
This much! Now that you know how this nifty multitasking feature works, take advantage of it to move content between apps faster. As far as I can tell after trying this feature (in iOS 15 developer beta), it works fine. At first, you may find dragging and dropping images or text a bit cumbersome as you have to do some finger gymnastics. However, once you get used to it, you will find that the feature is easy to use.
Along with the drag-and-drop gesture, iOS 15 came with several notable features, including the ability to blur the background in FaceTime video calls, Appledigital legacy, Health sharing, and in iOS 15 super useful Tab Groups in Safari. If you haven’t discovered all these new features yet, check out our linked guides.
