How To: Use Your iPhone/iPod Touch as a Wireless Flash Drive

airsharingOne of the most useful applications I’ve used for the iPhone/iPod Touch is Airsharing ($4.99, app store), which allows you to use your device as a wireless flash drive.  Not only can it store (and view!) files wirelessly, it also works on Windows, Mac, Linux and even through a web browser.  If that wasn’t enough – Airsharing also includes helpful instructions on how to setup and connect to your device for your specific operating system.

Airsharing Initial ScreenThe initial screen in Airsharing displays a list of files and folders on the device, as well as the IP address of your device which can be used to view and upload files through your web browser.  Airsharing is capable of viewing many different types of files, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDFs, and images which is extremely useful for viewing files on the go.

To protect your data, Airsharing comes equipped with security options such as password protection as well as sleeping after a period of inactivity.  Airsharing also offers the option of keeping your device password-free, which is convenient if you’re using it exclusively on a secure private network.

Connecting to your device via a web browser is as easy as entering the provided IP address into your location bar, but for a more permanent connection method you can use the included instructions (accessible via the ? button) to mount the device as a network drive.  I found this very to be very practical when transferring multiple files because the browser-based uairsharing31ploader only allows one file transfer at a time.

Do you have any suggestions for expanding the storage uses of your iPhone/iPod Touch?  Share them in the comments!

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Evan Wondrasek

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8 responses to “How To: Use Your iPhone/iPod Touch as a Wireless Flash Drive”

  1. Reis Pritchard Avatar
    Reis Pritchard

    openSSH (the free version for jailbroken devices) works too, just not as fancy.

  2. Reis Pritchard Avatar
    Reis Pritchard

    openSSH (the free version for jailbroken devices) works too, just not as fancy.

  3. @djstangl Avatar
    @djstangl

    Isn't this the same thing as Dropbox or Zumodrive? Not getting how it's different

    1. evanw Avatar
      evanw

      Similar, but not identical (when I wrote this article in April, Dropbox was not yet released and I had not heard of Zumodrive which was in beta at the time).

      The main difference is that Dropbox and Zumodrive are using a shared folder service while Air Sharing stores files directly on your iPod Touch/iPhone. While they can all give you the end-result of accessing files on your device, Air Sharing allows you to map the Touch/iPhone as a network folder and can be directly accessed via HTTP.

    2. Evan Wondrasek Avatar
      Evan Wondrasek

      Similar, but not identical (when I wrote this article in April, Dropbox was not yet released and I had not heard of Zumodrive which was in beta at the time).

      The main difference is that Dropbox and Zumodrive are using a shared folder service while Air Sharing stores files directly on your iPod Touch/iPhone. While they can all give you the end-result of accessing files on your device, Air Sharing allows you to map the Touch/iPhone as a network folder and can be directly accessed via HTTP.

  4. @djstangl Avatar
    @djstangl

    Isn't this the same thing as Dropbox or Zumodrive? Not getting how it's different

    1. evanw Avatar
      evanw

      Similar, but not identical (when I wrote this article in April, Dropbox was not yet released and I had not heard of Zumodrive which was in beta at the time).

      The main difference is that Dropbox and Zumodrive are using a shared folder service while Air Sharing stores files directly on your iPod Touch/iPhone. While they can all give you the end-result of accessing files on your device, Air Sharing allows you to map the Touch/iPhone as a network folder and can be directly accessed via HTTP.

    2. Evan Wondrasek Avatar
      Evan Wondrasek

      Similar, but not identical (when I wrote this article in April, Dropbox was not yet released and I had not heard of Zumodrive which was in beta at the time).

      The main difference is that Dropbox and Zumodrive are using a shared folder service while Air Sharing stores files directly on your iPod Touch/iPhone. While they can all give you the end-result of accessing files on your device, Air Sharing allows you to map the Touch/iPhone as a network folder and can be directly accessed via HTTP.

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