There's a way to access the document folder in iphone/ipad (real device, no simulator)?

You can do this without iTunes and even if the file is somewhere else in the sandbox other than Documents.

Go to Window/Devices in Xcode.

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Next, select your device, and find the app in the list.

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Now, look at the little gear icon at the bottom of the devices window. Click that bad boy. enter image description here

See "Download Container..." in the list. Guess what that does? You got it. It downloads the whole sandbox with all the folders in the app's sandbox. Right click and "Show Package Contents".

This should let you see the sandbox of apps that have not yet been released. So, good for testing on a real device.

If you're testing on a simulator life is way easier. Just download the free app OpenSim here . Update: These days I prefer SimSim, also free here.


To anyone looking out for the exact answer:-

1.Go to plist file of your project.

2.Add one row.

3.Then set the Boolean value of the property "Application supports iTunes file sharing" to "YES". (the key name is UIFileSharingEnabled)

And you are good to go.

Also note that you have to plugin the device in order to access the copied files (Programmatically). If you happen to go and try to access it on computer .. you wont be able to find the files.


Your question is a bit unclear, but I can see three interpretations:

  1. You can plug your iPhone into iTunes to see your documents folder for any app with iTunesFileSharing enabled, including any apps you have written or are writing.

  2. If this is your own app, and you need help reading files from the documents folder, take a look at this question.

  3. If this is someone else's app, and you want to access the app's documents folder without iTunes and the app does not have implementation for what you want, then I am afraid some sort of jailbreaking and hacking is necessary.