S3Drive - Mount drive on Android

Hi! I have just purchased plans from both S3Drive and iDrive to use in tandem- it works great! One feature I have a question about is the mounting, on android. I understand that only the system file viewer can access these files, is this right? I have found some test images I have synced as a move through Marc Files so I can confirm that mount is working correctly. My question is whether this is the extent of the implementation, or whether it is possible to access them in the photo selector of social media apps or others, or even shortcut the folder so that other apps can read from it. If this is not possible then that is totally okay, I only wonder if there is a way I am not seeing. Thanks!

Hi, thank you for supporting the project.

I understand that only the system file viewer can access these files, is this right?

Yes, however we're actively working on write-mode: https://s3drive.canny.io/feature-requests/p/android-mount-write-support which we aim to deliver at some point this year.

My question is whether this is the extent of the implementation, or whether it is possible to access them in the photo selector of social media apps or others, or even shortcut the folder so that other apps can read from it.

What's your Android version and phone model? This should be handled by: "Open from" functionality and we know that one some phones S3Drive mount appears on the list, whereas on some other phones mostly bigger apps like Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox appear. We would be willing to improve that, but it seems this is often manufacturer specific. Can you send us a screenshot of the list that you would expect S3Drive appear on? Thanks!

Hi, Tom! I use a Galaxy S24U on Android 15. Below is an example of what I see with the Discord photo picker, as a test I moved a photo into a folder I have set to move the files into my cloud storage. The move performs successfully, though I am only able to view the file via the system file viewer and S3Drive (and my cloud storage providers site).

3:01 PM

3:01 PM

Beside the photo with red text should be a photo of a movie poster I used as a test image. Here it appears in S3Drive: (edited)

3:02 PM

3:03 PM

I assume that for now third party apps simply won't be able to see it, which is fine. I hope this is possible to implement in the future! My option for now is to find the file in the system viewer or S3Drive and share directly to an app from there, correct?

Appdog

Hi, Tom! I use a Galaxy S24U on Android 15. Below is an example of what I see with the Discord photo picker, as a test I moved a photo into a folder I have set to move the files into my cloud storage. The move performs successfully, though I am only able to view the file via the system file viewer and S3Drive (and my cloud storage providers site).

Hi, sorry, I still haven't exactly understood how would you expect it all to work. Below I've replied specifically to your points, so I can better understand the situation and hopefully we can implement the missing feature!

Below is an example of what I see with the Discord photo picker,

Are you looking for a similar media picker to be present in S3Drive?

as a test I moved a photo into a folder I have set to move the files into my cloud storage. The move performs successfully,

Good, in such case, this photo should diseappear from a local phone storage (as it was moved) and only be present in the cloud.

though I am only able to view the file via the system file viewer

Do you mean the local file viewer or the S3Drive mount? (BTW. In order to see the mount on Samsung, you might need this Files app instead: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marc.files) If I understood the workflow, this file should no longer be viewable locally, as it was moved.

and S3Drive (and my cloud storage providers site).

I assume that's expected.

Beside the photo with red text should be a photo of a movie poster I used as a test image. Here it appears in S3Drive ... I assume that for now third party apps simply won't be able to see it, which is fine. I hope this is possible to implement in the future!

Currently other apps won't see it, until you share it specifically or access the S3Drive mount. Are there any other methods of accessing this image between apps that I am not aware? Is that related to Discord file picker?

So, I had hoped that mounting the cloud drive would allow third party apps to "see" files in that drive to be picked from within those apps. I know android is a little more locked down now than it used to be so maybe I had high hopes

. The discord file picker was just an example, I assume most apps use the same API to find photos on android. I believe I understand now that even with the cloud drive mounted, I can only view this mount through apps like Marc Files and generally it is invisible to apps like discord, Instagram, other social apps that have a photo picker

3:39 PM

To answer your question about what I meant by system file viewer, I mean Marc Files in this case. I can also see the files on S3Drive as expected.

Appdog

So, I had hoped that mounting the cloud drive would allow third party apps to "see" files in that drive to be picked from within those apps. I know android is a little more locked down now than it used to be so maybe I had high hopes

. The discord file picker was just an example, I assume most apps use the same API to find photos on android. I believe I understand now that even with the cloud drive mounted, I can only view this mount through apps like Marc Files and generally it is invisible to apps like discord, Instagram, other social apps that have a photo picker

Not an expert of Android ecosystem, so not exactly sure, but once we're given an example of an app which can somehow expose their remote resources (so they're available in 3rd party apps file/media pickers) then we can certainly analyze how things are done and have a go at implementation.

Appdog

So, I had hoped that mounting the cloud drive would allow third party apps to "see" files in that drive to be picked from within those apps. I know android is a little more locked down now than it used to be so maybe I had high hopes

. The discord file picker was just an example, I assume most apps use the same API to find photos on android. I believe I understand now that even with the cloud drive mounted, I can only view this mount through apps like Marc Files and generally it is invisible to apps like discord, Instagram, other social apps that have a photo picker

I know that there are couple other extensions to use like File Provider etc. I am also aware that all that might look differently on multiple Android flavours (Xiaomi, Samsung, Pixel etc.). (edited)

I realise now too that discord of course allows you to open the file viewer so I can actually go and grab files from the mount that way. In the case of Instagram, messenger, and the like, they only provide a simple interface so I can't navigate to the mount that way.

3:42 PM

Thanks for your help! I think I've got everything I needed from our conversation:)

Appdog

Thanks for your help! I think I've got everything I needed from our conversation:)

That's great to hear. If by any chance you come across on something that makes file sharing between apps easier, please send it to us, so we can have a look!

1

I am sending screenshot from Samsung S21 FE on Android 15. I've opened some other cloud app and selected: "Upload file", once system file picker was opened then you could select file from multiple destinations including multiple accounts/drives of S3Drive. I know that in the past, we've had S3Drive listed in that drawer only once, upon click, S3Drive app was opened in "file picker" mode and you could select "remote" file (or switch to a different account all using S3Drive UI. Once we've implemented disk mounts, then we've decided that it's much more convenient to use native OS file explorer instead of forcing user to open S3Drive UI to select the account and then a file and as a result we've ditched the other approach. (edited)