Personal cloud provider Box is updating its iPad and iPhone applications today with new capabilities that should help propel the company as one of the premier storage solutions for mobile devices. The iOS apps have an all-new code base that Box promises will make the apps faster, more stable and easier to navigate.
Box says that it has seen usage explode since it offered 50 gigabytes free to iOS users and the explosion has prompted the team to expand its mobile offerings on iPhone and iPad. The offer from Box lasted 50 days, meaning it expired last week. That makes this update very timely for Box to attract new paying users and expand upon those it gained during its offer. Check out below for what the new Box iOS apps have to offer.
There are three main new features included in the Box update:
- Video and photo uploads: Box has added the ability to create new folders and upload photos and video to your account straight from your iOS device. This is a smart offering as it expands Box’s capabilities for file sharing on the go but also because photos and videos are much larger data hogs than simple files. More data consumed means more users will end up paying for storage through Box.
- Full-text search: This is not something that was available before and should help Box users locate files within accounts that have a lot of documents. Cannot find that memo from the meeting three weeks ago? The added full-text search should be able to help you locate and share it with your co-workers on the fly.
Favorites for offline: We noted that offline storage was one of the biggest trends in mobile apps in 2011 and Box has gotten on that train with the ability to take a select few articles that you know you are going to want to read on the road. It will also help users surface important documents they know they come back to often.
This is a significant upgrade to the Box app for iOS. Yet, as our John Paul Titlow noted in October when Box announced its 50 GB offer, neither the company nor the other prominent personal cloud app Dropbox, have the ability to provide “seamless, cross-device syncing of things like contacts, calendars, reminders and Web bookmarks.” It also appears that the ability to remotely back up you device is not included in this update. These are capabilities that Apple’s iCloud features prominently and some of the best reasons to set up your iCloud account in iOS 5.
Does Box’s update make you more likely to use the app? Or are you an existing Box user and are now excited with these new capabilities? Let us know in the comments.
