Mac360

Apple • Mac • iPhone • iPad • News

  • Home
  • News
  • App Reviews
    • iOS App Reviews
    • Cheap Mac Apps
    • Mac App Reviews
    • Mac Tips & Tricks
    • News & Comment
  • Archive
    • iOS App Reviews
    • Cheap Mac Apps
    • Mac App Reviews
    • Mac Tips and Tricks
  • About
    • Contact Mac360
    • About Mac360
    • Mac360′s FAQs
    • Got Apps For Us?
    • Privacy Policy
    • Service Terms Agreement
    • Copyright Notice
  • Follow
    • RSS Atom Feed
    • Comments Feed
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • Writers
    • Alexis Kayhill
    • Bambi Brannan
    • Carol Miller
    • Jack Miller
    • Jeffrey Mincey
    • Kate MacKenzie
    • Natalia Nowak
    • Ron McElfresh
    • Tera Patricks
    • Wil Gomez
  • Blogs
    • TeraTalks
    • Bohemian Boomer
    • McElfresh.org
    • McSolo
    • NoodleMac
    • PixoBebo
  • Sitemap
  • Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Move Over iCloud, SkyDrive, Dropbox, Amazon, Google Drive. Box Comes To iPhone, iPad, Mac

Monday, November 26, 2012 | Alexis Kayhill Posted In iOS Apps

BoxMaybe Google is on to something. They store our email, documents, music, files, calendars, bookmarks, forage through the whole mess, and sell the data to advertisers.

That may explain why so many companies want to give us online cloud storage for free. Like a burglar rummaging through our drawers, they like to go through our stuff. Here’s yet another free online storage service.

Box For iPhone And iPad

Let’s have a show of hands. Who among the Apple faithful do not use iCloud? Apple boasts nearly 200-million users already. It’s difficult to complain about free.

True, iCloud isn’t Dropbox. For most of us, it’s just a place to store files until the storage gets so big we are required to pay money to keep it.

Dropbox and iCloud are nicely integrated into many of our iPhone and iPad applications, so we’re used to using what’s free. For now.

How does a new company get in on the free parade? Box is here for iPhone and iPad and they offer free online storage. It’s more free. 10GB free. If you need more than that, then the Box business model kicks in and you’re required to mortgage your house. Again.

Box starts with 10GB of free storage and sync. Sync, as in it syncs files between your iPhone and Box, or iPad and Box, or both devices and Box (have no fear Mac user, there’s a Box app for the Mac, too).

Box iPhone

What does the clever and elegant Box interface do for you? View, edit, share, and manage files from your iPad and iPhone.

Everything you store in Box is secured with file-level encryption, and not everyone can get to your files (even Google).

Box for iPhone

While Box is no Dropbox, some features are similar. You can view and edit files online.

Box has a few dozen apps which also integrate storage from the iPhone or iPad app direct to your Box account (works similar to iCloud and Dropbox).

One feature I like is the option to share a file by sending a link to the file in email.

Searching through a bunch of files is simple enough in either the iPhone or iPad Box app, but you can mark files and folders as favorites for easy viewing.

BOx is also a good place to store photos online. It’s no Instagram, of course, but photos can be uploaded and shared.

My biggest fear with Box is the same that I share with Dropbox and iCloud (or, any of the me-too online storage services).

I’ll keep using it and using it and loving it and one day I’ll have enough files, music, movies, documents, and personal stuff stored online and I’ll end up having to pay by the month just to keep it all.

Read A Related Article

  • Use The Almost Free Mac App That Is iCloud’s Biggest, Most Successful Competition
  • Do You Really Want To Store All Your Files, Documents, Songs, Contacts, Calendar In The Cloud?
  • Guess What? Now You Can Add Another Free Cloud Storage Account And App To Your Mac
  • How The Mac Became Just Another Device On Apple’s Digital Hub

From Apple Towers

Kate asks the musical question, Can Apple Be Trusted? (or, who do you trust more?). Uh, the government? Ron asks us to Try For Free The Easy-to-Use Photo Batcher App For Your Mac That Has The Most Clever Name. It's not that clever.

Tera decides to be matchmaker. Mac Menubar, Meet AlarmBar: Get More Productive For $1.99. Meanwhile, Jeffrey found A Better Way To Sync Passwords, Login IDs And Private Data Between Mac And iPhone. Oh, look at the time! MacBook Users Rejoice! Now You Can Remap And Customize An Entire Keyboard For Free. A useful utility that's free.

Rent Is Due

All our app reviews, news, and insightful commentary are supported by your kind attention to the nearby sponsoring overlords and their messages of desperation. Visiting an aforementioned ad overlord today helps us pay for a daily supply of PEZ. When you help out by giving attention to any sponsor during today's visit we're able to avoid the authorities. Hence, we appreciate your brief visits to these necessary overlords.

About Alexis Kayhill

I'm a 20 year Mac user veteran, writer, photographer, wife, and mommy. I live in sunny San Diego with my husband, three children, two dogs, one mean old cat, and an SUV with a back seat full of beach sand.

« Next Article
The New Apple Is Like Microsoft: There Are Too Many Fingers In Too Many Pies
Previous Article »
Use A Free Mac App To Monitor Weather Conditions Anywhere In The World

Comments

  1. jim says:
    Monday, November 26, 2012 at 11:58 PM

    Actually, I’m pretty sure BOX was around before Dropbox. But even if I’m wrong, it’s hardly new. I’ve been using it for at least two years. In fact, about a year ago they offered 50GB of free space for anyone who signed up using their iOS app.

  2. Casey says:
    Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 12:16 AM

    Box has been around awhile but you’d never know it, having been crushed by iCloud and Dropbox. It’s a decent service, but the key is usability and there are far more OS X and iOS apps that use iCloud and Dropbox than Box. The same problem exists for GoogleDrive, Microsoft’s SkyDrive, and Amazon’s new whatever-the-name-is cloud service. If you can’t store data easily then the service won’t gain traction or customers. I use iCloud and Dropbox and love both, but for different reasons.

Recently on Mac360

  • The Best iPhone Tally Counter App That Money Cannot Buy (if you have money you get more)
  • Why New Smartphone And Tablet Models Fail And How Apple Locks In Customers
  • Just What iPhone Users Need. Yet Another Free Notes App. Catch Notes App Is Different
  • MagicanPaster Is The Most Colorful Free Way To Check And Monitor Your Mac’s System
  • Etsy Is A Free Way To Use Your iPhone To Shop Online (I think of it as Kayak meets Ebay)
  • How Magic Paint On A Mac Can Teach Math To A Child (it’s not paint by numbers)
  • Apple Products That Flopped, Or, How Long Should A Company Wait Before Pulling The Plug?
  • Social Network, Meet Word Game: Say The Same Thing Is The Funnest Free iPhone Word Game

Follow Mac360

Follow Mac360 on FacebookFollow Mac360 via RSSFollow Mac360 on Twitter

What We Read

  • Bohemian Boomer
  • Daring Fireball
  • Low End Mac
  • MacDailyNews
  • MacObserver
  • MacSurfer
  • McSolo
  • NoodleMac
  • PixoBebo
  • TeraTalks
  • The Loop

Blasts from Mac360's Past

  • How I Spent Money For An App I Don’t Need, Didn’t Want, But It’s So Much Fun I Can’t Stop Using It » Have you ever downloaded and tried out an app on your iPhone that you later regretted buying? Su...
  • The Troubled World Of Apple’s Shameless Competitors (we need ‘I’m a PC, I’m a Mac’ back) » Let's take a vote. All those in favor of Apple turning the page, raise your hands. What page? It...
  • GIF Brewery: It’s Yet Another Easy Way To Capture A Movie Freeze Frame On Your Mac » Apple has a different view of how the world should work, and that's both good and bad. The good is a...

Follow Mac360 on Twitter

  • Free: The iPhone App That Takes The First Step To Capture Images Of Everything, Everyday - http://t.co/SrepYzyCJO #Mac #Apple #OSX about 44 mins ago
  • The Better Way To Manage Your Checkbook On A Mac Is With A True CheckBook App - http://t.co/Dbr4NrftMA #Mac #Apple #OSX about 3 hours ago
  • Thinking Different: DCommander– Living With A Finder App Of A Different Color - http://t.co/8aJduSlLNS #Mac #Apple #OSX about 5 hours ago
  • 120 Photo Enhancement Presets Turn Boring Photos Into Classic, Artistic Photo Masterpieces - http://t.co/CWiXhaVhSe #Mac #Apple #OSX about 7 hours ago

Comments to Mac360

  • Mike Horstman on If Writing Is Dead Then Why Do Mac Users Have So Many Word Processors?
  • AdamC on All The King’s Horses: What Apple Is Not Doing With All That Cash (it’s not just avoiding taxes)
  • Carlton on What’s The Latest Trend In iPhone Camera Apps? Fewer Features, Higher Quality
  • Robyn on What’s The Latest Trend In iPhone Camera Apps? Fewer Features, Higher Quality
  • Stacy on If Writing Is Dead Then Why Do Mac Users Have So Many Word Processors?

Return to top of page

Copyright © 2004 - 2013 Ron McElfresh, Honolulu, HI. All. Rights. Reserved.

Mac360 Sitemap | Mac360 on Twitter | Mac360 on Facebook.