Use Your Mac To Explore Files On Your iPhone

One of the really handy features of Apple’s ubiquitous iPod is the ability to use it in disk mode to move and store files from your Mac to the iPod. Thanks to a free utility, that same to and from file management capability comes to the iPhone and iPod touch. U

se your Mac or Windows PC to browse files on your iPhone and iPod touch. Move files back and forth with drag and drop. Even create, delete, and rename files and folders on your iPhone or iPod touch. There. That about settles it. It’s a great utility. What is it? Besides free?

The Closed System Opened

I’ll be the first to admit that Apple’s systems may appear to be closed, despite the Mac maker’s adoption of open source here and there.

Apple likes to control the whole experience, top to bottom, software to hardware, and the iPhone/iPod touch carry that heritage beyond the Mac.

Along the way, Apple created a Mac ecosystem that can run just about any application—Mac, Windows, Linux, and with developer software, even applications, utilities, and games made for the iPhone/iPod touch.

If you’ve ever used your iPod to store files and create a musically inclined version of sneaker net, then you probably thought it’d be cool to do the same thing with your iPhone/iPod touch.

iPhone Explorer To The Rescue

A Friday wouldn’t be a Friday without something really good for free, right? Introducing iPhone Explorer, the little utility that can. Mac or Windows. iPhone or iPod touch.

What does it do? Besides, you know, explore your iPhone?

With iPhone Explorer your iPhone/iPod touch can be put in disk mode and even used as a flash drive. That’s handy for making almost any file fully portable, or to carrying sensitive or important files from here to there.

Simply put, iPhone Explorer is a Finder-like browser for your Mac or PC that lets you browse files and folders on your iPhone/iPod touch—just like you would a flash drive.

You can drag and drop files from one to the other, and and remove files, create folders, move files into those folders—and do those kinds of things that are so easy on your Mac in the Finder, but you’re doing it from your Mac to your iPhone/iPod touch.

Is It Easy? Or, Is It Difficult?

Hey, it’s a Mac. It’s an iPhone. It’s gotta be easy, not to mention free. iPhone Explorer looks much like any Mac browsing utility. iPhone/iPod touch folder hierarchy shows up in a column.

It’s almost too easy. I have a 32-gig iPhone 3GS and there’s about 12 gigs left over after music, photos, movies, and a couple of gigs of Apps.

That means there’s plenty of space to securely and secretly store lots of files from my Mac. File management is easy, too. It’s drag and drop. The iPhone Explorer toolbar is a snap to figure out.

This thing works with all iPhone and iPod touch models to date—from the original to the 3G to the 3GS. What’s not to like? iPhone Explorer is free, it’s fun, it’s handy, it’s useful, it makes your iPhone/iPod touch a truly Mac-portable device. There’s even a version for Windows users (who constitute most of the iPhone/iPod touch user base).