Mobile access

Overview

Mobile access lets you open your private folders from your phone or tablet, with the DooFiles app at connect.doofiles.com. You connect the device once with a QR code from DooFiles › Settings, and from then on you can:

• browse your private folders, as a list or as a grid with thumbnails;
• view photos, play videos and music, and download any file;
• upload photos, videos and other files from the device;
• see the totals of the Space view and the result of the last integrity check.

The app is a web app: it runs in the browser of your device, and you can add it to your home screen like any other app. Your files go straight from your site to your device. They never pass through Doothemes, and the app keeps no copies of them.

What you need

• DooFiles 1.0.13 or newer, with an active license.
• HTTPS on your site. The app only connects to sites with a secure address.
• An administrator account. Only administrators who can use DooFiles can connect a device.
• At least one private folder with you on its list. The app only opens private folders, and only the ones you can open in the file manager. See Private folders.
• A phone or tablet with an up-to-date browser: Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox or Samsung Internet.

Turn it on

An administrator turns on Mobile access once for the whole site.

1. Go to DooFiles › Settings and open the Mobile access card.
2. Under For the whole site, turn on Let devices connect.
3. Change the limits if you want, and click Save changes. DooFiles asks for your password.

[SCREENSHOT_HERE: DooFiles › Settings › Mobile access, the card with Your devices and For the whole site]

Connect a device

1. On a computer, go to DooFiles › Settings › Mobile access.
2. Under Connect a device, click Connect. DooFiles asks for your password, and for your 6-digit code if you use a second factor.
3. A QR code appears. The code works once and expires in 5 minutes.
4. Scan the code with the camera of your phone or tablet. It opens the DooFiles app at connect.doofiles.com.
5. The app shows the address of your site. Check that it is yours, give the device a name, such as Work phone, and tap Connect.

Check that it works: the app opens your private folders, and the device appears under Your devices in the card, with the date it was connected. The activity log shows Connected a device.

[SCREENSHOT_HERE: the Connect dialog with the QR code and the countdown]

On iPhone and iPad

On iPhone and iPad, an app added to the home screen keeps its data apart from Safari. If you connect a site in Safari, it does not appear in the installed app. Install the app first (see Install the app), open it from the home screen, and tap Scan a code to scan the QR code from inside the app.

Connect more sites

The app can open several sites with DooFiles. To add one, open the app, go to Device and tap Connect another site, or tap the scan button in Your sites. Each site has its own connection, and you disconnect each one apart.

Use the app

The app has five buttons at the bottom:

[SCREENSHOT_HERE: the app, a private folder in grid view with the five buttons at the bottom]

Browse your folders

• List or grid: the button at the top switches between a list with the size and date of each file and a grid of thumbnails.
• Refresh: pull the list down.
• Thumbnails: photos, videos and music with a cover show a thumbnail, like in the file manager. See Thumbnails.
• The bars at the top and the bottom slide away while you scroll down, and come back when you scroll up.

View, play and download

• Photos, videos and music open in the viewer. Pinch or double-tap a photo to zoom, swipe to the side for the next file, and swipe down or tap × to close. Videos and music play with the same player as the media viewer of DooFiles, with the cinematic lighting around them.
• PDF files open in the browser of the device.
• Other files show their name and size, with Download.
• Download in the viewer saves the file on the device.

If your device cannot play a video or show a photo, such as some MKV videos on iPhone or HEIC photos on Android, the viewer says so and offers to download it.

Upload

1. Open the folder where the files go.
2. Tap Upload, in the middle of the bottom bar.
3. Choose photos, videos or other files. On most phones you can also take a photo or record a video right away.

The panel at the bottom shows each file and its progress. Keep the app open until the uploads finish: the screen stays on while they run, and a locked phone stops them. A file with the same name as one already in the folder is saved with a number, such as photo (1).jpg. Nothing is ever replaced.

Space and Integrity

Space and Integrity only show what the last scan found. They never start a scan. To scan again, use Scan now in the Space view of DooFiles, on a computer. Space shows the totals and the breakdown by type, but not the names of your folders or files. See Space and File integrity.

Language

The app uses the language of your device, in any of the languages of DooFiles. Otherwise, it shows English.

Install the app

• Android: tap Install app in the app, or Add to home screen in the menu of your browser.
• iPhone and iPad: in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Install it before you connect a site.

The installed app opens full screen, like any other app. On a computer, connect.doofiles.com only explains how to open it on your phone.

Disconnect a device

• From the device: open Device and tap Disconnect this device.
• From DooFiles: in DooFiles › Settings › Mobile access, click Disconnect next to the device, or Disconnect all to disconnect every device of your account.

A disconnected device stops opening your files right away, even a video that is playing. To use it again, connect it with a new code.

DooFiles also disconnects devices by itself:

• after the days without use set in Days a device stays connected without use;
• when you change your password: every device of your account;
• when an administrator can no longer use DooFiles, or Mobile access is turned off for the site.

What a connected device can do

Each device has its own key. Connecting a device asks for your password and, if you use one, your second factor, so a device does not ask for them again. The app opens each file with a link that expires after 4 hours.

In the activity log

Every connection is recorded in the activity log, with the name of the device:

Troubleshooting

Need more help? Open a support ticket.

For developers

Mobile access has a constant and four filters. A constant in wp-config.php or a filter wins over the setting of the page, and the setting shows as locked. See Filters and constants.

// Keep Mobile access off on this site, whatever Settings says.
add_filter('doofiles_mobile', '__return_false');

// Let each administrator connect up to 2 devices, and disconnect them after a week without use.
add_filter('doofiles_mobile_devices', fn() => 2);
add_filter('doofiles_mobile_days', fn() => 7);