I’m shocked that iOS’s G-Drive is working better than Androids version. This is despite my iPhone 12 Max running on iOS 14.5.1, latest is iOS 18.3 (I think), Jailbroken so can’t update. My Pixel 6 is on A14, and have never seen the thumbnail images of my uploaded pics in Androids Drive. Had no idea that was a thing till I just opened iOS’s version and they all populated super quick. I had issues downloading .AVI video files on my Pixel, when I tried on iOS, zero issues. There’s no option to download those vids on iOS though, however, selecting “open in” I was able to choose my video player app, VLC and it looks like it was saved in that app’s Video List. If you’re wanting to download your saved vids in Drive, you may want to have a good video app installed prior to trying to download them. I’m pretty sure no other options like iOS’s stock “Photos” was an option, but that could be related to my me running 14.5.1. Big props to iOS Devs who did a much better job than Google did on their very own apps, using their very own device. I’m a Fan of both platforms, would never say one is better than the other, I truly believe each have their Pros & Cons, for that reason is why I carry both in my pockets everywhere I go and I’m content with that. Leaving home without either one feels like I forgot my left foot.

I use google drive for documents, spreadsheets, slides, photos, collaborating with teams and have essentially replaced my need for other company’s word processing, sheets, and presentations. The part I like most is that it easily plugs in to the apps I use and to website developing for example Squarespace asset storage. I also use google sites which shows up in google drive and saves the pages. I’ve never had a security breach and can share file access to people that are google users and also all other email platforms. I’ve tested this as a non-profit board member for file sharing and had no issues. I’ve been a google drive user since the beginning of it coming out and over the years have changed computers, phones, and iPads. I mostly use Mac’s and Apple devices, but in the workplace we are on PC’s and there are no issues across the two platforms. I use Safari, Chrome, Edge, Foxfire, and have Duck Duck Go running. All of them fully function on every browser I’ve used. With Word and Excell you have slightly different menu bars and options when switching from Mac to PC. I don’t have to worry about that with Google Drive documents or sheets or slides! It is a fantastic product and has helped me be more efficient in all areas. I highly recommend it and google photos!

I first started using Google Drive regularly as the secretary of my local music teacher association several years ago. I love the ability to organize with colored labeled folders, easily share and automatically update docs, and drag and drop files. Being able to actually see snippets of documents is so much more helpful than just a doc title. Having a platform that I can have easy access to on my pc, phone or any other pc I sign in to away from home is so convenient! I also love that I can add pdfs, word docs and view files and spreadsheets without the hassle of opening multiple programs. My husband and children have begun using it for college work and business after I showed them how intuitive it is. It’s like having your computer with all its docs right in your pocket for easy access on the go. I can share resources with piano parents via text, track tuition in sheets, use forms for music camp sign ups and create slide presentations for music workshops and view things on the go on my phone if I have inspiration to change a doc, need to check the status of forms etc.

I overall really like the functionality of drive. There are just a few kind of UI and workflow things that I'd really love to see implemented. It would be great to have a more customizable storage system where you weren't limited to the different macro-tabs like home, starred, shared, and files. It would be cool if we could add our own to make drive the most optimum file storage system for us. It would also be great if there was a way to enable those same tabs, just in different iterations for different file types, so that I could just swipe over to another screen and see all of my starred and shared mp4 files, swipe again to see PDFS, and again to see JPEGs and PSD's or something like that. Additionally, it would be amazing if the download functionality was less cumbersome. I'd love to be able to open the share sheet, and just have the normal iPad menu system options of saving to files or doing all that other stuff. Most importantly, please make it possible to do things like download and move files off drive in bulk. There is nothing more annoying that having pictures of pages of a book and having to download and move each one individually because the function of the Drive's share sheet changes depending on wether or not multiple files are selected. Thanks!