Send fax from iOS device?

[mfield]

Hi. Has anyone found a way to send a fax (via Sonic) from an iOS device? I haven't found a browser that will let me upload anything except photos so have not been able to upload the PDF I want to fax when on the "send fax" screen (when I click the button to choose the fax file, I can only upload photos).

Thanks,
Marc

[virtualmike]

Oh, my. I'd never tried before on my iPad, but sure enough, either I can take a picture, or I can choose one on my camera roll. There's no way to get any other sort of file.

I wonder if that holds true on iOS for any web page that offers a "choose file" control? Does Apple assume that people only want to upload images to web sites?

At least my Android phone lets me do this!

Maybe Sonic.net can build the "send a fax" functionality into the app, and configure it as a "send to" app.

[darrylo]

I wonder if that holds true on iOS for any web page that offers a "choose file" control? Does Apple assume that people only want to upload images to web sites?

No, it's more likely that very few people need a "send to fax" functionality, coupled with the fact that the iPhone doesn't really have a (user-accessible) filesystem for storing files. Right now, you have either app-specific file storage (apps are sandboxed and generally cannot see files from other apps, for security reasons), or cloud storage (iCloud, dropbox, google drive, etc., etc .).

[mfield]

No, it's more likely that very few people need a "send to fax" functionality, coupled with the fact that the iPhone doesn't really have a (user-accessible) filesystem for storing files. Right now, you have either app-specific file storage (apps are sandboxed and generally cannot see files from other apps, for security reasons), or cloud storage (iCloud, dropbox, google drive, etc., etc .).

If a Sonic app were to put itself on the "Open In..." menu for PDF processing apps, then we could get the fax ready in that app (in my case, GoodReader, which has amazing PDF processing capability), and then open it in the Sonic app to send it. This is how other developers work around the sandbox issue. As for your other point, I don't know how many people would use it, but I know I would

Marc

[darrylo]

I, too, like goodreader, but:

• My main point is that iOS doesn't have a generic place for storing files.
• Because of this, any "fax" app would have to specifically know about goodreader, and use the document interchange API (which goodreader does appear to support).
• While there are fax apps, I don't know of any that support goodreader.

[virtualmike]

... it's more likely that very few people need a "send to fax" functionality, coupled with the fact that the iPhone doesn't really have a (user-accessible) filesystem for storing files.

Understood. Most apps have APIs to receive files (via Send To), but not for another app to take files (though Camera Roll is an obvious exception).

But my question, for which I'm inferring the answer is "yes," was whether iOS web browsers will only support uploading an image in the Camera Roll, since they seem to be unaware of any other sources for files.

[darrylo]

Well, if you can find a fax app that accepts the open in/send to functionality, the Mercury Browser app has a built-in file downloader (for pdf files, etc.), and you can open the downloaded files in various apps from the file browser/viewer. (Mercury Browser is the browser that I normally use on my iPad.)

[virtualmike]

Does the Mercury Browser's file chooser limit to the Photo Album? Or can it pull from other apps?

[mfield]

But my question, for which I'm inferring the answer is "yes," was whether iOS web browsers will only support uploading an image in the Camera Roll, since they seem to be unaware of any other sources for files.

Yes, this is exactly the question. I use iCab, and it can also download PDF (and other) files. It even can receive "Open In..." from other apps for PDFs, but it cannot upload the PDFs that it has received. Not knowing of a file system is not the issue, since the PDF is then within its own sandboxed area. I don't know whether this is an iOS limitation or just that no browser developer has done this. I guess I'll check with the guy who writes iCab

Marc

[darrylo]

Does the Mercury Browser's file chooser limit to the Photo Album? Or can it pull from other apps?

Neither.

You use the browser to download files (pdfs, .exe, videos, pictures, etc.) into its private file area (you may have to change the user-agent as websites might not allow iOS browsers to normally download). Once there, you can select a file and then use the "send to app" functionality to send the file elsewhere. My iPad lists goodreader, webex, dropbox, and evernote among other destinations, and so I assume (possibly incorrectly) that some fax-like apps could be targets. (Not the friendliest of interfaces. but it appears to be possible.) This is for the non-free $0.99 Mercury Browser Pro app, BTW.

(Oh, wow. I just opened up goodreader, and I was able to transfer a pdf file to the Mercury browser file area.)