Apple brought drag and drop to the iPad with iOS 11, making it easier than ever to transfer content between multiple apps. It turns out the feature will also be available on the iPhone — but it won’t be anywhere near as good.
Drag and drop is a gesture that’s right at home on touchscreen devices, but it doesn’t make much sense if that touchscreen device cannot run multiple apps at the same time. Now that the iPad can, it makes perfect sense to add drag and drop to iOS 11.
It won’t be an iPad exclusive, however. The Verge reports that drag and drop will also be available on the iPhone, but because the iPhone cannot run two apps in Split View, it won’t be quite the same.
“According to tweets from developers at WWDC, Apple says drag and drop on the iPhone will only work within apps,” the report explains. The video below shows drag and drop working between different apps, but it’s thought this is an early bug, rather than a feature.
iOS 11 supports drag & drop on iPhone pic.twitter.com/DRte6fkPrg
— Dave Schukin (@schukin) June 6, 2017
Even though the iPhone’s drag and drop will be limited, there will be times when it’s incredibly useful.
In Apple’s new Files app, for instance, it will make it easy to move documents and data between folders. In Messages, it will make it easy to transfer text or images from one conversation to another.
It’s important to remember, however, that iOS 11 is still in early beta, and Apple can still make big changes before its public release this fall. If it decides drag and drop on the iPhone isn’t useful enough, or it’s too confusing, it could well be pulled.
