The iPad project had been on hold for a bit while we hashed out the details on HFF Central. Now that Central has been nailed down and work is well underway, it’s time to shift our focus back to the iPad app.
Even though there are undoubtedly more iPhones in the wild, we believe HFF iPad will be our flagship product. Browsing and viewing your files just feels right on the larger display, and it feels like the perfect compliment to your iPad to be able to finally manage files on it. Plus you’re going to be downright addicted to the gesture-based column view we’re building.
Tap a folder to dive into it, tap a file to preview it and view its actions. Swipe left & right to navigate through your folder hierarchy with ease. Search your Mac at any time using the search bar in the top right. Pinch & zoom any column to increase column width. Pinch / zooming your file preview will result in a larger preview.
HFF iPad will be functionally similar to HFF iPhone but with one major exception: file downloads for offline access.
The interface isn’t worked out completely yet (we’re trying to figure out the best way to approach this), but the gist is you will tap “Download” to download the file you’re viewing. This will add the file to a download queue (which will download using background processing and add a badge to the icon when it’s done), and you will be able to access your downloaded files even when you’re offline.
You can then access all of your downloaded files one of two ways: by choosing “Downloaded Files” from the “Choose Computer” screen:
This will show you all downloaded files across all computers.
Or, you can view a specific computer’s downloaded files by selecting that computer and viewing “Downloaded Files”:
In addition, HFF iPad will be able to let you know when a file is out of sync and allow you to update your local copy with changes from your home computer.
We are really excited for this feature, and we think it will change the way you use your iPad. HFF iPad will essentially transform your iPad into a powerful file management device– it can be used as a back-up for your important files, a way to show your clients the work you’ve been doing, or even just a massive “jump drive” with an incredible interface.
I’m also happy to announce that the iPad version will be universal update, making it FREE for everyone who bought HFF iPhone.
We’re working hard to bring you an iPad experience like no other, so if you have any feature requests at all, feel free to send us a shout on Twitter: @herefilefile. Thanks so much for your continued support, and stay tuned for Part 3 of our “What are we up to?” series!
