I'm amazed that Android doesn't have a built in way to connect to a network drive like iOS/iPadOS has
I have a TrueNAS server at home and thought I could easily connect it to my phone (Pixel 7) as a network drive but was surprised to learn that Android doesn't have a built in feature for that.
iOS/iPadOS does have this to my surprise built in via the 'Files' app.
Or did I just not look hard enough in the Android settings? (I know there are 3rd party apps for this)
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I think this is a function that should be delegated to an app, so that users can choose from a variety of options. Having it built in would restrict that choice. Kind of like keyboards.
In iOS it's a function of the Files app but since the Files app comes with the OS by default I called it built in.
iOS, as far as I remember, only supports WebDav. Which is useless with an SFTP server, ofc. And yes, there is the solution of installing another file server, configuring it, maintaining it, ripping a new hole into the Firewall, and fiddling around with file permissions, but that sucks, obviously. You could of course buy (or even subscribe to, I believe) a third party, closed sourced, app.
Then there's Android, with FOSS apps like RemoteFiles, because sideloading.
Or just mount it with rclone.
And in my case, I don't need an actual mount anyway, because the FOSS Keepass2Android has native SFTP support, because it makes sense to have it.
While I agree, a keyboard is always included in a phone
Why not both?
I shouldn't have to wade through possibly ad-filled, data-collecting, unknown third party apps to do a basic function...
I think some phone manufacturers do offer a files app, I don't know which ones have smb capabilities though. Regardless, it is an app, not a part of the OS. Also sounds like that's how Apple implements it too, except they probably don't let you use a different app.
Yeah im already mad i cant change the default file management system in non root androids