Disappointing
Response from developer
Thank you for using File Gallery. We truly appreciate your kind words about the app’s functionality. I understand you felt the price was too high. We'll take your feedback into consideration for future pricing decisions. That said, it has only been a few days since we set this price, so we would like to observe a little longer before making any changes. In the meantime, we hope you're able to get value from the app within the free tier. Thank you for the valuable feedback.
Stopped working! What happened?
And now it just stopped working!
I'm am writing this review to alert the developers as I think it's worth 5 stars when working
--Tim
Response from developer
Hi Tim, Thank you so much for using our app! We are truly grateful that you gave us a 5-star rating despite the app not being perfect. We apologize for any trouble this may have caused. So far, we have not been able to identify the bug. If you could describe in as much detail as possible how the app stopped working, it would be very helpful for us to improve it. Which of the following best describes what happened? 1. The app crashes on launch or at other times. 2. Photos don't appear even after selecting a folder. 3. Something else — such as photo controls not responding. Thank you for your help!
Nice features, but… (Updated)
Well, that was unexpected. I received a notification that the developer had responded to my review and reloaded the app to find that they have provided a way to opt out of analytics collection. I’d prefer if they removed google analytics entirely because I firmly believe user data harvesting has gone too far, “anonymous” or not. Yes, Apple also collects analytics, but they have a public commitment to privacy that google doesn’t share.
However, I’m impressed by the developer’s willingness to listen to feedback and make positive, responsive improvements in their app. Accordingly, I’m now willing to provide my impressions based purely on the app’s merits.
I love the core feature: the ability to point at a folder and browse the photos there as if using the stock photos app. This is basic functionality that Apple should provide directly in iOS but probably never will. Its implementation could use some polishing, it feels a bit clunky and not very iOS- or Mac-like, but it’s simple and functional, and I’m now willing to see where the developer can take it in the future. One important additional feature I’d like to see: folder browsing. A sidebar with sub folders so I can navigate my files hierarchy like the albums in the Photos app. I recognize that this could cause problems with users choosing the root of their iCloud or some other too deep hierarchy, so there would have to be guardrails of some kind.
A good start. Thanks again for listening.
(Original)
The ability to host simple files-based albums is something I’ve been searching for. Thought I’d finally found it in File Gallery. But why in the world does a photo viewer need to collect identifiers and location data? I don’t care that it’s “not associated to my identity”. It’s not necessary for this app and makes it a non-starter. Deleted.
Response from developer
Thank you for using File Gallery and for your very valuable feedback. The reason ID and Location are listed in the Privacy section is because this app uses Google Analytics. This allows us to more quickly identify an overview of user needs, and details of any bugs, which helps us improve the app. However, starting from the next version, we would like to take your feedback on board and add an option within the app to turn off Google Analytics. By toggling this switch off, even the approximate location (at the city level) and identifier collected by Google Analytics will no longer be gathered. Apps distributed on the App Store automatically collect analytics. If you would also like to completely stop the collection of location data at the country level, you will need to turn it off from your device settings as well — though you may have already done so. Settings App > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > Share iPhone Analytics and disable it there. We appreciate your patience while you wait for the next update.
Nice features, but nope.
Response from developer
Thank you for using File Gallery and for your very valuable feedback. The reason ID and Location are listed in the Privacy section is because this app uses Google Analytics. This allows us to more quickly identify an overview of user needs, and details of any bugs, which helps us improve the app. However, starting from the next version, we would like to take your feedback on board and add an option within the app to turn off Google Analytics. By toggling this switch off, even the approximate location (at the city level) and identifier collected by Google Analytics will no longer be gathered. Apps distributed on the App Store automatically collect analytics. If you would also like to completely stop the collection of location data at the country level, you will need to turn it off from your device settings as well — though you may have already done so. Settings App > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > Share iPhone Analytics and disable it there. We appreciate your patience while you wait for the next update.
