How does elementaryOS manage to transfer files to and from an iOS device?

Question

I am on eOS 5.1 Hera and I can easily transfer files between my iPad 4 (iOS 10.3.3) and it works just like using iTunes. However, I have been recently trying Kubuntu 19.10 and it can't recognize the "Documents" folder on the iPad and can only see "DCIM" folder.

I have compared the versions and packages under libimobiledevice and both have only libimobiledevice6 installed. So I wonder, what eOS does differently than Kubuntu / Ubuntu that lets it connect to iOS devices?

Answer 1

I think I got it. It is not Kubuntu but Dolphin that causes the problem. I've tested Nemo and Nautilus and they both allow you to access the "Documents" folder in iOS but for some reason Dolphin doesn't do the job. So I just use one of the former when I'm transferring files through the wire.

Answer 2

On KDE, you would need a package called kio-afc which should add the functionality to dolphin. But I prefer to have it working out of the box like here on elementary os.