iOS 9.2: Using Mail Drop to Share Large Files

If you’ve updated to the latest version of iOS 9 on your iPhone or iPad, you have a very handy ability that was only available on the Mac up until now—Mail Drop. This feature will let you send large attachments through email, which is especially great on the iPhone. I mean, who hasn’t taken a video that was too large to easily share with other people?

This feature is built right in to iOS 9 now, so to use it, all you’ve gotta do is, well, use it. So if you select a group of photos or a video that may be too large to send through Mail, your iOS device will warn you of that and give you the choice of what to do.

Just as with Mail Drop on the Mac, the attachments will expire after 30 days. (And for more info on the other limits associated with the service, read Apple’s support page on that.) In any case, though, once your email finishes sending, your recipients will get a clickable download link, which may have different formatting depending on the receiving device:

Though I like this feature on the Mac, I’m far, far more likely to use it on my iPhone. However, if your workflow is the opposite, and you need to send folders, large presentations, and so on to other folks from your Mac, be sure to check out Kelly Guimont’s excellent article on it. And then I strongly suggest that you send your friends 34,000 five-minute-long videos of your cat chasing a laser to celebrate.

OK, please don’t actually do that. Your friends deserve better.