The Easiest Way to Zip and Unzip Files on Your IPhone
Zip files are a useful but cumbersome solution for compressing multiple files together. They come in many different ways – a photo archive for a project, or the need to compress a file that just doesn’t fit into Gmail’s archaic 25MB file limit. It’s one thing to deal with zip files on a computer, but when you see them on your phone, you might just give up completely.
Your iPhone actually works really well with zip files, and they’re better than ever thanks to some changes in iOS 16 . Thanks to Apple’s ever-evolving Files app, you can compress multiple files together without having to create a folder first (phew). Unpacking the archive is even easier. And the Files app isn’t just limited to .zip files; it can also decompress .ar, .bz2, .cpio, .rar, .tar and .tgz file types.
Let’s talk about compression first. Open the Files app and find all the files you want to group. Ideally, you should first move all files into the same folder. After that, open the folder, click on the three-dot Menu button on the top toolbar, and choose the Select option. Now select all the files you want to compress. (You can use a two-finger drag gesture to quickly select multiple files.) Then, tap the three-dot menu button in the bottom right corner and select the Pinch option.
A new file named “Archive.zip” will be created at the top of the folder. We recommend that you rename this folder to make your life easier. Long press on a zip file, select ” Rename ” and give it a name that has something to do with the file itself.
Unzipping is much easier. All you have to do is click on the zip file and it will be unpacked in the same location with the same folder name as the zip file. Once that’s done, you can press and hold on the folder to move it anywhere you want (drag and drop works wonders here).