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13 Ways I Use Drag and Drop on an iPhone and iPad
Drag and drop isn’t a new iPhone feature, but you’d be forgiven if you haven’t found much use for it (or had completely forgotten that it exists at all). There’s a bit of a multi-touch knack for getting the most out of the feature, which also works identically on the iPad.
Here’s how I’ve been using drag and drop recently on my iPhone.
Dragging Items From One App to Another
The one action that made the drag-and-drop feature useful to me is being able to take a file from one app and drop it into another. The kicker here is that both apps will need to support the feature for this to work. As you’d expect, Apple’s own apps have broad support for this feature, but third-party apps may give you a little more trouble.
You’ll need two hands to complete this operation comfortably. To get started, find the file or item that you want to drag, tap and hold it, and then move your finger to “grab” it. The item should now appear underneath your finger. While holding your finger down, take your other hand and perform the “Home” gesture by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
As long as you keep the first finger held down, you should still be dragging the item. Now it’s a case of finding the app into which you want to move the icon by tapping on it with your second hand. With the app open, navigate to wherever you want to drop the item and release your finger. If all goes to plan, your item should appear where you released it.
I’ve used this trick to move a PDF file from Apple Notes into an email body I was already writing. I was able to move the cursor to the exact position I wanted to embed and then release. It also works when moving files to and from the Files app, like saving an image to a specific directory or even when grabbing an audio file to use in music creation apps.
Drag Text Between Apps
If you’re not a huge fan of Cut or Copy gestures, you can also drag and drop text between apps in much the same way. To get started, highlight the text you want to move, tap and hold it, then move it anywhere that makes sense. This could be a note or an email, where the text will retain its formatting. This works anywhere you can drag text, so it works for text that appears in images too.
It also works for individual messages sent within the Messages app.
Drag and Drop Images (and Subjects)
You can drag images from the Photos app to virtually anywhere that can receive them: the Messages compose window, Apple Notes, the Files app, or even a contact card within the Phone app. The same tip applies to tapping additional photos to pick up more than one.
The same trick works in other apps that feature images, like Safari. Just tap and hold any image on a webpage, then move it wherever you want it to be. I’ve used this to move images from my web browser into Apple’s Freeform whiteboard app, with excellent results. This also works with multiple images, just tap additional items to add them to your stack.
You can also do the same for subjects that appear in images, which your iPhone will isolate from images in the Photos app. To do this, tap and hold the subject and wait until you see an outline. This can be a bit fiddly, but when you do it correctly, you’ll see the subject appear underneath your finger. You can now release your finger in the relevant app, where the subject will be pasted.
If you drop your subject into an app like Files, you will create a PNG file where the subject is surrounded by transparency.
Drag Websites in Safari
This also works for websites within the Safari browser. You can do this with your currently open website by tapping and holding then dragging the URL bar at the bottom of the screen, or by tapping on a URL you see on a page, then moving your finger to drag it. You can add these to the usual places like conversations, email messages, notes, reminders, or even your Calendar to create new appointments.
You can also combine the two previous tips, which is to say that you can drag to select text and images on a webpage and then drag that selection into an app like Notes or Mail to bring the whole lot over with you. This is a neater way to capture webpage content compared to capturing the full page with your iPhone’s screenshot tool.
Drag Message Conversations to Reminders
If you tap and hold a conversation in Messages, drag it to “grab” it and then use your other hand to return to the Home screen and open the Reminders app, you can drop your Message thread into a reminders list to create a new reminder. This will create a link to your message thread within the reminder that you can tap to be taken directly to the thread in question.
Though it’s not the fastest operation in the world, it’s still a neat trick. It doesn’t work for Notes or Calendar, unfortunately.
Drag Music From Apple Music
In addition to moving songs around playlists, you can drag individual tracks, whole albums, and even playlists themselves out of Apple Music and create rich links within Notes or Reminders, or share the item via Mail or Messages.
Create Links to Emails By Dragging
Much like the previous tip, you can do the same thing but for email. Find the email in question within the main inbox (or folder) view, then tap and hold before dragging it to grab it. Now drag your email into a note or a reminder to create a link that will take you directly to the email message when you tap on it.
You can do this for multiple messages. While you’re holding one message, with another finger tap other messages to build a stack. You can now release the stack where you need it to be, and it will create multiple links.
Of course, you can also organize your email messages this way by dragging single or multiple messages into specific folders you have created.
Drag Items Within Apps Too
With such emphasis on exporting items from one app to another, it can be easy to forget that drag and drop has long been used to organize things within apps. I’m always using drag and drop to move reminders between lists, notes between folders, or move events around my calendar as my schedule changes. The mechanism for doing this is the same as always: tap, hold, grab, move, release.
Drag Contacts in the Phone App
You can share contacts from the Contacts tab in the Phone app using the same method. Tap and hold the contact, then move your finger, and you’ll see a small contact card appear. Now move the contact anywhere you like, be it a Messages conversation, a new email, the Notes app, Reminders, or a Calendar appointment.
This will create either a link (to the contact, great for placing calls quickly) or a VCF file that you can share with other people so they can add the contact.
Drag Voice Memos to Notes and Beyond
Any audio recordings you have made in the Voice Memos app can be dragged and dropped like other files and items. Just open the app, tap and hold, then drag and release where you want the recording to go. As a bonus feature, if you drag the memo into the Notes app, it will automatically be transcribed.
