Delta overwrites file associations on iOS

[thinkling]

I found after installing Delta that markdown (.md) files had become associated with Delta and would not open in the markdown editor I use (1Writer). in the 1Writer FileOpen dialog, these files showed up with a Delta icon and were grayed out. Uninstalling Delta solved the issue.

Delta version was current on AppStore (1.5.3) on current iOS (17.4.1) on iPhone 15.

[alexkoepke]

The behavior you're observing with .md files being associated with Delta by default is due to how iOS's file handling system manages file associations, and not a specific issue within the Delta app.

To potentially resolve this, you might consider uninstalling and then reinstalling the 1Writer app. This can sometimes help reset the file association behaviors:

1. Uninstall 1Writer by holding down the app icon and selecting "Delete App."
2. Reinstall 1Writer from the App Store.

After reinstalling, follow these steps to open a markdown file:

1. Locate the file in the Files app.
2. Long-press the file to bring up the context menu.
3. Tap "Share."
4. Scroll through the app icons in the Share Sheet and select 1Writer.

iOS should remember the last app used to open a specific file type. So, after you've opened a .md file with 1Writer once, iOS should continue to open markdown files with 1Writer unless another app changes this association again.

Unfortunately, iOS does not allow setting a permanent default app for specific file types.

[thinkling]

The updating of the default handling app doesn't seem to work anymore in iOS.

Asking to uninstall and re-install another app seems pretty unfriendly. Does Delta need to register itself as handling .md? Seems like you could avoid a bunch of hassle for people if it didn't.

[VShrubowich]

Any traction on this? Uninstalling and reinstalling my Markdown editor apps doesn't work. Neither does the "Share" method. I can use "Share" in the Files app to open Markdown files in apps that appear in the Share sheet, but my favorite editor doesn't appear there with Delta installed. And when I try to open .md files in that app, I can't because they are greyed out with the file info showing them as "Genesis Game". The kicker is that the App Store version of Delta doesn't even support Sega Genesis (even for Patreon supporters).

[jimmy-zhening-luo]

Technical Background

Unfortunately as @alexkoepke said, this is indeed a problem with how iOS handles file associations.

Yes, in previous iOS versions, a file association would update to the last used app to open a file (e.g. through the Share Sheet, or by using the Open File in App action in Shortcuts); as @thinkling said, the file association seems to never happen anymore, instead getting "stuck" on whichever arbitrary app is currently handling the extension.

Likelihood of Resolution

I have been in the software game for a long time, and have worked "closely" (Apple likes to keep outsiders at arm's length) with Apple on industry-wide initiatives in the past. In both that context and as an end user, I am fairly certain that Apple will never fix this bug?/feature? (they'll never tell us which either!) for all of eternity.

Proposed Mitigation

Given that, my request is as follows: @rileytestut, could you consider removing .md from Delta's file associations?

Justification

My reasoning is that it's a nice convenience feature to be able to tap a ROM file for auto-import into Delta, but the downside of this behavior for .md files specifically is that folks who regularly use Markdown for writing or coding on their iOS/iPadOS devices have their workflows rendered almost unusable.

I'm opening and closing markdown files 30x a day, and instead of a single tap → text editor, I'm now having a seconds-long, high-context task just to open a file for editing. As opposed to ROMs where I only have to import once, and thereafter I directly use the Delta app.

By removing .md from Delta's file associations, the disruption to markdown users is mitigated. That said, there is (edit Oct 22, 2024: hanging sentence before) likely a negative user experience impact on some segment of Delta users that I don't have the knowledge nor intuition to quantify, so I would be looking to @rileytestut to make the judgment here.

Footnote

In this case, .md is widely accepted to denote a Markdown file as opposed to a ROM file. It's interesting because in this case, Delta actually has the opportunity to fix this issue for the .md file extension simply by removing it from its file associations.

There are other cases that are not as clear-cut. For example, .ts by and large denotes TypeScript files, but at some point also denoted an obsolete video transport stream format. To this day, Apple refuses to allow .ts files to be properly interpreted as a plain-text (non-binary) file across iOS, iPadOS, and even macOS. This is hilarious and stupid considering that TypeScript is one the most-used languages today, and Apple tries to position the MacBook as a developer device.

"Why make the file system usable for development? FUCK users!" – Apple

Apple will never fix that either (they haven't after nearly a decade of bug reports, why start now?).

[LeoNatan]

@jimmy-zhening-luo Did you use Chat GPT to write that last post? 🤣

[jimmy-zhening-luo]

@jimmy-zhening-luo Did you use Chat GPT to write that last post? 🤣

LOL no that's how I actually type, good one though I chuckled for sure 😂