Save links, photos and files from any iPhone app with the Share Sheet

What the Share Sheet is

The Share Sheet is iOS's system panel for passing content between apps. Almost every app has a Share button, usually a square with an arrow pointing up, or a Share item in a long-press menu. The Share Sheet shows a row of apps that can receive what you're sharing, and any app that adds a share extension, Stashful included, appears in that row.

Put Stashful first

1. Open any app with something to share, for example a page in Safari, and tap Share.
2. Scroll the row of app icons to the end and tap More.
3. Tap Edit, then add Stashful to Favorites and drag it to the top.

From now on Stashful shows up at the start of the row in every app, which saves a scroll each time.

Sending something to yourself

1. Tap Share and pick Stashful.
2. Choose the chat it belongs to. Recent chats are listed first, and you can search. You can pick more than one chat if something belongs in several.
3. Optionally add a comment, a few words of context that search will find later.
4. Tap Save. The item is in the chat the next time you open Stashful.

What you can share, app by app

• Safari and other browsers: the page link, which becomes a preview with title, description and thumbnail. Selected text works too.
• Photos: photos and videos, handy for screenshots, receipts or a picture of where you parked.
• Files and Mail: PDFs, documents and attachments.
• WhatsApp, Telegram and other messengers: links, photos, videos and files from a conversation, through the app's share option on the item.
• YouTube, news and social apps: links to videos, articles and posts.

Limits worth knowing

• Free plan: one item per share, into up to five topic chats plus Favorites, with files up to 100 MB each and 1 GB in total.
• Pro: several photos or files in one share, files up to 1 GB each and 500 GB in total, unlimited chats. Pro is $2.99 a month or $19.99 a year in the US, with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan.

Where shared items are stored

Shared text and links become messages, and messages sync through your private iCloud under your Apple ID. Starting with version 1.2, photos, videos and files you share sync too, through a hidden app folder in your iCloud Drive. If you're not signed in to iCloud or iCloud Drive is off, they stay only on your iPhone and are removed if the app is deleted, so for anything irreplaceable, keep the original or export the chat (on any plan, chats export to a .zip with Markdown and the original files). There is no Stashful account or server involved.

If something doesn't work

• Stashful isn't in the row. Open Stashful once after installing, then check More in the Share Sheet. If it is listed but switched off, turn it on there.
• You get a link instead of the file. Some apps share a link to the item rather than the item itself. Save the photo or file to Photos or Files first, then share it from there.
• A large video is refused. On the free plan files are limited to 100 MB, which short clips pass and long videos don't. Pro raises the limit to 1 GB per file.
• There are no chats to pick. The share screen needs at least one chat to exist. Open Stashful and create one, or use the built-in Favorites chat.

Habits that keep it tidy

• Use Favorites as an inbox. When you are in a hurry, share into Favorites and sort later.
• Add one line of context. "Birthday idea", "for the tax return". Future you will search for that, not the file name.
• Tag instead of creating a chat for everything. A tag like To-do works across chats.

If you are replacing a read-later service, see the Pocket alternative guide. If you record ideas out loud, see voice notes to self.

Questions