Choose Which App Opens Files In iOS 26 Files App

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let me show you how you can set the default app for opening a file type in the Files App on your iPhone. 

One of the new things we got in iOS 26 was the Preview App. The Preview App is an app that was already on the Mac that allows you to Open, View, and Make Some Changes to PDF's and Image Files. It's a very useful utility that Mac users love and now we finally have it on the iPhone and iPad. But some users were surprised by this change particularly how, when you would tap an image or PDF file on the Files App, it would switch from the Files App to Preview. So opening the file and then allowing you to view it and work with it in the Preview App. If that is not what you want you have a few options.

For instance, here I've got a folder filled with files in the Files App. I have an image right here. If I just tap on that image you can see how it opens up the Preview App and now I'm viewing the image in Preview. If I view the App Switcher here you can see this is in Preview and Files is left behind right here under it. It's pretty easy to switch back to Files. I can just tap here at the top left, where it says Files, and I'm back here. The same thing happens with PDF's. Since Preview handles both Image Files and PDF's. But I know a lot of people want to just quickly see the image or PDF. They don't necessarily want to open it up in Preview.

Well, one way to do it without making any changes, is to simply tap and hold an image, like that. Then you'll see an option here, QuickLook. If you tap that you'll QuickLook the file just like you did before iOS 26. You can tap here and do various things while still in the Files App. If you tap X and you simply return here to the list of files. You can do the same thing with a PDF file. So here's a PDF, for instance, if I tap on it normally you can see how it opens up in Preview. I can go back to Files here. But if I tap and hold I can select QuickLook and now I'm viewing it like I was before iOS 26 in the Files App. I still have options here. I've got the three buttons here. I can Fill in Form. I can mark it up. I can view the table of contents if there is any for the PDF. I can exit out of it the whole time staying in the Files App. Just like it worked before the Preview App.

Now, let's say you want to make this the default behavior. Well, you can. If you go here to an image, let's use this image again here, and Tap and Hold it, it will show that Menu and there's QuickLook. But there's also Open With. I can use Open With and choose from sometimes a list of different apps that will handle this kind of file. In this case I just see Preview. But also I see Preview with QuickLook. I can use this and I've now set this File so that when I tap it, it just does that QuickLook Preview like before. But it is not just for that file. It's for any file of the same kind. So here's another image. If I tap that then that one will also open up in the Files App, like before. As a matter of fact if I tap and hold this here and I select Open With you can see the checkmark there next to Preview With QuickLook. 

If you find these videos valuable consider joining the more than 2000 others that support MacMost at Patreon. You get exclusive content, course discounts, and more. You can read about it at macmost.com/patreon. 

Now this will happen with any of that kind of file. In other words Images, not just jpegs, like I have a PNG file right here. If I tap and hold and I look at Open With you can see the checkmark next to Preview in QuickLook and sure enough tapping that will just open that up still in the Files App. PDF's will not change. That's a different kind of file. So if I tap on this PDF here you can see it is still opens up in Preview. No problem. I'll just go back here and I will tap and hold the PDF here. I will go to Open With and I will switch PDF's to also open using QuickLook inside the Files App. So now this PDF opens up here in Files but also another PDF, like this one right here, this is also set to open up here in Files. I still can open up any image and any PDF I want in Preview by tapping and holding here and then I can switch back using Open With. But I can also tap Share, like that, and tap Preview here in a list. The same thing with images. I can tap and hold. I still have Open With but I can also Share and then use Preview. 

This will work with other file types as well. For instance here's a text file and if I look at Open With using this text file you can see I've got various options including just opening in Pages. Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.