How to open a GarageBand file on an iPhone 12

April 2, 2021 6:32 PM

I recently finished a demo recording in GarageBand and want one of my bandmates to add drums. She’s having trouble opening it. We both have the 12 and are running 14.4.2 iOS, and the file is a .band.zip format.

I have attempted to send her the file via email, text, and shared Drive files. The Drive file gives her an Unsupported File Type error message. The text allows her to save it, but she can’t find where it’s saved (and has checked the Files folders on her phone). Apparently the file isn’t showing up in her email at all. We’re both at risk for COVID, so Airdrop is not an option, and her laptops are running Mojave and Catalina OS.

Is there a way I can send her a .band file from my phone so she can open it on her phone and add a beat?

posted by pxe2000 to Technology (4 answers total)

Best answer: This gentleman shows how to use "documents" by Readdle to unzip garageband files that you've transferred using Dropbox. It's a little clunky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUSbBC0ap_M
posted by mecran01 at 7:34 PM on April 2, 2021

her laptops are running Mojave and Catalina OS.

Since garageband comes with the mac OS, is there a reason she can't open the files & do the work on her laptops?
posted by soundguy99 at 8:00 PM on April 2, 2021

Best answer: Share songs with GarageBand for iPad from apple support has some ways to share - the simplest one seems to be sharing via iCloud Drive, but it also suggests that (answering my own question) crossing from ios to laptop versions and back may not work well, and that she might have some luck opening the file from Garageband - as in, open garageband, then she should be able to locate the project, rather than trying to find the file first.
posted by soundguy99 at 8:21 PM on April 2, 2021

Response by poster: Soundguy99: Catalina and Mojave are running outdated versions of the Mac OS that aren’t compatible with the current GarageBand for iOS.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:22 AM on April 3, 2021 [1 favorite]