Can I play from an external drive or another app’s folder?

Short answer

Yes. Bookmark a folder on a connected drive, an SD card or another app’s storage, and FoxDL browses and plays from it in place — no copying, no doubling your storage. The bookmark survives restarts, so the folder is there next time the drive is.

Reviewed 30 July 2026

This is the difference between a 512 GB drive full of films being usable and being a copying chore. FoxDL keeps a security-scoped bookmark to the folder you picked and reads it live, so what you see is whatever is on the drive right now.

It works with anything the system exposes as a location: a USB-C drive on iPad or Mac, an SD card reader, a network volume mounted in Finder, or another app’s folder shared through the Files app.

The free tier includes one bookmarked folder on every platform; Pro removes the count. Files played this way are never copied into the app, so nothing is duplicated and nothing is left behind if you delete the app.

The long version Where your files actually live on an iPhone, and who can see them The sandbox, where downloads actually go, and why renaming a file breaks so many apps.

Platform by platform

On iPhone

Folders shared through the Files app, and drives connected over USB-C.

On iPad

USB-C drives, SD readers and Files-app locations.

On Mac

Any mounted volume, including network shares, plus Reveal in Finder.

Try it yourself

FoxDL is free to download. No account, no sign-up.

Download on the App Store