Filesystem on iOS deletes the files in the Documents directory and External Storage directory when deleting the app (documentation says files in these locations should persist)

[NTass02]

Bug Report

Plugin(s)

Capacitor Filesystem

Capacitor Version

Latest Dependencies:

  @capacitor/cli: 5.1.1
  @capacitor/core: 5.1.1
  @capacitor/android: 5.1.1
  @capacitor/ios: 5.1.1

Installed Dependencies:

  @capacitor/cli: 5.0.5
  @capacitor/core: 5.0.5
  @capacitor/android: 5.0.5
  @capacitor/ios: 5.0.5

Platform(s)

iOS 16 and other versions, as well

Current Behavior

When saving a file to Directory.Documents or Directory.ExternalStorage on iOS, they are being stored to a folder with the name of the app instead of right inside the Documents folder. When the app is deleted, the folder and files within are also delete.

Expected Behavior

With Directory.Documents and Directory.ExternalStorage, they are supposed to persist.

Code Reproduction

const options: WriteFileOptions = {
    path: 'test.pdf',
    data: data,
    directory: Directory.Documents,
}

return Filesystem.writeFile(options)

Other Technical Details

Using Filesystem plugin with Ionic and Vue 3

Additional Context

[jcesarmobile]

The notes about files being deleted or not are all for Android, on iOS all files are deleted when the app is deleted, but we should make it more clear.

The docs doesn't really mention that they are persisted, on the other types they mention they are not, so people might assume they are persisted.

[ghenry22]

Could just reword it to say persistent for the life of the app install.

Yoh would have to put files outside the app owned folders somewhere (like the downloads area that the files app can access) in order for them to be persisted beyond the app uninstall.

[smollweide]

Hi all,
It is perfectly OK if the data in the Directory.Documents is deleted when the app is deleted on iOS. Especially because iOS informs the user that their data will be deleted.

However, we have found out that the data is also deleted when the app is updated via the Apple FlightStore. Which I would then classify as critical. Can we assume that this does not happen with an update via the regular App Store?