Had a question from a user today. I think the answer is “it can’t be done” but before I respond, I’ll throw it out there…
Using a wifi-connected iPad and no other computer, can a MP3 be downloaded from a website (Planning Center Online in particular) using iPad Safari and placed into the iPad’s Music library so that it’s accessible via the iPad’s Music app?
This doesn’t necessarily answer your question, but we have used drop box for this purpose. You can listen to the MP3’s directly from PCO as well but I’m not aware of a way to save the file from PCO to the iPad. I’d be interested to see what others say on this topic.
I think the program IMazing (https://imazing.com/) will let you do it. It is cheap, can use to backup, export to/from IOS devices, see at granular level items in backup such as Notes, Messages, Pics, Music, etc.
Pretty powerful program for $40, and they may give you non-profit discount if you email, but not sure.
Some more detail…In Safari on iPad, would like to be able to click on a link for an MP3 so that it downloads directly to the iPad’s Music Library. There is an app this person uses to fire MP3s, and this app looks in the device’s Music Library to find the songs.
In most cases, the user pre-loads the needed MP3s into iTunes on a Mac and syncs them to the iPad through the normal sync process, but they’re looking for a way to facilitate last minute changes where there’s no time to do the normal process.
Interesting program, but doesn’t do what we’re looking for. Thanks
I believe there are alternate browsers that will indeed let you download the song but it will only let you save it to icloud/dropbox/share sheet destinations. Im pretty sure developers do not have access to the itunes library so you likely wont even find an app that would be able to do what you are asking. The only way I could think of this working is by jailbreaking the device.
I don’t believe there’s any way to do this without jailbreaking. I know Puffin can download to Dropbox and Google Drive and something like Hazel could move the file into iTunes on a Mac from there if you really want to make this workflow work.
Thanks, codatory. As I suspected.
Is there a reason why one couldn’t use PCO’s “Services” app to save the songs to the iPad?
I’ve heard of a solution involving a file manager and the iPad movie editor. If you can download the mp3 using a 3rd-party file management app, there is the possibility that importing the mp3 as a “background audio” file in iMovie for iOS auto-adds the mp3 to the default music library on an iPad.
I’ve never tried it. Can anyone confirm/deny the success of such a feat?
Check out the app Workflow.
Stuff like this and a whole lot more is enabled with it. It really transforms iOS into almost a desktop equivilent device; you just have to come at things slightly different.
I’d highly recommend checking out the site macstories.net and the Canvas podcast - lots of iOS power user stuff there - here’s a great post that summarizes all the workflow related episodes to give you a taste of what is trivial to unlock with Workflow: https://www.macstories.net/linked/canvas-episode-29-workflow-magic-variables.
Being able to do things like save an MP3 directly to my library, save a web page as a PDF, download a file to dropbox or iCloud drive were the original reasons I was interested in Workflow. Once you start playing with it, you quickly start using it for lots of other stuff too!
Opener is another app that might be able to do that too - I started with it, but it’s pretty basic in what it offers.
Workflow was a significant factor in my decision to refresh my Macbook Pro with an iPad Pro instead of another laptop - it’s that good 