This is pretty simple as you can see, and while it’s not as easy as opening zip files on Mac with a simple double-click, it’s still an easy process. Previous versions of iOS could still accomplish these feats with third party apps, however, so if you’re running an earlier system software release on your device you can still manage to interact with zip archives but it’s a more cumbersome process requiring third party app downloads.

These archive management features are only available on modern versions of iOS and ipadOS, so you’ll need version 13 or later to have the ability to create, unzip, and modify zip archives directly from Files app on iPhone or iPad. Of course you can also now just as easily create zip archives on iPhone and iPad with Files app too. This feature is incredibly helpful if you have downloaded a zip file from Safari, saved from an email attachment, or saved a zip file to the device or iCloud Drive and want to check it out, decompress the archive, and take a look at the contents. If you have a zip archive that you know has tons of files contained within it, it may be a good idea to make a new folder in Files app, then move and relocate the zip file to that newly created folder before uncompressing it. For large zip files, it may take a moment or two before the zip archive has uncompressed all contents. Small zip files will unzip and uncompress basically instantly in Files app.

Repeat with other zip files you wish to unzip if necessary.

Wait a moment for the unzipped file contents to appear in the same folder in Files app as the original zip archive.

Tap and hold on the zip archive file name, then choose “Uncompress” from the options in the pop-up menu.

Navigate to the Zip file you want to open and unzip.

How to Open & Uncompress Zip Files on iPhone & iPad This tutorial will walk through that process of extracting these archives on an iPhone or iPad.

This makes it easier than ever to access data and files stored within any zip file, and you don’t need any third party apps or tools to open the zip archive.ĭecompressing a zip archive and opening the zip file is super easy in iPadOS and iOS with the Files app.

Online zip extractor