OneDrive Save button and Folders grayed out on iPhone but other clouds are not

I am running iOS 14.5 and OneDrive 12.26.1 and everything is working ok, so I can only suggest contacting MS via the support function within the OneDrive app and/or Apple via their website.

It works.  You found the fix that Microsoft couldn't even find, much less resolve for the past 2 months.  I think this might have to do with IOS updates.  Things often break every time I install an IOS upgrade.  The one I noticed before was my print to PDF, which I use often,  disappeared after an IOS update.

I wrote this on the support survey feedback request from Apple:

“Apple made changes that effect EVERY single iOS device in the world running 14.4.1/2, preventing writing to OneDrive via the Save to Files feature in iOS and refuse to do anything about it, not even speak to Microsoft about it.

A change of this nature should require notification to all 3rd developers to allow them to make appropriate changes on their end but it appears that millions of Apple and OneDrive users do not matter in the face of childish competition between two of the largest companies in the world.”

—-

I’d like to state further, publicly, that I love the Apple ecosystem but Apple (like the rest) just get blinded by profit. How many people just unquestionably pay for more iCloud space when the default 5Gb gets used up? Because I have good technical knowledge, I have continued to manage to stay within this 5Gb for many years but it does really take understanding how some things work.

With a subscription to Office/Microsoft 365 you get a whopping 1Tb. I’m sure many Apple device owners are fine paying the few dollars per month to ensure that they always have the latest version of Office across all their devices (PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone...), especially when you get 1Tb included, essentially making the choice for people to consolidate on OneDrive and just utilise iCloud for backup of their devices - though it requires a little extra management of photos. It is nothing but sheer greed of Apple to not offer a decent amount of storage with the purchase of their expensive devices and just sit back and let people who aren’t quite so tech savvy (most, when it comes to really understanding how to manage photos and storage), especially when you consider the usual loyalty of Apple customers who quite often upgrade their devices diligently when they can afford it. Now they’re all caught in a greed war between two tech giants who forget that it’s us, their customers, who actually line their pockets.

I have sent the below via the OneDrive app Report a Problem facility. I encourage all iOS device users who utilise OneDrive to do the same - feel free to copy and paste. 

“Because of changes made by both Apple and Microsoft it is no longer possible to write to OneDrive via the Save to Files option in iOS. Sharing and selecting the OneDrive app still works but this is not always available e.g. if one wants to move a file from iCloud Drive to OneDrive utilising the Files app. 

I have spoken to Apple and they claim that the changes (first introduced in iOS 14.4.1) were based in security and, as such, they will not reverse the changes. So, it is up to Microsoft to update OneDrive to allow write authentication via the iOS Save to Files function. 

Can this please be done ASAP for the millions of iOS device users that also use OneDrive?

Feel free to contact me for more information.”

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experience in our community.

Per your description, the OneDrive Save button and Folders in iPhone are grayed out, given your scenario, we are trying to test it in OneDrive version 12.19.5, as you can see, when I go to OneDrive and create a new document> it will show the Save page> click Save> Add Storage Account> OneDrive for Business> I can save it to OneDrive without problem.

May I confirm my steps are same as yours? If not, could you please point out and we will further investigate it.

To narrow down it, if you are not using the latest version of OneDrive for iPhone, please go to Apple Store and update it to see the result again.

Meanwhile, to better understand your scenario, could you please provide some information with us?

1. What’s your OneDrive version? Go to OneDrive> Settings> scroll down to the below and provide the screenshot of version page.
2. Please provide some screenshots about “OneDrive Save button and Folders grayed out”, if you receive any prompt, better to share with us.
3. Do all files or just some certain ones cannot save normally? Including a new file?
4. What do you mean “Save to Files” through the Files App?

We highly appreciate your effort to share the above information with us, we will try our best to help you troubleshoot it. 😊

Best regards,

Gloria