How to open an HTML file on iPhone (or iPad)

iOS handles .html files less gracefully than desktop. There are still a few good paths. Picking by what you have and what you want to do.

If you got the file by email or Slack

Tap the attachment. iOS gives you two main options:

• "Preview" opens the file in iOS's built-in viewer. Renders the page in a sandboxed mode. Works for simple HTML with no external scripts.
• "Save to Files" drops it in iCloud Drive's Downloads folder. From there you can open it via the Files app (see below).
• "Copy to Vela Docs" if you have the web app open in another Safari tab, you can paste the URL or re-share the file via the share sheet.

If the file is in the Files app

Tap the file in Files. iOS renders it in a built-in HTML viewer. The view is read-only, no editing, no script execution beyond very basic JS.

To get something interactive (and the share-link flow): tap the share icon, choose "Open in Safari". That gives you a real browser rendering with scripts running.

The Vela Docs path

Open Safari (or any iOS browser). Go to docs.vela.partners. Tap the upload button in the drop zone. iOS opens the file picker. Choose the .html file from iCloud or On-My-iPhone. The page renders. Tap Share for a URL you can send.

Mobile Safari is a real browser. The editor works. Inline comments work. Share-by-link works. The main limitation is the keyboard: long editing sessions on iPhone are unpleasant for ergonomic reasons, not for anything Vela-specific.

What doesn't work on iOS

• No native HTML "editor app". Apple doesn't ship one. Third-party apps exist on the App Store but most are weak compared to a desktop editor.
• Drag-and-drop from another app into Safariworks on iPad in split-view, not on iPhone.
• Scripts that try to access local storagebehave differently on iOS Safari. Vela Docs uses IndexedDB which works, but watch out if you've coded your own page that depends on localStorage in Private Browsing.

One short takeaway

On iOS, the smoothest path is open docs.vela.partners in Safari and upload from there. Native Files-app preview works for quick reads, but stops short of letting you share or edit.