Opening mobi files on the iPhone via Safari

[Hatgirl]

OK, this is a really stupid question.

I recently found out that when you have the Kindle app installed on your iPhone, if you launch Safari and go to a website that has a link to a DRM-free mobi on it, when you click on the mobi link it will ask if you want to read the mobi in the Kindle app.

No muss, no fuss, no USB cables or email conversion or anything. In two shakes of a lambs tail you are reading that promo ebook. Of course, it won't sync Furthest Read or Bookmarks etc with your Kindle ereader or PC, but that's still... really, really easy and cool.

OK, so my question is: does this feature have a name? I'm trying to pull together a newbie ebook user guide for a free promo SF&F ebook and it's driving me crazy....

[HarryT]

It's using the "Open With..." feature of IOS. If any App registers a file type with "open with", you'll then be able to download that file type in Safari.

[Mike L]

The feature isn't specific to Safari or IOS. The same thing happens under Windows if you have Kindle for PC installed (although it's arguably less useful with Windows as you can easily download the file and open it in any suitable app yourself).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Mike L

The feature isn't specific to Safari or IOS. The same thing happens under Windows if you have Kindle for PC installed (although it's arguably less useful with Windows as you can easily download the file and open it in any suitable app yourself).

Exactly. The specific reason it's useful in IOS is that Safari simply won't download a file unless there's some App registered to handle that filetype. So unless you have, say, the Kindle App, installed, you just can't download Mobi files at all.