A mobile app is a small program for your phone or tablet. With it, you can open, upload, share and download your Switch Drive files on the go. Switch Drive works on iPhones, iPads, Android phones and Android tablets.

Switch Drive is built on Nextcloud, so you use the Nextcloud app.

1. Open the app store on your device: App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Android).
2. Search for Nextcloud and install the app.
3. Open the app and enter the server address: https://drive.switch.ch
4. Sign in with your Switch edu-ID (your email address and password). If the browser asks, confirm that the app may access your account.

You can also find download buttons in the Switch Drive web client: click your profile picture in the top right corner, open your personal settings and scroll down to the app buttons.

Still using the old ownCloud app? It no longer works with the new Switch Drive. Install the Nextcloud app instead and sign in again. Your files are all there.

An App Passcode is a password for one single device or app, for example your phone or iPad. It is not your edu-ID password.

Why use one?

• Your edu-ID password stays private. You don’t type it into every app and device.
• Easy to cancel. If you lose your phone, sign in on the web and delete its App Passcode. The phone loses access immediately.

You need an App Passcode whenever an app can’t sign in with edu-ID. This is the case for apps that connect through WebDAV, Zotero, rclone and similar tools.

Create an App Passcode

1. Sign in at drive.switch.ch.
2. Open your personal settings and go to Security.
3. Scroll down to App passcodes. You see a list of your existing passcodes, for example one called “iPad”.
4. Type a name for the new device and click Create new app passcode.
5. A user name and a password appear. Enter both in your app.
6. When the device is connected, click Done.

Important: After you click Done, the password disappears and can’t be shown again. If you lose it or mistype it, delete it and create a new one.

Use an App Passcode

On the Switch Drive sign-in page, click App Passcode (instead of Switch edu-ID) and enter your email address and the passcode.

For step-by-step instructions on mobile devices, see Mobile Devices.

Good to know

• Create one passcode per device.
• Lost your phone? Sign in on another device and delete that device’s App Passcode. The phone loses access immediately.
• Delete passcodes you no longer need, for example after changing phones.

Some apps, such as Documents by OnlyOffice or by Readdle, connect to Switch Drive through WebDAV. These apps offer extras. For example, Readdle’s Documents can keep any folder fully synchronised, and OnlyOffice’s Documents lets you edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your device and save them back to Switch Drive.

Note: To change shares (who can see your files), use the Nextcloud app or the web client. Third-party apps can’t do that.

Your WebDAV address

Your personal address looks like this:

https://drive.switch.ch/remote.php/dav/files/USERNAME/

To find it:

1. Sign in at drive.switch.ch and click Settings in the lower left corner.
2. Copy the whole address from the WebDAV box.

Connect an app

1. Find the WebDAV settings in your app. In the OnlyOffice Documents app, tap the small Clouds icon at the bottom and choose WebDAV on the left.
2. Paste your WebDAV address in the Server box.
3. Enter your user name and, as password, an App Passcode. Not your edu-ID password.
4. Save. You can now see your Switch Drive files in the app.

Try it on a Mac

A quick way to test your WebDAV address:

1. In Finder, open the Go menu and choose Connect to Server…
2. Paste your WebDAV address and click Connect.
3. Enter your user name and the password of an App Passcode from the Security section.
4. Click Connect again. Your Switch Drive appears under Locations.

This is only for testing. For everyday use on a computer, the Sync Client is much faster and more reliable than WebDAV. It also syncs in the background.

Good to know

• Your user name is your email address. Some apps need the @ replaced by %40, for example example%40switch.ch. Many apps do this by themselves, so try without first.
• Always use https://, never just http://.
• Windows: Make sure the WebClient service is running. Without it, WebDAV doesn’t work properly.

1. In Switch Drive, create an App Passcode, copy it and click Done.
2. Open Zotero and go to its settings.
3. Replace the old password with the App Passcode.
4. Click Verify Server. A success message appears.

rclone is a free command-line program for copying and syncing files with cloud storage. It's a good choice when your computer has no graphical interface.

1. Install rclone (Linux, macOS, BSD):

sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

Other systems: https://rclone.org/install/

2. Create an App Passcode in Switch Drive (see above) and keep the user name shown with it.

3. Find your WebDAV address. In Switch Drive, click Settings in the bottom-left corner and copy the address under WebDAV. It looks like this: https://drive.switch.ch/remote.php/dav/files/USERNAME

4. Configure rclone. Run:

rclone config

and answer the questions:

rclone stores the settings in ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf.

5. Test it.

rclone lsd SwitchDrive:

This lists your folders. If you get an error, run rclone config again and check each answer.

6. Copy files.

Upload:

rclone copy /home/username/upload_folder/ SwitchDrive:destination/folder/

Download:

rclone copy SwitchDrive:source/folder/ /home/username/download_folder/

We recommend the free ONLYOFFICE Documents app.

1. Install ONLYOFFICE Documents from the App Store.
2. Connect it to Switch Drive with WebDAV (see above).
3. Under My clouds, tap switchdrive and find your file. Tap it briefly to open it. Example: "Agenda.docx" in the folder "Project C".
4. Edit the file. Editing tools are above the keyboard and in the top right corner.
5. When you are done, close the file with the folder icon.
6. Reload your Switch Drive web page after a moment. Depending on your connection, it can take a short while until the changed file shows the new date and time. Earlier versions are in the Versions tab of the file.

With a small detour you can also edit files offline on your iPad. Because the file must be on your iPad to work offline, you first copy it into the app's local storage.

1. In ONLYOFFICE Documents, open Clouds and tap your switchdrive account. Find the file.
2. Press and hold the file for a moment until a menu appears. A quick tap would open the file. Or slide the file to the left and tap More. Choose Copy.
3. As the destination, choose On iPad. The file is now stored on the device.
4. Open On iPad. The file is in the local Documents folder. You can edit it without internet.
5. When you are back online, move the file back into your switchdrive account. Moving, not copying, makes sure there is only one version. Nobody then wonders which one is newer.

You can stop Switch Drive from using mobile data in the background. This helps if your data plan is limited.

• Android: open the phone's Settings, go to Data usage (the name varies), choose the Nextcloud app and switch on Restrict background data.
• iPhone and iPad: open Settings, go to Cellular (or Mobile Data), scroll down to Nextcloud and switch it off. If the app is not listed, use it once over mobile data first. It then appears.

Also check the app's own settings. You can limit automatic uploads of photos and files to Wi-Fi only.