CloudOn - App Review

There are no perfect solutions for sharing your Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint); this is the nearest I have seen so far. This links with Dropbox, as well as box and Google Drive.  The synchronisation is effected via CloudOn's servers and your chosen syncing account. You have to be connected to the Internet in order to use the App.

Now for the ACIDS test:

Aesthetics
The contents of your Dropbox are shown as neatly arranged folders and files; a joy to behold. There has clearly been a lot of thought and care that has gone into the interface. Files are neatly ordered by syncing option (such as Dropbox) and then by folder. It is also an absolute doddle to go back to a recently opened file. A small criticism is that, having selected the file you wish to view or modify, it takes a while for the file to appear to be loading; when it does, there is a very pleasing progress bar that keeps you informed. The reason for this time lag is that not only is the App involved but also your Dropbox (or box or Google Drive) connection and the link with CloudOn's servers. Any file you modify is clearly marked as such on your iPad, and you can make annotations so that you can remember what you did; all very useful and elegantly implemented. CloudOn only works in landscape mode which is not really a problem but, you need to be aware of it, before thinking there is something amiss with your iPad, and thinking that maybe your side switch is not functioning.

Cost
This App is currently free but I cannot believe this will continue forever. I suspect that the solution, which includes having a (currently) free CloudOn account to manage the synchronising must become a chargeable option, or it cannot make sense for the developers. They have clearly spent a lot of time (and money) in getting an App that looks and works as well as the very best.

Indispensability
If you need to edit (and not just view) Microsoft Office files then, you need an App and, currently, this is probably the best. The concern might be that this is a 'puppy dog sale'. After becoming reliant on the App, hopefully the price of keeping it will not be unreasonable. Of course, this might just be a case of being overly cautious on my part (once bitten and all that).

Dependability
Apart from the previously mentioned time to load, there are no problems, provided that your localisation (or localization!) is United States. If it is not then some strange things will happen, in particular with dates. The USA uses mm/dd/yyyy, whereas most other countries use dd/mm/yyyy. If you enter the date as dd/mm/yyyy it will be incorrect in a non US formatted document. The workaround is to enter the date as mm/dd/yyyy and all will be fine, it will even display as you had originally intended.

Security
The developer assures us that "none of your files are stored permanently on any of CloudOn’s servers. They are pulled only when you need them, saved back to your original storage provider and then wiped from our system. Your credentials are encrypted using secure hashing technology and all communication between your workspace and our server is secure using 128-bit/256-bit encryption. ". The potential risks with Dropbox have already been covered in the App review.

ACIDS Test Rating:

With the localisation issue resolved, this an absolute 5 (certainly as long as it's free).

To find out how the ACIDS Test works, click here.

You can get CloudOn here and support for the App here.