Whether you have a WD My Passport Wireless Pro.
Or you’re thinking of getting one it is likely you will want to access the files uploaded to it via your iPad or iPhone and there isn’t much out there telling you how.
In this article ‘My Passport Wireless, iPad Where to Start and Need to Knows” I see if I can help by giving you some pointers.
Firstly, if you haven’t configured the WD My Passport Wireless Pro yet, it’s a good ideal to download and read the latest manual.
The install and setup though not complicated is involved.
And for the WD My Passport Wireless Pro it is worth following the manual rather than relying on your intuition.
Plus the Western Digital YouTube videos describing the installation process on a Mac were done and dated 2014 and do not cover the latest software update.
To help here is a link to the WD My Passport Wireless Pro manual.
Accessing My Passport Wireless From Your iPad
Where to start …
Let me tell you how to install what your gonna need on your iPad or iPhone to access the My Passport Wireless Pro.
You are going to need the WD My Cloud Mobile App installed on your iPad and iPhone.
How To install The My Cloud Mobile App On IOS 6 Steps
Western Digital’s My Cloud Mobile app is the software used on iPads or iPhones to access and connect to a range of their storage devices including the My Passport Wireless Pro.
1. Click onto the Apple app store on your iPad or iPhone.
2. Within the app store search for the WD My Cloud App by selecting search and typing WD My Cloud.
3. Once you have located the app –
(WD have several apps for various devices, be sure to select the one pictured, as it is the right one for the My Passport Wireless Pro.)
Tap on GET, then INSTALL to download the WD My Cloud Mobile App to your iPad or iPhone, you’ll need to wait a little bit for the app to download and install.
4.When you have the app installed tap to open up the app.
5. You will be prompted to read and agree to the licensing agreement, do so and continue.
6. You are now on the screen that allows you to choose the device you are connecting to. Select the My Passport Wireless for your iPad or iPhone.
The app will then search for the Wireless Pro on Wi-Fi.
Once found and connected to your iPad or iPhone, you can choose which folders you want to view and files you want to use. More on that later …
What if it not as easy as that?
Should you see the screen below
Then you will need to go to your Wireless Pro and be sure it is powered on (is it charged before you try and access it?) and broadcasting its Wi-Fi (you will see the Wi-Fi LED shines a solid blue).
After that
Head to the settings on your iPad
Tap on Wi-Fi, wait a short while and your My Passport Wireless Pro should appear on the list.
If it does not tap, on ‘Other’ and wait till your iPad or iPhone scans again and finds the WD My Passport.
Click on it to connect to its Wi-Fi network.
If a password is already set up on the drive you will be prompted on your iPad to enter it in the password field and connect.
Need To Knows About Using Files From My Passport Wireless On Your iPad Or iPhone
Actually, this more accurately relates to using files you have uploaded to the wireless hard drive from your Mac.
1. You will have difficulty playing DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected movies or music. This specifically relates to music and movies you have paid for on iTunes and watch on your Mac.
DRM protected movies and music won’t play through either the Twonky Media DNLA server or the Plex Media server onto your iPad or iPhone.
And this is because Apple specifically protected those files and prevented their play as of IOS 8 and only your authorized Apple devices can play those files.
The Apple method of getting those files onto your authorized devices is via iTunes or Airplay.
You select and copy/sync those files to your devices when your device is connected
either by cable or via Wi-Fi. And then only if it is your authorized device on iTunes.
Which brings me to my second point.
2. iTunes will not at as a server, serving content via Wi-Fi. There is no method of doing this.
You can though take a copy of your full iTunes directory and upload it up onto the WD My Passport Wireless Pro while the Wireless Pro is physically connected to your Mac.
Then on your iPad or iPhone you can navigate to that directory find the file you want to play and click on it.
There is still the issue of DRM protected files which will likely not play but it is worth a try.
Non DRM protected files will be fine and play through Twonky or Plex.
3. The file format that you want to play, view or listen to must be in a format that your iPad or iPhone is able to view – in the case of photos, … play – in the case of videos or music.
Neither the Twonky or Plex Media servers are sufficiently powerful to do any on the fly encoding. You will need to do the encoding on your Mac ahead of time and upload formats that your iPad or iPhone understands to the My Passport Wireless.
Using The My Passport Wireless Pro From Your iPad Or iPhone
How To Backup Photos Or Videos To The Wireless Pro 7 Steps
Backing up and off loading content to the Wireless Pro may well be one of the key reasons you have the wireless hard drive. Just bear in mind that if the only copy of your photos or videos are on your Wireless Pro then the external hard drive is a single point of failure.
Be sure you have a copy of those files elsewhere as well just in case the worst happens.
1. Down load the My Cloud Mobile app onto your IPad or IPhone (instructions above)
Head to your Camera Roll, and or Albums on your iPad or iPhone.
2. Select the images you want to upload as you would normally,
3. Tap on the upload icon.
4. And then choose the My Cloud Mobile App in the list of destinations. (You may need to tap on more to expand the list)
5. Once the My Cloud Mobile App is chosen you are then given an opportunity to select the location, the folder you want to put the content into on the My Passport Wireless Pro.
When you have chosen the path to the folder tap select. Then tap on save to start uploading.
6. The upload process to the Wireless Pro is a ‘live’ process. This means that you can’t lock your iPad or iPhone screen while the upload is taking place. You need to wait until the files have been uploaded.
If the files are large files this could take a while on Wi-Fi.
7. Select Done when you are completed.
This article from Western Digital may be of further help to you.
WD My Cloud upload photos and videos to Wireless Pro
To View The Content You Have Uploaded To The Wireless Pro On Your Ipad
(outside of the included media servers)
You will need to do that from the WD My Cloud Mobile app on the iPad or iPhone.
How To View Photos Or Videos On Your iPad Or iPhone Via My Cloud Stored On The Wireless Pro
1. Open up the My Cloud Mobile App
and navigate to the directory that you wish to upload content from.
2. Tap the three dots in the upper right hand corner of the screen to access the menu.
3. Select add photo.
If this is the first time you are using the My Passport Wireless Pro a message will appear asking you to allow the My Cloud Mobile app access to your photos so that it can upload from the Wireless Pro to your iPad. Confirm by selecting ok.
4. Select the Wireless Pro and go through to the directory you want to upload files from. Either select all or select single images to upload. This could take a while if you are uploading several images or videos.
5. Once uploaded. Tap any photo or video to open and view the content.
This document on the Western Digital site is another resource to use on how to do this.
Download Images from Wireless Pro
WD My Passport Wireless Plex On Your iPad
Or iPhone
Your WD My Passport Wireless Pro comes with the ability to install and use the Plex Media server which a robust and popular media server that supports playing media on many devices.
My comment earlier in the article about DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected files is valid for Plex too. Should your files be DRM protected as typically content paid for and downloaded to iTunes is, then they will not play via the Plex Media Server.
Plex is available for IOS from the Apple App Store. Once installed, you can access the pictures, video and music from your Plex media server on your WD My Passport Wireless Pro.
This YouTube video is a nice introduction to Plex on IOS. Enjoy!
Plex for IOS is Pretty Sweet!
Video Credit: Plex
Last Words
I hope that you found My Passport Wireless, iPad Where to Start and Need to Knows article helpful in getting you up, running and happily using your WD My Passport Wireless Pro on your iPad.
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