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Box's iOS app gets a revamp, early users get free 50GB for trying it

Box's iOS app gets a revamp, early users get free 50GB for trying it

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Box's new look
Box's new look

Storage and collaboration service Box wants you to use its newly-revamped iOS app so bad, the company's giving out 50GB to anyone who downloads it in the next 30 days. That's five times as much storage as it usually doles out to people for free, a hint at just how much the company is trying to grab new users, as well as attract others away from rivals like Dropbox.

New features from an old app

The new design overhauls both looks and features for iPhone and iPad users. Many of the main tools in Folders, a company and app Box acquired last May, are now simply built in. That's resulted in what Box says is faster document rendering, search that pulls up words from within documents, and a new photo viewer that scrolls through shots faster by sharpening the images the longer you linger. Box has also added extra ways to manipulate what's stored on its servers, like moving and copying files, something that was previously only easily done through Box's website.

As usual, Box is also pushing what app users can do beyond viewing and downloading files. That's now shown in a revamped gallery of partner applications that can open files, as well as access data stored on the service. That collection of services haven't changed, Box says, but the company's put them more front and center on a discovery page, and by adding it to the screen users see when they try to share or export files.

The new design goes out to both iPhone and iPad users today. Here's a quick video of how it looks: