Doctape Launches Standalone File Viewer App For iOS With Support For 80+ File Types

German cloud storage and file management startup doctape has launched a new standalone iOS app aimed at making it easier for iPhone and iPad users to view file types not supported natively by iOS.

The app is lining up to compete with the likes of Documents by Readdle and GoodReader but doctape claims its app supports many more file types than most extant iOS file viewers, and also offers a better viewing experience for “most document & media formats” thanks to its file conversion engine.

The doctape Viewer app uses doctape’s cloud-based file conversion engine to support file imports from a variety of third-party sources — including the likes of Dropbox, Box, Picasa, Instagram, Github, Gmail, Google Drive — so they can be viewed on an iOS device.

The viewer app works independently of doctape’s cloud storage and file management service: doctape — files to go, but it’s presumably hoping to drive users from one to the other. “The current goal of doctape Viewer is to decouple our document conversion from our cloud storage offerings and to integrate very deeply into the existing ecosystem of cloud storage services and apps,” Sascha Reuter, founder and CEO of doctape, tells TechCrunch.

Doctape is not releasing user numbers for its file management cloud service but Reuter says its background conversion-engine has converted “millions” of files, for mobile and browser (HTML5) access, to-date.

More than 80 file types are supported by the new doctape Viewer app — including:

Adobe PDF files (PDF)
Microsoft Office files (Word DOC/DOCX, Excel XLS/XLSX, Powerpoint PPT/PPTM/PPTX)
Libre Office & Open Office files (ODT, ODT, SXW, STW)
Text-files (RTF, TXT, CSV)
Audio files (MP3, M4A, AACF, AIFF, WAV, ALAC)
Video files (MP4, MOV, MPV, M4V, 3GP)
Image & vector files (JPG, PNG, TIF, BMP, AI, NEF, ARF)
Adobe Photoshop files (PSD)

“While there’s a bunch of services allowing accessing files on the go, users are still suffering from the limited filetypes supported by their mobile devices. With the release of doctape Viewer, we’re opening our background conversion-services to work with about every existing service & app there is,” Reuter notes in a statement. Which is really throwing down the gauntlet to users to find a file type that can’t be viewed using its app.

doctape Viewer for iOS is a freemium app, with the free version limited to two conversions per day. The pro version of the app — available via in-app purchase — offers unlimited conversions plus additional features such as a full-text search. Reuter said the startup plans to expand the premium version’s feature-set in future — including adding background conversion for video and audio files, an iPad optimized interface and also integrating its cloud storage service.

doctape Viewer is iOS only for now but Reuter said versions for other platforms are on its roadmap for next year.