Can't get Seafile Client for iOS to download any files (brand new install of everything)

Seafile Client
1

I have just installed everything from scratch using Docker Compose:

  • Seafile Server Pro v12.0.14
  • Elasticsearch
  • Notification-server (confirmed working from the logs of both clients on macOS)

Most things work great. Notable but non-critical exceptions:

  • the new Seasearch doesn’t work but I understand it’s not 1.0; Elasticsearch works fine (but of course it’s very heavyweight at GBs of RAM even with no files!)
  • the new Seadoc only gives me Load doc content error, but I don’t have to use this feature.

The one important thing that I can’t figure out is the latest iOS app v3.0.4 (on the latest iOS 18.5): I have never been able to download any file (from any encrypted or non-encrypted library). The directory listings work but trying to open a file just gives Failed to download file 'XXX' for all files.

The workaround is to open mobile Safari and open files through the web.

Since this is a brand new installation, I imagine that this should be very easy to reproduce.

2

I’m having the same issue on iOS 26.2 and Seafile Pro 12.0.19 running on Ubuntu (no docker).

Apparently, nor Seafile or Seahub are logging any errors in the logs.

Maybe this can help

GET /api2/repos/ab87ae6d-4ac6-4d9d-960f-825178af312d/file/?p=/ASMR/Anastasia%20ASMR//SONO%20DIVENTATA%20ITALIANA%21%20-%20Italian%20Whispers%2C%20Camera%20Brushing%2C%20Tapping%20%26%20Random%20Triggers.mp3 HTTP/1.1
Host: sf.mlazzarotto.it:2083
User-Agent: SeafilePro/5 CFNetwork/3860.300.31 Darwin/25.2.0
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Accept-Language: it-IT,it;q=0.9
Authorization: Token d66a8e8cd18123a360e1a6e84732d544192db88b
Priority: u=3, i
X-Forwarded-For: 172.16.10.102
X-Forwarded-Host: sf.mlazzarotto.it:2083
X-Forwarded-Port: 2083
X-Forwarded-Proto: https
X-Forwarded-Server: traefik-dmz
X-Real-Ip: 172.16.10.102
X-Seafile-Client-Version: 3.0.10
X-Seafile-Platform-Version: 26.1


HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: gunicorn
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2026 10:21:04 GMT
Connection: close
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
oid: 8c4f4895b20467f10b0088ac6f1fa4e7aa8eb3bb
Allow: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Length: 206
Vary: Accept-Language, Cookie
Content-Language: it

"https://sf.mlazzarotto.it:2083/seafhttp/files/2816270e-caa0-4aa5-85d9-c2178c848a25/SONO%20DIVENTATA%20ITALIANA%21%20-%20Italian%20Whispers%2C%20Camera%20Brushing%2C%20Tapping%20%26%20Random%20Triggers.mp3"
3

Thanks for the detailed debug info! Based on the network logs you provided, I’ve identified a likely cause.

The server returns a download URL that is already URL-encoded (e.g., spaces encoded as %20). However, the iOS app applies URL encoding again to this URL before making the download request, which corrupts the URL (e.g., %20 becomes %2520).

This explains why:

  • Web browser works (it uses the URL as-is)

  • iOS app fails (it double-encodes the URL)

Could you please test this to confirm?

  1. Create a test file with a simple ASCII filename (no spaces or special characters), e.g., test123.txt
  2. Upload it to your Seafile library
  3. Try to download it via the iOS app

If test123.txt downloads successfully but files with spaces or special characters fail, this confirms the double-encoding issue.

I’m working on a fix for this.

4

Yes, I can confirm that the same file, but without spaces or special characters, can be downloaded fine by the iOS app. :clap:

5

Thanks for confirming! After a thorough review, I’ve confirmed that the server-side has already handled this and has been running stably for a long time, so it’s unlikely to cause issues in most cases. However, the client-side does need some reinforcement, and we will be optimizing this in the upcoming version.

6

Do you have any idea when the new client version will be released?

It’s quite a pain not being able to access my files from the iOS app…

7

A new version will be released within a few weeks.