How to Zip and Unzip Files on iPhone and iPad (Built-In, 2026)

Someone emails you a zip file, you tap it on your iPhone, and… now what? Good news: you haven’t needed a computer or a third-party app for this in years. You can extract and compress files on iPhones and iPads with the built-in Files app, and most people just don’t know where it lives.

The quick answer: Everything happens in the built-in Files app. To unzip: find the zip file in Files and just tap it: iOS extracts it into a folder right next to the archive. Or long-press it and choose Uncompress. To zip: long-press any file or folder and choose Compress; a zip appears in the same location. To zip several files at once, tap the three-dot menu, hit Select, pick your files, then choose Compress from the menu. That covers zip files completely. The gaps: iOS can’t open RAR or 7z archives on its own, you’ll need a third-party archiver app from the App Store for those, and Files can’t create password-protected zips, though third-party apps can usually open ones you receive. Details, edge cases, and a Shortcuts automation option below.

How to unzip a file on iPhone or iPad

First, get the zip into the Files app. If it arrived by email or a messaging app, use the share sheet and choose Save to Files. Downloads from Safari land in your Downloads folder inside Files automatically.

Then extract it. You have two equally good options:

1. Just tap it. Tap the zip file in Files and iOS immediately extracts the contents into the same folder. A single file comes out on its own; multiple files come out inside a new folder named after the archive.
2. Long-press it. Press and hold the zip until the context menu appears, then tap Uncompress. Same result. This route is useful when tapping would otherwise open a preview.

The original zip stays where it was. Delete it after extracting if you don’t need it: archives are an easy way to quietly double your storage use.

How to zip files on iPhone or iPad

Compressing a single file or folder:

1. Open Files and navigate to the item.
2. Press and hold it until the context menu pops up.
3. Tap Compress. A zip file appears in the same folder, named after the original.

Compressing a folder zips everything inside it, subfolders included. That’s usually the tidiest way to send a batch of files: put them in a folder first, then compress the folder.

How to zip multiple files at once

You don’t have to move things into a folder first. Files can compress a loose selection directly:

1. In the folder containing your files, tap the three-dot menu in the top corner.
2. Tap Select.
3. Tap each file you want to include.
4. Tap the three-dot menu again (bottom corner on iPhone) and choose Compress.

iOS creates a single file called Archive.zip containing everything you selected. Long-press it and choose Rename to give it a sensible name before you send it. Your recipient doesn’t want a mystery file called Archive.zip.

Opening RAR, 7z, and other formats

Here’s the limitation that catches everyone: the Files app speaks zip, and beyond that support gets thin. If someone sends you a .rar or .7z archive, tapping it in Files typically gets you nothing useful.

The fix is a third-party archiver app. Search the App Store for “rar” or “unarchiver” and you’ll find several well-reviewed options, both free and paid. The workflow is the same across all of them:

1. Save the archive to Files (or open it directly with the share sheet’s Open in… option).
2. Open it in the archiver app, which extracts the contents.
3. Save the extracted files back to Files if you want them available to other apps.

When you’re choosing an app, check that it handles the formats you actually receive, RAR and 7z cover almost everything, and be wary of aggressive subscription pricing for what is fundamentally a one-button job. If you have a choice on the sending side, just ask people to send zips. Every platform can make them, and your iPhone opens them natively.

Password-protected archives: the honest situation

This is the messiest part of archives on iOS, so here it is straight:

• Opening a password-protected zip: The Files app is unreliable here: depending on how the archive was encrypted, it may fail without a clear error. Third-party archiver apps handle encrypted zips (and encrypted RARs) properly: they prompt for the password and extract normally. If a protected archive won’t open in Files, that’s your move.
• Creating a password-protected zip: The Files app can’t do it at all. There’s no password option anywhere in the Compress flow. Some third-party archiver apps can create encrypted archives, so if you regularly need to send protected files, pick your archiver with that feature in mind.
• The alternative: if the goal is just “send this file securely,” consider a service with proper access controls (a shared iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox link with restricted access) instead of an encrypted zip with the password sent in the same email thread, which protects nobody.

Automate it with Shortcuts

The built-in Shortcuts app has Make Archive and Extract Archive actions. For everyday zipping, Files is faster, but Shortcuts earns its keep when archiving is one step in a bigger routine. A few real uses:

• A share-sheet shortcut that takes whatever you’re looking at, zips it, and hands the archive straight to a new email.
• A one-tap shortcut that grabs a specific folder (say, your scanned receipts) compresses it, and saves the dated archive to iCloud Drive.
• An extract-and-sort shortcut that unpacks an archive and moves the contents to a folder you choose.

To build one: open Shortcuts, create a new shortcut, add the file-selection or share-sheet input you want, then add Make Archive (or Extract Archive) followed by a Save File action. If you only zip a file once a month, skip this. If it’s part of a weekly ritual, ten minutes of setup pays for itself fast.

Working with zips without extracting

Small quality-of-life feature worth knowing: you can peek inside a zip without unpacking it. Long-press the archive in Files and choose Quick Look, and you can preview the contents. Handy for checking whether a download is what it claims to be before you extract it, which is also basic caution with archives from people you don’t know.

FAQ

Can iPhone open RAR files?

Not natively. The Files app handles zip archives, but RAR (and 7z) need a third-party app. Search the App Store for “rar” or “unarchiver,” pick a well-reviewed option, and open the archive there. The extracted files can then be saved back into Files for use anywhere else.

Can I password-protect a zip on iPhone?

Not with the built-in Files app. Its Compress feature has no password option. Some third-party archiver apps can create encrypted archives if you need this regularly. For securely sharing a file, a restricted cloud link (iCloud, Drive, Dropbox) is usually a better tool than an encrypted zip anyway.

Where do extracted files go?

Right next to the archive, in the same folder. A zip containing one file extracts that file directly; a zip with multiple files extracts into a new folder named after the archive. Nothing gets hidden away, if you extracted a zip from your Downloads folder, look in Downloads.

Is there a size limit for zipping on iPhone?

There’s no fixed cap published by Apple, and in practice the limit is your free storage and patience: very large archives take time and need enough space for both the archive and its contents to exist at once. If a huge archive fails to extract, free up storage and try again. For multi-gigabyte jobs, a computer is still the more comfortable tool.

That’s the whole story: tap to unzip, long-press to compress, grab an archiver app for the odd RAR, and let Shortcuts handle anything you do repeatedly. One less reason to walk over to the computer.