iPad Backup and File explorer

It is frustrating that the Lightroom app for iPad does not have the same local file system flexibility as, for example, Lightroom Classic. However, what Lightroom is doing in iOS is not all that unusual.

In fact, the general software design it uses is essentially the same as Apple Photos when iCloud Photos is enabled, and I think Google Photos too: Originals are stored in the cloud, anything local is just a purgeable local cache of it. And, I do not think those common Apple and Google photo services expose any of their photos in the Files app unless you share > Export to Files. Which is also how Lightroom works. In fact, it is difficult to find an iPad photo app that does have full support for the Files app, most seem to want to import from the Photos library only. So although the way Lightroom works is not ideal, it is definitely commonplace and somewhat standard on iOS.

If you wanted to put in a request for more flexible access to iPad photos in the Ideas section of this community (where feature requests are voted on and may be assigned a status), I’d support that. Because what Lightroom iPad is doing is not enough. The desktop version of cloud Lightroom has a new Local tab that can work with files in any folder, but the iPad version is the Device tab, which unfortunately only looks at the Photos library and has no access to any photos in the Files app. I think Lightroom on iOS needs to give us access to photos stored in local iPad folders in the Files app, like desktop cloud Lightroom does.

It is unacceptable that this app (with an expensive subscription) designed for "pros" do not allow to export easily albums to an SSD or at least to copy the local storage/ backup to an ssd.

By @Kyonru

This should be possible. The attached pictures show me doing a Select All in an iPad Lightroom album, sharing to Export As, setting the export File Type to Original (to export DNG originals), and then in the standard iOS Share menu that appears after tapping the ( ✓ ) button, I am sending those album images to a folder in the Files app, which can be on an SSD mounted at the iPad USB-C port. If you want to export files that include edits made in Lightroom, then you set the Export As File Type to DNG, TIF, JPG, etc.