IOS – Dropbox public link video – downloading onto an iPad

You can use the "File Sharing" feature of various apps THROUGH iTunes, but without having to actually SYNC with iTunes.

Install the free CineXPlayer app. This will allow you to play a much broader range of videos.

Then plug your ipad into any computer with iTunes installed. iTunes will recognize the device, and let you browse it WITHOUT syncing it. If you go to the "Apps" tab inside the device's pages in iTunes, you'll see CineXPlayer listed below, in "File Sharing". Select CineXPlayer and drag movies to the "Documents" pane.

Ta da!

I'm surprised nobody has answered this correctly.

The solution is to open iTunes, click on your iPhone, go to the Photos tab, then Sync Photos for the folder that contains the photo and video subfolders you want to sync. Each subfolder will then be sync'ed to your iphone UNDERNEATH the Camera Roll as new Albums, and these are treated seperately than the Camera Roll and will always remain synced.

Furthermore, apps that can access the Camera Roll almost always can also access Synced Albums, so this should really work well for you. I keep a whole bunch of old photos and videos on my iPhone at all times using this method and it works great.

As a bonus, unlike the Camera Roll, these Synced Albums don't get backed up in iTunes, so it won't slow down your Backup like a growing Camera Roll will.