Eagle runs on Mac and Windows. There's no official Eagle app for iPhone or iPad.
Most references don't turn up at a desk, though. They turn up on a phone: a page in Safari, a post on Instagram, a link a colleague sends in a chat. Until you're back at the computer they wait in the camera roll, in open tabs, and in messages. Those places keep the picture well enough, and very little about it.
Hive runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and its library is a folder that Eagle can open. If you already keep an archive in Eagle, Hive can cover the part that happens away from the desk, and the archive stays where it is.
What a Screenshot Drops
The usual way to keep something on a phone is a screenshot, and a screenshot keeps only the picture. The page's address, the caption, the product name, and the price all stay behind.
By the time that image is imported into Eagle, it's a file with a date on it. If the page has changed since, or the post has been deleted, there's no way back to it.
Hive saves through the share sheet and the Safari extension, so the link is stored with the image. You can add a note in the same step, or leave that for later.
When a post holds several images, Hive brings them in together. Weeks later you can open any of them and go straight back to the page where you found it.
What Each App Does
Hive doesn't try to put all of Eagle on a phone. Eagle is good at the things a desk makes easy: long sessions, deep folder structures, a large screen, and a mouse.
Hive covers what comes before. On iPhone, you save a reference while its page is still open. On iPad, you reopen what you saved, compare the items, star the ones worth keeping, and remove the rest.
What reaches the desktop is smaller than what you collected, and each item still has its link and your note.
Many people do that sorting once a week. It takes a few minutes on iPad, and it means the archive only ever receives what passed a first look.
One Folder, Two Apps
A Hive library is a folder in a place you choose, and Eagle can read its structure. Moving between the two apps means moving that folder.
To take a Hive library to the desktop, copy the folder from Files to your Mac or Windows computer, then select it as a library in Eagle. Keep the folder structure as it is while copying.
It works the other way too. Hive can connect to an Eagle library folder you already have, and the Library view has a short guide for setting that up. If the library is in iCloud Drive, turn on Keep Downloaded for the folder so every file stays on the device. iOS 18 or later is recommended for this setup.
With Pro, Hive also imports Eagle libraries and Eagle Pack files. Folders, tags, and the items themselves come across, and the library on your computer stays as it is.
A single folder can travel too. Hive exports a folder as an .eaglepack file, which someone using Eagle can import in one step.
Copies and Connections
A copied library doesn't update itself. When the one on your computer has changed enough to matter, copy it across again.
If you'd rather keep a single library and open it from both apps at different times, connect Hive to the Eagle folder directly. That setup suits a library in iCloud Drive with Keep Downloaded turned on.
We don't recommend iCloud for Windows for a library you're actively using. Sync can stall or fail there, and files have been lost or damaged. Copying the folder is slower and much safer.
Where Hive Stops
Hive isn't made by the Eagle team. It also isn't Eagle Pocket, which is a separate app from another developer for browsing an existing Eagle library.
Hive is its own library, and it works without Eagle. Reading a folder structure that Eagle understands doesn't make the two apps related. There's a Hive for Mac as well, so if you don't have a desktop archive yet, one app can cover all three devices.
If you do have one, there's no reason to move it. Years of folders and tags in Eagle are worth keeping, and nothing in Hive asks you to give them up.
Eagle also remains the better choice for some desktop work, such as plugins and a wider range of design file types.
Using Them Together
The setup most people end up with is simple. They save on iPhone, sort on iPad, and keep the long-term archive in Eagle. When a project's references are ready, the library folder goes across to the computer.
You keep the archive you already trust. What you find away from the desk arrives there with its source.