Sharing folders on iCloud with non-iCloud users Catalina

Question

I have a folder on my iCloud and in the beginning I shared it with edit rights to anyone who has the link, then it asked them to have an iCloud account, so then I thought may be because I set it as editable. So then I set it as view only and shared the link but still they needed an account which to me it feels inconvenient or I thought may be I did something wrong.

Is there a way which I don't know how to do it?

Like for example on DropBox or Google Drive it will ask them to have an account if they want to edit but to view or download they can do this without the need of signing up and creating an account on DropBox or Google Drive.

Answer 1

Sharing participants must have an iCloud account.

Participants need an Apple ID to view or edit files in a shared folder. If you invite someone without an Apple ID, they'll be prompted to create an Apple ID.

Source: Apple Support Document Share folders with iCloud Drive under the heading, Learn more about folder sharing