iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 support external drive formatting

24 June 2024
The feature is available within the Files app.

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  • D
  • David
  • HCY
  • 26 Jun 2024

The Files app has so many limitations, problems and bugs and THIS is what they added?!

    • r
    • regs
    • swN
    • 26 Jun 2024

    SuperSpruce, 25 Jun 2024Wow! Not even Android can do that unless I'm being mis... moreNo, Android can do that since at very least 2.0. And for external drives since 3.1, when support for USB devices was added.

    Windows can do that since Windows 1.0 in 1985 and even earlier as DOS, as it was just a GUI shell for DOS.
    NT can do that since very first version 3.1 in 1993.

      • S
      • Stuart
      • 3dq
      • 25 Jun 2024

      SuperSpruce, 25 Jun 2024Wow! Not even Android can do that unless I'm being mis... moreYou are mistaken.

      Format a USB Drive or Memory Card on Android:
      Find and Tap Settings.
      Tap Storage.
      Tap Format SD card or Format USB OTG Storage.

      It's been an option for at least 2 years.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • IbI
        • 25 Jun 2024

        When they say "MS-DOS (FAT)," which FAT are they talking about? The timeline would seem to suggest FAT16, but Apple can't be that ludicrous, right? I'd guess they really meant FAT32, but that wasn't released until after the original version of Windows 95 came out.

          Wow! Not even Android can do that unless I'm being mistaken. Another big win for iOS in a year full of wins. Now just make transferring files to and from a PC easy like Android, and one of the biggest flaws of iOS will cease to exist.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • pXr
            • 25 Jun 2024

            Wow i imagine that.. to able to format a drive in 2024.. are we living in the future ?

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • 0cB
              • 25 Jun 2024

              potato4k, 25 Jun 2024Well, can't blame Apple/Jobs originally, considering t... moreEven surface which is almost a laptop and more serious than ipad can't replace real laptops like hp or asus or dell.

                loSpek, 25 Jun 2024all the while MacOS can support, iPadOS cannot, iOS als... moreWell, can't blame Apple/Jobs originally, considering the intention was to make an OS for a phone with very limited processing power and battery. So a lot of stuff have to be simplified.

                Of course, it turns its ugly head when Tim Apple was trying to pretend that the iPad is a PC replacement, while ignoring that the iPad cannot even recover by itself in a failure (it has to be connected to a PC/Mac).

                  FatShady, 24 Jun 2024for years, they've claimed that the ipad is a pc repla... moreThe "PC replacement" or "post-PC era" marketing were a compete joke, considering that any iOS/iPadOS devices must be connected to an actual PC/Mac for troubleshooting (DFU mode). They don't have their own recovery mode, unlike Android. So if you have an iPhone/iPad only without a PC/Mac, when things go south, you're screwed.

                    • l
                    • loSpek
                    • C@V
                    • 25 Jun 2024

                    all the while MacOS can support,
                    iPadOS cannot,
                    iOS also cannot

                    so you can see which one is low spec OS.

                      Nothing new sorry

                      I did this woth iPad Pro A12x and iPad Mini 6 on iPadOS 16.

                        I dont know why this feature is important. But i believe that this option should be a normal option what you can do if you connect external storage behind a device with a screen.

                        Format just is one click to remove everything so be careful when you accidentally click on it and then lose all your life with it. I usually do that with the usb sticks but when they are new and no data yet storage transfer done on them. I have not tried this function on my phone but something 5 years ago maybe i tried to use external storage to view content but it still required to copy the file to phone and were not be able to view on the external storage.

                        So i have no experience on doing any file transfers on portable devices as i am more of a desktop pc guy. All this was able to do on windows like decades already, so it's a bit weird feature to mention

                          for years, they've claimed that the ipad is a pc replacement, yet they only gave it this basic thing now?

                            What a break through in technology, apple has done it again ..... Lmao 😂

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • 0cB
                              • 24 Jun 2024

                              Apple is always late.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • 3JF
                                • 24 Jun 2024

                                Anonymous, 24 Jun 2024Nice 👍🏻Wow! A feature that never existed in portable computing... /s

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • YUU
                                  • 24 Jun 2024

                                  Nice 👍🏻

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