At the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 on June 10, Apple unveiled a number of new features along with operating system updates for its lineup of devices, which includes the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The new Calculator app, improved Photos app, artificial intelligence (AI) features, and other quality-of-life improvements are all included in the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 releases. However, formatting external discs using the Files app is a function that Apple did not promote and has gone unnoticed.
Drive formatting is now natively supported on the iPhone and iPad with the release of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, respectively. This implies that users can now use the Files app to directly format externally connected drives. According to reports, registered developers can now access the OS developer beta releases that include this capability.
The ability to format external drives expands on the erase feature that was unveiled by Apple in iOS 17. Previously, users could only format or wipe externally attached discs to their Apple devices; this improves the disk utility features built inside the Apple operating system.
All that is required to format a drive is to press and hold the volume of an external drive and choose the Erase option. Below the textbox, a new menu with a list of formats opens. Three formats are available to users: APPS (Apple File System), MS-DOS (FAT), and ExFAT. Options for Case Sensitive or Encrypted formats are also offered by APFS.
APFS is “recommended for macOS, iOS and iPadOS,” according to the company. It also states that additional devices, such as PCs and cameras, are compatible with MS-DOS (FAT).
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According to Apple, the iOS 18 upgrade will be available for handsets up to the iPhone 15 Pro Max and newer models, such as the iPhone XR. On the other hand, iPad Pro (12.9-inch) or later, iPad Air (2019) or later, iPad (2019) or later, and iPad mini (2019) are among the iPadOS 18 compatible devices.
