Apple has added the ability to format external drives in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, the major software updates for iPhones and iPads due later this year.
While the feature likely won't be tapped by all that many users, its inclusion is fascinating in that it shows just how far Apple has moved away from its original sensibilities with the iPhone and the iPad.
The feature was discovered in the iPadOS 18 beta by artist and developer Kaleb Cadle, who posted about it to his Substack ByteBits a couple of days ago. It was later found in iOS 18 as well.
Cadle discovered that when you select the "erase" option in the Files app for an external drive, in iPadOS 18, you are presented with three formatting options for the drive: APFS, ExFat, and MS-DOS (FAT). APFS offers both case-sensitive and encrypted options.
Previously, users in Apple's ecosystem of devices and operating systems would need to do this in Disk Utility on the Mac, not on a mobile device like an iPad or iPhone. Notably, the glyph for the erase option in iPadOS 18's Files app is the same as the one in Disk Utility on the Mac. Some Disk Utility features are still missing, though, such as Restore and First Aid.