New features in Files
Proper file management is easy on your iPad with this update
IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes
YOU WILL LEARN How to use the new features in Files
YOU’LL NEED An iOS device with iOS 13 or iPad with iPadOS
For many years, Apple didn’t want anybody to go anywhere near file management on iOS devices: that was something you did on your Mac, not your simpler, streamlined iOS device. That changed in iOS 11 with the introduction of the Files app, which enabled you to access your iCloud Drive as well as third-party services, such as Dropbox. You can use it to play media files, view and annotate documents and send files to apps such as Mail and Messenger, and in iPadOS (plus iOS 13 on iPhone) the Files app has been given some key new features.
Files doesn’t look much different in iPadOS, but it’s become considerably more powerful. It had to, because iPadOS introduced support for new kinds of storage: if you have a USB to Lightning adapter, you can move files to and from USB drives, SD cards, SSDs and hard drives. iOS also supports SMB file servers so you can connect to devices such as home networked storage devices.
Handy locations
Files also works a lot more like Finder does on your Mac. You now have a Downloads folder where you’ll find stuff from Safari and Mail, you can compress files and unzip them, and you can create your own folders. You can even scan documents directly into the Files app.
One thing that hasn’t made it to Files just yet is iCloud Drive sharing. That’s expected very soon. You can easily share links from Dropbox and other cloud storage services that you link within the Files app, though. Carrie Marshall