Format USB Drives and External Storage Using Your iPhone
About this QuickTip
Learn how to easily format USB drives and external storage devices directly from your iPhone using the Files app in iOS 18. Whether you need to erase a drive, change its name, or select a new file format like APFS or FAT, this feature makes managing external storage on the go easier than ever. In this video, I’ll walk you through the process, including how to encrypt your drive for added security, all from your iPhone. This is one of many hidden features in iOS 18 that makes your device even more versatile.
Transcript
If you’ve ever been on the move and needed to format a USB key or an external drive, you’ll be glad to know that you can now do that directly from your iPhone using the Files app in iOS 18.
So, on my phone now, I’ve got a USB key plugged into my USB-C port, and in the Files app, I can see that in the browsing list here. I can tap on it and see the files on that USB stick, but I actually want to erase this drive completely so I can use it for something else.
What I’m going to do is go back a level to the main Browse screen, where you’ll see that my USB drive is listed as one of the locations. From here, I’m going to tap and hold on the name, and then I can tap on Erase. This brings up a new screen in iOS 18 where you can change the name for your USB key and choose a file format. If you’re someone looking to format a drive on your phone, you probably know what these file formats are. I’m going to stick to APFS for now, and then underneath that, when you’ve chosen the name and format, there may be some additional options as well. For example, with APFS, I can choose if it’s case-sensitive or not, and I can even encrypt the drive from my iPhone.
Obviously, doing that means entering a password to confirm the encryption key, and then when I press Erase in the top corner, I’ll get one last confirmation box – and that’s it, done. My drive is now formatted using just my iPhone.
The ability to format a drive on your iPhone is just one of many, many new things in iOS 18 which perhaps aren’t the all-singing, all-dancing features you’ve already heard about. If you want to learn what else your iPhone can do, please do check out my channel down below. Or, if you want to learn 100 things your iPhone can now do, I’ve written an eBook that’s linked below as well.
Technical details: This QuickTip was recorded on an iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18.1 in September 2024.
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