If you own an iPad or iPhone, you probably already have Apple’s Files app installed. The files app on iOS and iPad not only is useful while managing files on your iPhone or on your iCloud storage but can also be used to access files of various other storage devices, file servers and cloud services.
Connecting to a Computer or File Server
Tap on the three-dot symbol at the top of the Browse screen.
Tap on Connect to Server.
Now enter your local hostname or network address, and then tap Connect.
Now you can select whether you want to connect as a guest or as a Registered user. To connect as a guest the server must allow guest connections, if you are registered you can use your username and password to connect to the server.
Tap next, now you will be connected to the file server and can access the Server from the Browse screen under the Shared section.
To disconnect from the server, click on the Eject/Disconnect icon next to the server’s name.
Using a cloud storage service from the files app
To use a specific cloud storage service, firstly download the respective app from the App Store.
Now open your cloud provider’s app and complete the sign in and setup process following the on-screen instructions.
Open the Files app and go to the Browse screen, you can find your Cloud Storage under the Locations section.
(If you can’t find your service under Locations, click on the three-dot icon on the top of the screen and tap Edit, now from the list of all available storage locations find your required location and tap on it to enable it.)
Connecting to an external storage device.
To connect to an external storage device such as USB Drive, SD card, external SSD/HDD, you will need necessary cables and adapters.
For USB drives, the device must have a single partition that is formatted in a supported file format such as FAT, FAT32, exFAT, or APFS.
You will find your device in the Locations section of the Browse screen in the files app.
iOS 15 was reveled at WWDC keynote 2021 and would be available publicly later this year with the upcoming iPhone 13 series devices.
Users can currently test the new update to iOS installing a developer beta but we do not recommend doing that. These developer betas are buggy and meant to be installed on secondary devices by developers to test their apps on the system that would come out later in the year.
Create a backup of your supported iPhone and/or iPad on your PC or Mac in case you decide to downgrade back to a stable version. (Note the developer betas can be extremely buggy and we recommend having a backup before moving to next step.)
We expected iPadOS 15 to support Mac as now the iPad Pro uses the same chip as Apple’s Desktop computers. At WWDC when iPadOS was announced we were disappointed as the support for Mac apps was not announced but it is still a pretty solid update.
iPadOS 15 makes the iPad much more intuitive to use, with better multitasking, a new home screen, redesigned Safari, Quick Note, SharePlay, and More.
The iPad is now even more like a Computer with even more features and keyboard shortcuts. Here is everything that was announced for the iPad.
Multitasking and new Keyboard Shortcuts
Apple has a new multitasking menu at top of the apps, this menu will show options for various styles of multitasking including Split View and Slide Over. After selecting an option users will be given quick access to the home screen while the open app will slide to one side and users can select what other app they want to use.
A new shelf also allows users to multitask within different windows of the same app, for supported apps like Safari and Mail.
When using an external keyboard the entire experience is again elevated by new keyboard shortcuts for various multitasking modes and tasks.
Widgets
Widgets on iPad can now be placed anywhere on the home screen and Apple has also introduced a new larger Widget size specifically for the large iPad display. These give a pinch of added personalization to the Home Screen.
App Library
The iPadOS 15 also comes with a library that automatically organizes all your apps into categories such as Productivity, Games, Finance, recently added, etc.
The iPad App Library can be accessed using the App Library icon present in the dock.
Quick Note
iPadOS 15 allows users to take down notes faster than ever. A swipe in from the corner to bring in a quick note overlay where you can take down your notes. This quick note can be accessed system-wide over any app for instant note-taking.
Notes also has new ways to organize notes using hashtags. better collaboration using mentions where you can mention anyone collaborating on the note to give them a Ping and notify them about them being mentioned.
FaceTime and SharePlay
Similar to iOS 15, iPadOS 15 brings new features to FaceTime which make the experience a lot better. Spatial Audio, background noise cancellation, grid mode, and more. Read more about the new FaceTime features here.
Safari
Apple has a new Safari UI for iPadOS 15, with tabs at the extreme top and address bar present right in the open tab. New Safari looks sleek and beautiful. A new Tab Groups feature lets users create various groups of tabs that can be synced across their iCloud devices. Safari now also supports extensions that are available on the App Store.
Focus
Focus is Apple’s configurable do not disturb filter, it can filer out and show you only the notifications that are related to what you are doing at the moment.
For example, when you are at work Focus will only show you notifications related to your work, and messages from your colleagues. Focus uses on-device intelligence to filter out the right notifications and suggest you people and apps to follow at the moment.
Live Text, memories, and photos.
Apple has been working on its on-device AI for a long time now and now your idevice can read text from a photo naturally and you can even copy text from a photo. You can click on a phone number on a photo to directly call the number. Click on a website link to open the page in Safari and more.
The Memories section on the photos app also gets a major upgrade. Your iPad can now create beautiful memories with just the right song from Apple Music subscription service. Your photos and videos are automatically synced with the beats of the song.
Spotlight can now search in photos as well as use live text to search text in photos.
Swift Playground
The biggest update in the iPadOS 15 from a developer point of view is that you can now develop iOS and iPadOS apps right in the Swift Playground app and directly submit your app to the App Store, while coding you can see a live preview of the app, and users can also run their apps full screen to test them.
Universal Control
Universal control is a great feature that lets you use a single mouse and keyboard across your iPad and Mac with absolutely no setup required. It also allows users to drag and drop files from one device to another.
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