It’s been a week since Apple introduced iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 at WWDC 2021, but we’re still discovering some new features that weren’t mentioned on stage or on Apple’s website. In addition to having widgets on the home screen and new multitasking shortcuts, iPadOS 15 enhances the Files app with a progress bar, NTFS support, and more.
Now when you’re copying a file in Apple’s Files app, there’s finally a progress bar to indicate the remaining time and how much data has already been copied. A progress indicator icon appears right next to the create new folder button, and users can cancel ongoing tasks from there.
This alone would be a great improvement for iPad users as previously there was no way to see the progress of such tasks in the Files app, but there’s even more.
If you plug an NTFS-formatted USB stick into the iPad, it can now be read by the Files app. It’s worth noting that this is only partial support, just like on the Mac, so you’ll only get the read-only mode without being able to add files to the USB storage. Still, much better than not even being able to see the files on an NTFS flash drive as in iPadOS 14.
For those who have a mouse or trackpad paired to the iPad, iPadOS 15 enables the selection of multiple files at once with the cursor, so you no longer have to select one file at a time in order to copy, move, or share them. Unfortunately, at least in beta 1, the Files app still lacks the ability to check folder sizes or open DMG files, which are features requested by many iPad users.
iPadOS 15 beta is currently available for developers, while a public beta release will be available in July. The update is expected to be officially released to the public this fall.
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