It’s really pathetic that Apple still sells iPhones and iPads with only 16GB of storage. This is a device that can record 4K videos, but will literally run out of space in minutes if you try! Obviously, the best thing to do is get a higher capacity device, but some people are simply not willing to spend another $100 or $200 for the increased space and I can understand why. star.
Since there’s no real way to physically add more storage to your iPhone or iPad, you have to rely on all sorts of hacks. Basically, there are two reasons I can think of to add more space to your device: to free up space from your device so you can install more apps etc. or to download a bunch of music, movies and documents that you can quickly access without an Internet connection.
In this article, I will talk about the different solutions currently available for this really unnecessary problem caused by Apple. Unfortunately, no solution is ideal and you have to be really careful when choosing a product.
If you think that limited space is the only thing from Apple, they will also annoy you if you buy movies from iTunes. If you try to play a movie you bought from iTunes from an external drive, it will give you an error due to DRM protection. So all movies and TV shows on iTunes must be stored locally on your iPhone or iPad to play or stream using the Videos app. If you are reading this article hoping that iTunes content can be offloaded, nothing here will help you.
However, if you have a lot of music (even from iTunes) or your own downloaded/ripped movies and TV shows, the devices below will help you. Just be aware that you may have to convert the video to iPhone or iPad format first. Plus, if you’re an avid photographer and want quick access to your DSLR photos to view on your iPhone or iPad without taking up any space on your device, these products will suit you. friend.
I also don’t mention cloud services here because I think most people already know about that, but may not want to pay a monthly fee for hosting. If you are interested in cloud storage, check out my article that compares different cloud storage providers and also how you can use the cloud to share data between all of them. its various devices.
Table of Contents
Wireless hard drive
A wireless hard drive is basically a portable hard drive with a wireless card and battery built in. They all have their own WiFi networks, and you can pretty much connect any device you want to them. Once connected, you can transfer data both ways and can transfer content from your hard drive to your Apple device.
Some wireless hard drives have an SD card slot, so you can simply plug in the card from the DLSR camera and it will copy all the data to the drive. You can then watch it on your smartphone, tablet, computer or TV easily over the network.
When buying a wireless hard drive, just be mindful of buying one that allows you to access the Internet and be connected to that drive. It’s frustrating having to disconnect from your wireless network, connect to the drive, and not have any Internet access in the meantime. Make sure the device has WiFi pass-through function. I’ll note it in my recommendations below.
Seagate Wireless Plus and Wireless Cellular
These devices are said to have a lifespan of 4 to 6 hours, and they support WiFi pass-through, although people have complained that the connection is slower than connecting directly to WiFi. Prices range from $79 to $149, depending on the model and amount of storage you want.
Overall, they seem to do a great job of streaming content to your devices. These drives lack an SD card slot, so if you want to transfer photos from your DSLR, you must first download all the photos to your computer, and then connect the drive to your computer via USB. .
RAVPower File Hub Plus
For just $40, you get a ton of features out of this tiny device. The reason it’s so cheap is because it doesn’t have any internal memory. It has an SD card slot (SD, SDHC, SDXC) and a USB 3.0 port. You can connect drives up to 4 TB or use SD cards up to 256 GB.
In addition, up to 5 devices can connect at the same time, and you can transfer data between connected devices. On top of that, you can connect it to a wired network and turn it into a WiFi hotspot, or connect it to a wireless network and turn it into a wireless extender. The RAVPower File Center is a very good choice if you have your own SD card or USB hard drive.
There are other mainstream players with wireless hard drives, but I won’t go into detail here. You can check them out below.
WD My Passport Wireless – SD card slot included
SanDisk . Connected Wireless Drive
Flash drive with Lightning connector
If you’re not satisfied with the fact that you need a battery-powered hard drive to expand the memory, then you might want to consider a flash drive with a Lightning connector. You lose a lot of the streaming, media center, router/extender functionality you get with a wireless hard drive, but it’s a lot smaller and a lot easier to carry around.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any perfect products in this category yet. Some are cheaper, but require recharging. Some work well, but have quirky designs that make using your phone difficult. Other downsides include only a USB 2.0 port, instead of 3.0, and no way to charge your iPhone or iPad when the drive is connected. Some devices also tend to drain the battery a lot faster. Hopefully we’ll have more options in the future, but so far, these are the best.
Leef iBridge Portable Memory
Depending on the size you buy, the Leef iBridge can cost anywhere from $59 to $399! Overall, however, it is currently the best flash drive on the market. You can store all your music, movies, and files on your device and use the included app to access everything. You can also transfer photos and videos from your photo library to your device. The device also only consumes power when it is being used. Overall, it received pretty good reviews for Amazon.
SanDisk iXpand
The SanDisk iXpand is another good device, but it must be charged to use. However, since it has its own battery, it doesn’t draw any power from the iPhone or iPad.
It’s also a bit weird with iPhone/iPad, which is a bit annoying. The app isn’t as good as the Leef app either, but hopefully that will improve over time. If not, it works for its intended purpose. This is the best choice if you want to password protect your data with SanDisk SecureAccess.
The last option is Hyper iStick, but it’s more expensive and doesn’t perform as well as the SanDisk or Leef iBridge, so I don’t really recommend it.
Inference
As you can see, there are several ways to increase virtual storage space for your iPhone or iPad, but they all come with different caveats. The main thing is that you cannot store any iTunes purchased content on the drive and play it from there.
Also, in terms of transferring stuff off your iPhone or iPad, you can really only access Photo Library. This is due to the way Apple restricts access to the file system, and it’s not anyone else’s fault. Hopefully, this article gives you a clear understanding of what can and cannot be done to expand device memory. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Interesting!
