A couple of days ago, the guys from Cupertino began rolling out the first beta of iOS 10.3, the next big update to Apple's mobile operating system. In the last Apple Developer Conference talked about APFS, Apple File System, a file system that improves the performance, speed and security of the operating system. Since that date we have heard little or nothing more on the subject. But with the arrival of the first beta of iOS 10.3, both for developers and for users of the public beta program, the deployment of this new file format has begun to take place.
This new file system is optimized for use in flash memory and SSD, and includes more secure encryption, the option to clone files. and directories, change the size of direct files in a faster way as well as different improvements in the file system. At the moment this new format is only available from iOS 10.3, a change that is made when installing this version. To avoid any loss of content in the process, Apple reminds us of the importance of making a backup copy before updating, as it is a complicated process that can put stored content at risk.
When updating the file system to APFS, the device makes a copy of the data to format it with this new file system to later restore a copy. APFS, in addition to being more secure, is much faster, so we should notice improvements in the general operation of the device, although while still in beta, the performance of these versions may leave a little to be desired. When the final version of iOS 10.3 arrives, yes that we should notice an increase in the processing speed of our device, be it iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
This new file system is expected to also reach Macs with macOS, but we do not know when its implementation is planned, since the process is much more complicated because users have access to the root of the system, which does not happen in iOS. I've been with the first beta of iOS 10.3 on my iPad for several days and for now I have not noticed any improvementPresumably, with the release of later versions it will improve.