can I format an USB Flash Drive with my iPad? The USB Flash Drive has a Lightning Connection?

iOS/iPadOS does not have the capability of formatting an external storage device. Formatting can be performed by a PC, Mac or other suitable computer. Some other devices, such as cameras, can also format storage devices.

To be recognised by your iPad, the attached USB storage device must be formatted to FAT, FAT32 or exFAT (i.e., FAT64) with a single data partition. APFS or HFS+ are also supported by iPad and macOS.

I don't know if this is allowed in these forums, but do you have suggestions for lighting drives that can plug into iPads? I had one that was terrible and later learned it could corrupt the iPad so just trashed it. I had the WD wireless passport drive but now that wifi connection is unstable to the point of useless.

I have seen a lot of stick drives online with lightning on one side and USC-B or -C on the other, but they all require a 3rd party app to access. I just want a external stick drive that can plug into the lightning port (and USB) and be accessed via the iOS Files app. Any suggestions?

I have a USB-3 to Lightning, and another USB-C to Lightning dongle that I snagged off Amazon for very little money. These work fine for connecting the respective external drives and USB sticks to the Gen 4 iPad Pro. See the respective answer about the lack of any formatting utility on iOS/iPadOS.

Just tried this at Best Buy an hour ago! Sandisk and PLY? both have the lightening drive / USB flash drives neither worked on my 5th Gen IPad, BUT some Ipads and IPhones are compatible.

Go to the Flash drive co's website and search compatible IPads on their support page.