The iPad was my gateway into the Apple orchard. I had never purchased an Apple product until about a decade ago, when I got the first Retina iPad as a gift for someone who didn’t use computers. I was so impressed by how intuitive the device and OS was for them, that I installed macOS in a VM on Windows to try iOS development. I fell in love with macOS (back during Lion) shortly before getting my first MacBook and leaving Windows forever behind, never to return.
Fast forward to a month ago. I purchased one of the newer low-end iPads as another gift for someone else who didn’t use computers.
It was depressing.
The setup process was kinda annoying. No, we don’t want Apple Pay, thank you. I had to enter the Apple/iCloud account credentials multiple times at different points before it stopped asking me to sign in again.
There were a lot of bugs in the system UI and the preinstalled apps.
I had to disable the multitasking gestures because they would be confusing for a new user.
They have removed labels for the Dock icons with no way to restore them, so I had to keep apps with less obvious icons out of the Dock, so they could have labels. Because a flower for photos is not a connection that many people can intuitively make.
I had to explain that dragging down from the right corner of the top edge brings up the brightness control.
Dragging down from anywhere else on the top edge brings up the notifications.
Dragging down on a blank part of the home screen’s background, away from edges, brings up the search bar.
Fuck.
Fast forward to a month ago. I purchased one of the newer low-end iPads as another gift for someone else who didn’t use computers.
It was depressing.
The setup process was kinda annoying. No, we don’t want Apple Pay, thank you. I had to enter the Apple/iCloud account credentials multiple times at different points before it stopped asking me to sign in again.
There were a lot of bugs in the system UI and the preinstalled apps.
I had to disable the multitasking gestures because they would be confusing for a new user.
They have removed labels for the Dock icons with no way to restore them, so I had to keep apps with less obvious icons out of the Dock, so they could have labels. Because a flower for photos is not a connection that many people can intuitively make.
I had to explain that dragging down from the right corner of the top edge brings up the brightness control.
Dragging down from anywhere else on the top edge brings up the notifications.
Dragging down on a blank part of the home screen’s background, away from edges, brings up the search bar.
Fuck.