by ihuman on 5/13/24, 10:33 PM with 576 comments
by AnonC on 5/14/24, 11:39 AM
I think of iPhones as personal devices, where each person may have their own. But iPads are more likely to be shared for personal use in families. The fact that each person using it cannot have their own user profiles, app data, etc., is a huge drawback. Apple has supported this for a long time (though probably not in the best way) for education, but it’s not available to others. Even tvOS supports switching between user profiles quickly.
Apple enforcing the idea that iPad (with iPadOS) should also be a personal device — one device per person — makes the user experience quite poor.
by gcanyon on 5/14/24, 1:22 AM
And the crazy part is: just like this article, everyone overlooks it.
Pay attention, and you'll notice it. (sorry to everyone who had blanked it out). Think about how long it takes/ho many steps it takes to put quotes around a chunk of text; to correct a misspelling; to rearrange some words. It's agonizing once you think about it, and Apple (nor Google, as far as I know) has done zero to fix it in years (a decade?).
by swatson741 on 5/14/24, 12:08 PM
Personally, as mentioned in the article, the lack of multiple audio streams (or background audio) is very annoying. If you play any audio from Safari it completely pauses what your doing in other apps like YouTube or Twitch. So when you're done with Safari you have to go back into those apps and resume them.
Stage manager is glitchy on external displays. There are a lot of known shippable bugs in stage manager. Bugs that haven't been fixed in years.
Most unfortunately of all, as a utility, there's no developer tools. When you do software development for an iPad you usually have to put it into developer mode. Why not pull down Xcode, Xcode cli tools, and a terminal emulator as well as enable the developer section of the App Store as part of enabling developer mode? There's no reason for things not to work like this.
by PlunderBunny on 5/13/24, 11:12 PM
I want an iPad that runs one app at a time, no hot corners, no swiping from edges.
by ProfessorLayton on 5/13/24, 11:30 PM
What I think would satisfy a lot of users is if an iPad (And even an iPhone!) turned into a full-on Mac with full macOS with a keyboard and pointer attached. No need to create a convoluted hybrid touch+pointer UX that wouldn't be great at either, like Microsoft has proven. I simply want to be able to do more with the hardware I already own, and transfer files between my mobile/content consumption modes and when I'm creating/developing/working on something.
I know Apple just wants to sell more hardware, but what's happened instead is I've lost interest in getting an iPad altogether.
by slimebot80 on 5/13/24, 11:05 PM
by enceladus06 on 5/14/24, 4:06 PM
by e63f67dd-065b on 5/14/24, 3:54 PM
My view is that, fundamentally, a lot of "professional" workflows is just as much about shuffling data around as it is working on said data. Just as data science taught us that data cleaning is 80% of the job, the same applies to video editing, programming, etc. iPadOS is uniquely bad at moving data around due to its onerous requirements around sandboxing and its poor interfaces around inter-app communication, when these are precisely the things that are most needed.
And then there's the multitasking, which remains terrible to this day. Can they improve it? Definitely, but I wouldn't want to be the guy trying to figure out how to do it without ruining the normal user experience.
by SeanLuke on 5/14/24, 8:18 AM
by dr_ on 5/14/24, 2:43 PM
by can16358p on 5/14/24, 1:52 PM
Many pro apps have either plugins and/or interoperability with other apps/extensions on the desktop.
In iPad, even if you have the app (e.g. Logic, Resolve, FCP) it's very hard to create a "real" experience like the desktop with file/plugin interoperability or a true ecosystem. In addition, this is why we don't have any developer tools that'd actually be anything of a daily driver (rather a proof of concept).
If we get true multitasking/background tasks, then I believe many other pro apps will jump onboard.
The hardware is absolutely fantastic, the SoC is more than capable. We just need the software support.
by daft_pink on 5/13/24, 11:25 PM
I feel that I actually want a locked down operating system on my phone where the privacy implications are just to high, but on a computer or tablet, I prefer the more open operating system and find the walled garden so limiting. You really can’t run python or code on it and it doesn’t offer the same apps that make the Mac so amazing like raycast, etc.
by browningstreet on 5/13/24, 11:54 PM
Example: I have Youtube installed on the i*device. I click on a Youtube link and it opens in a webview, but doesn't know who I am. I'm logged in via the app, and I'm logged in via Safari, but in the protected webview, it doesn't know. Sometimes it's easy to click on the "Open in App" link, and sometimes it doesn't work at all. If I try to login, then the system sends me to login via Google, which will then send me over to Gmail for MFA validation.
This can't be. It doesn't work like this on macOS. The security model is hell.
by tonymet on 5/13/24, 11:47 PM
Another gripe I have is lack of keyboard shortcut consistency. MacOS apps are encouraged through the API and defaults to provide keyboard shortcuts for all actions. On iOS most Apps don't implement them at all. Gmail app is the worst example.
Copy paste is clumsy as well.
by ggm on 5/14/24, 11:39 AM
Apple don't manage pre- digital seniors well. With lots of emerging functional loss if not outright dementia, these devices are confusing.
I would love to talk to Apple UX about some of the inconsistency.
by mikeocool on 5/14/24, 11:33 AM
I still use my iPad (and I imagine the author does to) because there are things it does SO much better than a computer — even beyond consumption.
Using the Apple Pencil with apps like Notability, Procreate and Lightroom is IMHO so much better than the equivalent experience on desktop.
Notetaking on computers has been sorely lacking basically forever. Being able to quickly take notes, interspersed with sketches, arrows, and symbols, and layout the page exactly how I want — just how I’d do it in a physical notebook — is awesome.
by julienb_sea on 5/13/24, 11:34 PM
Also, who is really the market for an ipad pro. The average consumer is going to want a cheap ipad model for media and game consumption on the go. Ipad pro is for creatives or tech enthusiasts with disposable income; in either scenario, owning both ipad and Macbook is fairly likely, and they do work well as complementary devices.
I'm still using a 2018 ipad pro. it has the modern design and modern keyboard and flies through everything. I use it to look at slack sometimes. It's pretty pointless to me as primarily a macbook user and I don't see any reason whatsoever to upgrade it.
by prng2021 on 5/13/24, 11:39 PM
by Jgrubb on 5/14/24, 1:04 PM
Caring about someone else’s platform - especially when you care about it more than the people who have control over it - is not where you want to be.
by roody15 on 5/14/24, 2:35 PM
iPad has gotten better compared to the early days but still remains a device designed around consuming content. It is great at consuming content, books, movies, comics, reading headlines .. etc.
My two cents.
by brokenmachine on 5/13/24, 11:36 PM
>First, as I’ve said multiple times, I love my iPad and want the platform to get better. If you care about something or someone, sometimes you have to tell them what’s wrong in order to improve and find a new path forward. I hope this story can serve as a reference for those with the power to steer iPadOS in a different direction in the future.
Then goes on to list a million reasons that it sucks, and has sucked for the last 12 years!
But Apple isn't a dictator and you don't have to stay with them.
If it doesn't do what you want, buy what does.
Or just don't buy a product that you know won't do what you want.
As an aside, both my Android phone from 5 years ago, and my Android tablet, do everything that he complains about his expensive ipad not doing (the only thing I'm not sure about is recording Skype calls).
by FerretFred on 5/15/24, 8:19 AM
Regarding pain, not only do Apple largely ignore the device, but accessory manufacturers seem to follow suit. I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to buy a must-have accessory without success. I'm hoping that Apple won't be killing it off any time soon- I'd hate to have to over to the dark side...
by kjkjadksj on 5/14/24, 3:49 PM
So considering that new phones aren’t always faster than the old ones where it actually counts (the ux), how are these newer gen ipads fairing? Do they actually feel like upgrades?
by walterbell on 5/13/24, 11:39 PM
We can debate origin stories and mythology, but no one (yet?) has the creative power to change the ancient artifact.
Meanwhile, it adorns inadvertent museums.
by heywoodlh on 5/15/24, 4:49 AM
This is EXACTLY how I feel. WWDC will roll around and Apple will completely drop the ball for yet another year with iPadOS.
I also feel that the iPad Pro is one of the best hardware form factors for a computer — but iPadOS makes it a not great laptop replacement. I can’t help but feel like it would look incredibly foolish for Apple to do their May iPad event announcing M4 iPads — only to find out at WWDC that iPadOS still sucks.
Thankfully, it seems like most people, tech reviewers, etc. are vocal about iPadOS missing the mark. I hope Apple doesn’t continue to ignore the negative feedback.
by jmull on 5/14/24, 2:34 PM
But I'll probably never buy another. The OS is just too limiting.
Perhaps they'll eventually decide to let them run MacOS? (Seems like a no-brainer, at least when a keyboard case is in-use, but apparently not.)
by gorkish on 5/14/24, 5:04 PM
They just need to let you run MacOS on it in a VM and all will be right with the world.
But they won't because they are greedy selfish bastards that do not actually have the user at heart.
End of discussion
by whalesalad on 5/14/24, 2:32 PM
by seanvelasco on 5/14/24, 2:32 PM
when riding a bus in singapore, or flying short-distance, i feel awkward using my macbook. whereas if i use an ipad, i feel like it's more appropriate. this is just a personal preference though.
another thing i'd love for ipads to have is, allowing its display to be used as an external monitor.
by multimoon on 5/13/24, 11:50 PM
I’d even pay a software unlock for it. It’s the perfect convergence device if only Apple would let it be.
by AlexandrB on 5/14/24, 4:02 PM
by kalyantm on 5/14/24, 10:51 AM
by wffurr on 5/22/24, 8:29 PM
by meyum33 on 5/14/24, 1:39 PM
by cloudengineer94 on 5/14/24, 7:40 AM
But I already gave up on it especially after the recent comments from Apple as they want people to buy both devices to 'complement' each other: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/05/13/apple-vp-mac-ipad-compl...
I own an M1 iPad Pro but 80% of the time I use it as a sidecar due to how limited it is.
by classified on 5/15/24, 5:38 AM
by cchance on 5/14/24, 3:48 PM
by rado on 5/14/24, 4:15 AM
by littlecosmic on 5/14/24, 11:52 AM
by roydivision on 5/14/24, 4:05 PM
I just don't get the obsession some people have for the iPad, jumping through hoops and putting up with so many compromises when most issues are solved using a laptop. Can someone explain this? I have an iPad but I primarily use it for watching films, I wouldn't dream of trying to get any work done on it when I have a Macbook.
by Fauntleroy on 5/13/24, 10:47 PM
by blackeyeblitzar on 5/14/24, 4:00 PM
by wcski on 5/14/24, 3:41 PM
by barbariangrunge on 5/14/24, 2:24 PM
In some senses, yeah, it’s amazing. But I use the f keys all the time normally. I use esc all the time. The keyboard lacks both. It makes the iPad heavier than my laptop, ruins the pick up and use character; the pencil goes flying if you’re not really careful when carrying it; and you still can’t use it in many circumstances on the couch because of the weight balancing and you have to cradle it.
It stops it from being a tablet and turns it into an un-ergonomic laptop
by kome on 5/14/24, 12:43 PM
by AzzyHN on 5/14/24, 5:11 PM
I'd rather use a Chromebook (though, not the cheapest ones) so that there's guaranteed web app compatibility. And I've still got an App Store to do my taxes (or whatever people use their iPads for, I dunno)
by anArbitraryOne on 5/14/24, 1:49 PM
by tibbydudeza on 5/14/24, 8:10 PM
by mrcwinn on 5/14/24, 1:02 PM
Okay, let's add background task processing, hungrier apps like Xcode, more simultaneous apps. I guess we'll need more memory and compute resources, and so therefore we'll need more battery, too.
So now I have a 2 lb iPad that doesn't have enough internal space to cool itself. Great. Thanks internet.
by nbzso on 5/14/24, 8:36 AM