iPad, iOS, iDunno How to Work this Thing

In My Humble Opinion
1

Just acquired an iPad, my first iOS device.

Purpose: I’m a FileMaker developer and I now have a client who wants to include iPad / iPhone connectivity via the iOS app “FileMaker Go”.

I have had PC using friends make the prediction that as a lifelong Mac user, I will find these Apple devices familiar and easy to learn. I have to report that that is not the case.

• At home I managed to set up connectivity to my WiFi network. Now I’m elsewhere. The Settings for network in this thing are a lot less intuitive & self-explanatory than on a Mac; I can only hope & assume that it stores multiple networks’ settings and that I didn’t just erase my home network’s settings by choosing the network here and bashing away at this stupid annoying pseudo-keyboard until I finally got the password to be accepted?

• Speaking of bashing away at stupid annoying pseudo-keyboard, Apple Inc at some point a year or so ago turned its nose up at my old password and demanded that I pick a new one, nope that’s not long enough nope that doesn’t contain a capital letter nope that doesn’t contain at least one special character. Perhaps six months after that I could not get it to accept my logon and foolishly clicked the “I forgot my password” button. Click here to reset your password, dummy. Oh ^@!@%#, it was the account name I had wrong, they had an entire email address instead of just the username. Well, I’ll just put the password that I correctly remembered… Nope, can’t reuse passwords, please pick a different long set of characters with at least one cap at least one special char… so I appended something obscene to the original. Now Apple is getting payback against me for my insolent ways. Apple Store is where you get software for this contraption and yeah, “please enter your Apple ID and password”.

N0tmyr3alp4ssword!?#&%^&@*jackassfuckingsoftwarecompany <—— typing that on stupid annoying pseudokeyboard which requires switching modes between alpha chars and numeric chars snarl

• Thirty minutes of fumble-fingered pseudo-typing later, I connected to the Apple Store once, at home, downloaded something that was supposed to provide me with remote desktop capabilities so I could remote into my real computer from this toy. Can’t get that to work — some POS called “Connect My Mac” by hanamobiles.com which, when launched, spends all its processor cycles trying to get me to download some stupid freaking game instead. Is there a Remote Desktop app (for interacting with Apple Remote Desktop on a Mac, I mean) that actually works? Preferably without spammy ads and stuff?

• Now that I’m elsewhere (see above about connecting to a different WiFi network) the Apple Store says “Oh hi there please re-enter your password”. You gottta be fucking kidding me. thubb thubb thubb CUSS backspace thubb thubb thubb shift thubb…

I can’t get it to download FileMaker Go. Says it “can’t find the Apple Store”. WTF? Excuse me but where were you getting your listings of available softwares if not from the damn Apple Store?

• Can I get a USB adapter for this thing? In other words can I connect any of my existing mice and keyboards to it and use them?

• If not, can I get a mouse and keyboard for iGizmos that would use the native connectors on this thing?

• Is there some way to reorganize the vast array of icons on the [del]Desktop[/del] home screen, hide the ones I am never gong to care about and put the ones I’ll be using so they are right there instead of me having to swipe to the next page?

• Is there a file browser available for this OS? I’d feel less alienated if I could see the file and folder hierarchy. Does this environment even have a file and folder hierarchy? (If not, how & where does it store things you create or download?)

2

The Apple store is down right now. The “catalog” part still works, but not the part that actually lets you download or update apps. If you try to download an app from iTunes on a computer you get a message that says “The iTunes Store is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.”

3

Hey. I’m not a big iOS fan myself, but I’ll answer the questions I can…

Yes!
You should be able to get started by just holding your finger on an icon for a few seconds. Once they all start to shake and vibrate, you’re in “reorg mode.” Drag the icons around to put them where you like. Some may have little ‘x’ marks at the corner of the icon, which you can click to uninstall those apps. Best way to hide the ones you don’t want and can’t uninstall is to drag them onto each other-- this sets up folders that you can drag more unwanted apps into. (Bonus points if you name the folder “crap!”)

ETA: Oh, and to get back out of reorg mode you can hit the home button again.

Not really. iOS generally works by giving each app its own filespace, instead of having a common filefolder hierarchy that all apps share. If two apps want to share data, then AFAIK they have to agree on a contract to send it back and forth.

I hope that this helps.

4

IOS has a file hierarchy with the same structure as a Unix filesystem, it’s just hidden from the user, unless the device is jailbroken. Apps are completely sandboxed. Two apps cannot directly access the same files/documents, but in some cases an app can send a copy of a document to a compatible app.

5

I am not a techy person. Advice is from having an ipad mini for a year now, and being somewhat used to it.

You will get more used to the keypad, but yes, it sucks. Yes, you can purchase keyboards and mouses and art-stylus-boards and all sorts of other cool peripherals to work with the ipad - there is an entire ecosystem of thingies designed for that purpose.

You can get expensive ipad branded thingies and know that they will work, and be replaceable if they don’t, or you can get cheaper offbrand thingies that will probably work, but if you need help with them, Apple will look at you like you’re some sort of monster and most likely be unable to help.
**chrisk’s **advice for the icons is spot-on - especially the holding one icon over the other icon to create “folders” idea. I have a single “desktop” of about 12 folders (“work” “games” “crapware”) with all my mucho quantities of stuff arranged neatly inside. Works pretty well for me. An alternative is to set up your sliding desktops with all the good stuff on your “home” screen and all the crapware shuffled off to one side or the other.

File hierarchy - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You actually want to use the computer parts of this thingie? Boy do you have the wrong device. iPads are pretty specifically set up to forcibly encourage NOT messing with any of the architecture involved.

You can do some specific tweaking of individual programs under your Settings icon - open it, and scroll down the left side until you get to the list of all your apps and programs, and then click on them individually to see what info and settings you can change in the main right-hand pane, but there won’t be much.

Other basic changes to what info is shared/broadcast around is under Settings under Privacy. I’ve got mine locked down six ways from sunday - I don’t want push notifications or sharing or location-broadcasting or archiving to the cloud or what the hell ever, so I just shut that shit straight on down. I also locked Siri up pretty tight - of course that means that I can’t use a lot of the “accessibility” stuff like dictation or asking where something is, but oh well.

If you really want to be involved in the architecture and all that, you CAN jailbreak the thing pretty easily, and then you can fiddle with the inside bits all you like. It’s still a pretty locked-up garden system, but I have multiple computer-literate friends who have broken theirs down so they can make more fine-tuned adjustments to their device’s capabilities, and they seem perfectly happy with what they can accomplish. Be aware if you go this route, Apple will not only look at you like you’re a monster, they will refuse to touch your device ever again for services or whatnot, so you’re totally on your own in the weeds if you go there.

Good luck!

6

The lack of a file system is very irksome at first. I deal with files and directory structures all day. I feel like I have control with them.

Apple doesn’t really want the user to have control. They want it to be very very easy to use and difficult to break. That means that no one should be dicking around with files.

7

Re: wifi

The iPad will remember all the networks it’s ever been connected to. Once you’ve set it up for a particular location, it should re-connect automatically.

Re: files

As others have said, you typically don’t have direct access to the filesystem. For document-based apps, each app typically has its own way of letting you organize your documents. If it’s appropriate in context, most apps will have a sharing icon somewhere in the UI (it’s a rectangle with an arrow pointing up out of it). That will bring up a share sheet with multiple choices of where you want the document sent. Some of those choices will be other apps you may have installed.

Re: keyboard

If you need to type a lot, get a Bluetooth keyboard. Much less frustrating than the onscreen one, especially for passwords. Typing regular text isn’t terrible, since auto-correct is fairly smart (though often makes hilarious mistakes). Dictation also works very well, if you’re not out in public–hit the microphone in the lower left of the keyboard. If you need to have a lot of complicated passwords, get something like 1Password to manage them for you. Then you can use copy-paste for the long password. Note also that a mouse is superfluous–the cursor is your finger.

It’s not a laptop. The paradigm is different. You will need to learn some system-wide things, like how to select text, copy/paste, share files, etc. There’s a ‘Tips’ app (one of the non-deletable ones). It may help walk you through some of the trickier bits.

8

The Connect My Mac app opens to a dialog that says “Connection Properties”. On this screen I can change the hostname, the port, my username, and my password. But there’s no bloody “Connect now” button. The support button on the hanamobiles website opens a php based message board that required registration to post, registration requires a confirmation email, and no matter what email address I enter I never get a confirmation email.

Meanwhile, App Store seems stuck in a loop, insisting that I’m typing my Apple ID password wrong. On the one time out of every 50 that it decides I successfully entered the damn thing, it says App Store could not be contacted.

I did move some icons onto others and now have a barrel of them inside a folder named “Crap”. But I still have a main screen of app icons (now down to 5, one of which is the “Crap” folder) and still have to swipe to the next screen to get to the one and only additional app I’ve downloaded (the above-described “Connect My Mac” app). I can’t figure out how to move that single lone icon to the previous screen where all the others live.

9

The app store is back up.

10

When you press and hold an icon and it starts to shake (what I call a wobbly icon) on the second screen, just drag it to the left and pause. The home screen will then glide into view and you can drop your icon where you want it.

11

App I try to download says it requires iOS 7 point something.

I go to Settings —> General. It informs me that I have iOS 5.1.1

iOS 8 seems to be the current version.

How do I get a later version of iOS onto this thing?

12

Nope.

I cannot will not does not do anything of the sort. Wobbly icon can be slid offscreen to the left (then I have an empty screen in front of me). Swipe to get to the screen to the left and it takes me to a screen with the one problematic icon, not to the hoped-for first screen with that icon added to the rest.

13

It’s running iOS 5.1.1? Is this a 1st gen iPad you’ve got? I can’t remember from iOS 5, but go into Settings > General > Software Update to see if there is an update available. If that doesn’t work, plug it into a computer running iTunes, go to the iPad section and it will tell you if there is an update available. If it is a 1st gen iPad, no update for you and good luck because it’s ancient.

As already mentioned, the iTunes Store shit the bed worldwide today, so you picked the wrong day to vent your iPad problems. That might have something to do with your password problem.

14

Billed as an iPad 2, 32 GB.

Hmm, I’ve never hooked it to my computer :slight_smile:

15

I think IOS 5 was the first version that could update without syncing to iTunes. It will take a while, but you should be able to update it wirelessly. Make sure it’s plugged into the charger.

16

Update: Apple Inc confirms that based on serial number it’s not an iPad 2 but is instead an original iPad. Seller apologizes, I sent back, waiting to hear from my client whether he wants me to try on eBay again for an iPad 2.

17

I’d try Gazelle for used iPads. I’ve sold a couple of things to them, and the service is excellent. If you can manage it, it’s worth getting a 4th gen one–the old 30-pin dock connector sucks, and the 4th gens has the much better Lightning connector. The screen is also vastly superior.

You’ll also find it much less frustrating to use with iOS 8, since the processor is quite a bit better (though not as good as the Air or Air 2).

18

So this iPad isn’t for you, it’s for a client of yours?

19

Probably the client agreed to pay for the iPad so that AHunter can add iPad support to the client’s Filemaker DB thingee. :slight_smile:

20

Got replacement iPad. These things are a lot less confusing when you’re working with a model somewhat akin to the model that folks’ instructions refer to. Updated itself automatically to iOS 8 and was able to install FileMaker Go on it. (As chrisk rightly surmises, it’s for me to test iPad functionality of the FileMaker database).