Apparently debunking iPad misinformation has become one of my hobbies. Sometimes I’m able to just walk away but the lure of “someone is wrong on the internet” is strong, so, here I am. The latest is Michael Gartenberg at Business Insider. Of course, it begins with a pure link-bait title: I Was a Die-Hard Apple iPad Fan. Not Anymore — Here’s Why. . It’s behind a paywall but you can use Safari’s Reader Mode to get around that. Not that I encourage you to give them the click. I’ve got full quotes below.

The article came to my attention when I was browsing the iPad hashtag on Mastodon. I found Michael’s post via another user’s response. I engaged him but, like the article, found his responses lacking substance. These articles really are just filler text for clicks, all repeating the same narrative and offering little in the way of actual thought. And they get paid for this.

Let’s get this over with.

I still own an iPad Pro, but I hardly ever reach for it. It’s a cool device and significantly better than what was introduced in 2010. At the same time, it’s a jack-of-all-trades but master of none, so I can no longer justify its existence as part of my ecosystem.

Okay, Michael admits that he hardly uses his iPad. In my exchange on Mastodon I pointed to this as evidence that, perhaps, if he’s not regularly using the device it’s also possible that he’s not keeping up with the new features. Other Apple Pundits often complain about missing features that are not actually missing and are often easy to find if given minimal effort. But he assured me that he’s very familiar with iPadOS.

Also note his mention of it being a “jack-of-all-trades” but master of none. In this context it would seem he’s referring to the iPad as a general purpose computer to which I would respond: Yes, exactly. We’ll get back to this later but he’s not really clear on what he actually means here.

One of the iPad’s biggest issues is that its hardware is increasingly overpowered relative to the apps available for the device. With each new iteration, the iPad has gotten faster and more capable, but the quality and quantity of iPad apps have not kept pace, despite Apple’s promises of “desktop class” apps for it.

I believe he’s referencing last year’s WWDC when Apple introduced iPadOS improvements that would enable new options for the toolbar in apps. Apple’s own apps such as Pages, Keynote, and Numbers now take advantage of this as do some third party apps. It’s up to developers to add these new features to their apps.

So iPad users, like myself, are paying a premium for hardware that is far more advanced than the software we are able to run on it.

I’d be curious to know what apps Michael actually wants to use that are unavailable. What I see of Apple pundits is that many seem to earn their living writing or talking into a microphone. Are they also film editors, audio engineers and app developers on the side?

But really, it’s become a Apple pundit trope. It’s the exact same for all of these types of articles and it’s not true that pro-level apps are not available.

For writers like Michael there is a wide range of word processor apps. For general office work there are Apple’s own iWork offerings as well as Microsoft’s Office and lots of other excellent text and markdown apps.

Later in the article in further mentioning “pro” apps that are on the Mac but not the iPad he writes: “everything from Adobe’s creative applications to Microsoft’s Visual Studio, or for that matter, Apple’s own app-development platform, Xcode.”

See, these are probably not apps Michael needs at all. And I’d guess that it’s a very small group, proportionally, that needs Xcode or Visual Studio. The same for Final Cut Pro or Logic. Remember, the headline of this article is all about why Michael had to give up the iPad. He never actually says anything at all about his personal use case. This is really more about doing a hit piece on the iPad because that’s a popular thing to do.

But let’s play along a little further. He specifically calls out Adobe as missing. Weird. I’ve got the App Store open and Adobe Illustrator for iPad has 26,000 ratings with an average of 4.6. Photoshop has 52,000 ratings, average of 4.4. There’s also Lightroom with 31,000 ratings, 4.8 average, Premiere Rush, 107,000 ratings, 4.6 average and Fresco 30,000 ratings, 4.7 average. Also available is Adobe Acrobat for editing pdfs (there are lots of pdf editors). Wow, if only Adobe had some iPad apps maybe we could get something done over here.

Now, to be clear, I don’t use these apps and from skimming reviews these apps are not yet equal to their desktop counterparts. Even so, they have many thousands of reviews with a decent average rating. So, it would appear at least some out there find them useful. And in the end it’s on Adobe to develop these apps.

But what Michael does not acknowledge anywhere in the article is the fact that over the past several years many third party developers have worked very hard to bring pro level apps to the iPad. Before Adobe got in the game Serif brought Affinity Designer and Photo to the iPad several years ago. And with their most recent 2.0 update they’ve also brought Publisher into the suite for iPad. It’s a full on, fully capable competitor to Adobe’s InDesign and one of my most used apps.

Another noticeable pro-level app is DaVinci Resolve, a well regarded video editor was recently released for the iPad and another high quality video editor is LumaFusion which has been available for several years. Very well regarded video editing apps but ignored by Michael. Not surprising given that the existence of all these apps (and many, many more) are counter to the Apple Pundit narrative that there are no pro-level apps available for the iPad.

But he jumps into another popular meme which is less about the iPad and more about Apple’s supposedly terrible relationship with developers. That goes beyond the scope of post but I did want to point out that to make his argument Michael cites a Twitter post by a developer who’s having issues with a game:

If Apple plans to make the iPad a truly capable device with first-class apps, it’s going to need to take developer relationships a lot more seriously. Developers should not have to appeal on social media to get Apple’s attention on highly subjective App Store rules and whims.

So, to be clear, the App Store and developer relations are an iPad problem and the one anecdote he points to, citing “first-class apps”, is a game.

Let’s move on.

Another major issue is that the user interface, based on iOS, has become increasingly complicated over time. With each new release of iOS, Apple has added features and functionality, making the operating system more powerful but more complex. This has made it more difficult for users to find the features they need, leading to confusion and frustration.

Okay, now we’re getting into the complaints of iPadOS. A common complaint from primarily Mac using pundits is that iPadOS too limited, too simple. But here Michael is suggesting that it’s too complicated, with too many features and too much functionality. My head is spinning and I think I’ve got whiplash. How is iPadOS simultaneously too basic and not powerful enough and yet it is too complicated with added features and functionality.

And remember, by his own admission, Michael hardly ever touches his iPad. And yet he expects to know how to use the new features? Is this supposed to happen via osmosis when he touches his iPad? Look, if you want a more powerful, more capable OS you will have to take at least a little time learning those new features as they are added. Some actual effort is needed to learn how to use a more complicated, powerful device.

You know what else requires a new user to spend some time learning? A Mac. A new Mac user has to take time to explore and become familiar with the features. As iPadOS becomes more capable users that want to take advantage will have to do the same.

Some users will just use the more basic functionality that’s been present in the iPad for the past 13 years. My parents, both iPad users, have no idea that split screen exists, they’ve never used that feature. Using two windows of the same app side by side? Not a thing for them. What’s multi-tasking? They just happily use the very simple iPad. That’s the balance Apple continues to maintain for different users.

Michael then discusses yet another “problem” of the too simple, too complicated iPad: gestures. Yes, it’s true, the iPad started life as a touch screen computer! That meant learning gestures. 13 years ago they were simpler and over the years more have been added. Does Michael expect that a new user should just be able to pick up the iPad and by virtue of touching it they would know all of these gestures?

Here are just a few examples. The iPad supports a wide variety of gestures, including swipes, pinches, and taps, that can be used to navigate and interact with apps. But many users find these gestures hard to learn, and they are not apparent without some explanation or guidance beyond what the iPad offers.

Let’s be clear, these are all the same gestures that one uses with an iPhone but we don’t see an outcry about how hard the iPhone is to use! So weird that it’s only a problem on the iPad.

Somehow, my 80 year old granny who’s only computer use prior to her iPad was playing solitaire on an old Windows PC was able to manage her iPad within a couple hours of practice sitting next to a family member. Within a few days she was happily sending email, posting to Facebook, getting games, sending messages. The same for several others in my family that had never used a desktop computer. Did they pick up their iPad and suddenly know how to use it? Actually, those that had iPhones did. They got it instantly. Others needed a little guidance in the first few hours. But all became proficient in the basic, essential gestures within their first day or two.

But you know, for anyone that might need some tips or reminders going forward, there’s the internet. A search for iPad gestures yields this page from Apple.

Ever forward, we must push forward. We’re getting close to the end.

While the iPad is highly customizable, the process of customizing settings and preferences is more than a bit arcane. Configuring things like the “dock,” the “control center,” and your notifications can take some time to figure out, and the options are buried levels deep under settings.

Yeah, this isn’t the problem it’s being made out to be. This is called learning something new and it’s not specific to the iPad. Again, everything Michael mentions here is also true of the iPhone. Certainly, diving into the more powerful features of iPadOS, should a user want them, does require more effort, more time to explore and learn. Just as they might need to do on the Mac.

But at this point these “problems” of the iPad are greatly exaggerated and in some cases, not at all specific to the iPad. But, you know, juicy headline and all that.

Stage Manager, the iPad’s new showcase feature for multitasking, isn’t even turned on by default. It’s hidden away — and for good reason. It’s difficult to use, and I would need to write a full-length review to describe just how truly awful my experience with it has been.

It is off by default. Again, Apple sides with simplicity to cater to the larger pool of users that likely don’t want or need Stage Manager and probably have not even learned of its existence. That’s good. The “pro” users will have learned of Stage Manager (advanced users are those that pay attention to Apple-related news, Apple’s website, WWDC announcements, etc). They will have learned about Stage Manager and will turn it on when they’re ready to check it out.

But hard to use? No, it’s not. It’s really not. Is it more complicated than the previous windowing offered on the iPad. Of course, by definition, yes. It’s a new feature that does more, has more options. So yes, it does require at least a little effort, a little practice. But again, this is an advanced feature for advanced users. It should be expected that some effort will be involved. I’m not special, no super powers. I turned on Stage Manager and got the basics within minutes. With a little practice I was comfortable and having no problems other than the instability and oddities that came with running a beta. By the time of the final release it was vastly improved and much more usable.

An in-depth review from MacStories’ Federico Viticci tells you all you need to know: He spends most of it venting about his inability to get the feature to work without crashing his whole system.

No. No, his review does not tell us all we need to know. Look, Federico is known as the iPad guy. It’s a part of his online brand and how he earns his living. It’s beyond the scope of this post but it’s become a meme that the largely Mac-using Apple Punditry point to Federico as the exception to the rule. The stubborn guy who has to work extra hard to make the iPad work for him. “You can’t get real work done on an iPad” is a decade old meme and Federico is the most known Apple pundit fighting that fight. All the while being told: Just get a Mac! It’s become a part of the iPad story for those that listen to Apple/tech podcasts or read the websites.

There’s a lot to unpack with Federico, his role of championing the iPad in this sphere and his current take on the iPad. Again, not really the subject of this post so I’ll leave it.

The specific point I’d make is that Michael calls forth Federico as the sole authority who’s opinion is all we need to know and that’s ludicrous. I’ve got a news flash for Michael, there are likely many thousands of iPad users who are not Federico, who are not podcasters, who do not have his tastes or preferences and those users might well be very happy with Stage Manager. I know I am.

Okay, winding down with the last bit of the article in which Michael worries about the future of the iPad should Apple make a touch screen Mac.

A touchscreen MacBook would kill the iPad

Presumably, it would arrive as a touchscreen-keyboard situation, a form factor that’s more familiar and traditional for laptop users. This would make the iPad practically obsolete. Virtually anything one could do on an iPad would now be possible on a Mac, while the reverse would not be true.

Again, spoken like an Apple pundit who apparently has no family members that are not just like him. Does it really not occur to him that maybe some of the users of hundreds of millions of iPads that have been sold over the past 13 years would be better served by an easier to use iPad than they would a Mac? Mr. Gartenberg I’d like to introduce you to my granny, my aunt, my uncle, my mom, my dad, my sister… all of them iPad users, none of them Mac users.

Speaking for myself though, I don’t want a laptop. Some Mac users seem to find it hard to comprehend than some of us using the iPad do not want a laptop. Sometimes I do want a laptop like experience and that’s when I dock my iPad to a keyboard. That’s it, laptop mode achieved. But other times I want my iPad just a screen to be hand held or propped up on a kickstand. Nor do I want macOS. I used the Mac from 1993 till 2016 at which point I came to prefer the iPad.

So, no, I don’t think a touchscreen Mac (only a rumor at this point) will kill the iPad.

Apple pundits, please, please, do some original thinking and stop with the clickbait. If you feel that drawn to write about the iPad how about doing some quality tech journalism that harkens back to the late 90s when we could get real reviews of software instead of this stream of despair and outrage.

Once a year Jason Snell puts out a survey to a group of prominent Apple pundits and they grade Apple in a variety of areas. The Apple Report Card is generally a summary of the hot-takes that have been shared on podcasts and in articles for the past year. The 2022 report comes days after Apple released it’s quarterly results and the consensus that the iPad is floundering seems at odds with the ongoing popularity of the device.

While the report card was generally negative or “meh” in their view of the iPad, Apple’s quarterly results show that the iPad continues to sell very well. Apparently the general public is unaware that they are buying a failing product. In the most recent quarter the iPad had its highest revenue in nine years. But the point is the iPad has been very popular with the general public since its release. And not just the basic iPads. The iPad Pro also continues to sell well and get excellent reviews.

Out of curiosity it occurred to me to check reviews of the iPad on various online retailers. My guess is that the majority of buyers at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc are likely to be a somewhat accurate representation of the general public’s view of the device. These are people that probably don’t spend their free time focused on the latest Apple rumors, news, betas, etc. I’d guess that most don’t listen to Apple or tech related podcasts. Reading through the reviews it’s hard to know if many of these folks ever dig in very deep. Some state their use cases, many don’t. Many state that it’s their first iPad, some note that they’ve had several and keep coming back. I’m not going to suggest that such reviews, possibly based on just the first few days or weeks of use have much depth to them. But as I’ve often mentioned in other posts here, the iPad has served as an important computer in my extended family, the kinds of users I’d guess are fairly typical. And yes, it’s often casual use. No one in my family have any idea of what “power users” think of the iPad or what the latest features are. Stage Manager what? What’s this Split View thing?

But, I hear you saying, the critique coming from the Apple pundits is more thoughtful, considered and informed. These are people who spend a lot of time thinking and talking about Apple tech and they are better positioned to offer a more in-depth analysis.

Well. Not so fast. I’m going to pick on Marco Arment to make a point. In episode 520 of the Accidental Tech Podcast in a discussion about trying to find a place for the iPad in his life he makes a point of pointing how difficult or impossible it is to do a simple multitasking type task on the iPad that is easy to do on the Mac. The task he was trying to do was refer to an email and/or attachment in his inbox while composing an email at the same time. He also mentions being able to refer to an Apple Note while doing this. Listening to the podcast one would think yeah, that’s something that should be doable on a computer, why can’t it be done on an iPad?

It can. Very easily and using a feature that’s been around for 2 years. In fact, it’s a feature that was prominently noted by Apple and yet this “well informed” Apple commentator doesn’t know how to do it. He makes his living criticizing Apple and yet when Apple introduces features to do exactly the sorts of things he wants to do he is unaware of them 2 years later. The feature is enabled by a simple tap on the 3 dots widget in the center of a mail window, in his case, an email he was composing. All he had to do was tap or click the 3 dots and choose Split View. This would have placed his compose window into a split leaving his list of emails accessible for browsing and reading as he composed. Then he could easily bring the Notes app up into Split View to reference a note. Or, if using Stage Manager in iPad OS 16, replying to an email creates a new window by default. In this case no added step would be necessary.

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard an Apple pundit make an uninformed statement about something the iPad couldn’t do because of a missing feature. It happens often enough that I’ve noticed it on a fairly regular basis when these kinds of conversations are happening. In agitated hot takes they proclaim that they want to use the iPad but they can’t because it simply cannot do what they want it to do.

But the truth is that it’s often the case that the iPad actually does far more than many users know is possible simply because they have not taken the time to use it. Easier to assume and complain rather than take the time to actually learn the features that available. As I’m writing this I took a break and I kid you not, up pops this question from another Apple/tech journalist I follow on Mastodon:

It’s simple to convert images to different formats in macOS, you can do it literally using a couple of taps from the desktop. Why is it such a pain in the ass on iOS?

To which I responded with the below text and 2 screenshots to illustrate:

It’s literally built into the Files app and accessible in a couple taps. You don’t even need to use a shortcut. Tap and hold an image to get the context menu then go to Quick Actions then choose convert image. It can also be done from the column view in the Files app. See second image with arrows. Just as simple. So, not a pain in the ass?

After posting I checked on my Mac to confirm and yes, it is exactly the same action done in exactly the same way on the Files app as it is on the Finder app. It perfectly illustrates the point that many Mac users just assume features are not available when, in fact, they are. Given that the method here is exactly the same across all devices I can only guess that zero effort was made to look.

Perhaps the most well known iPad user is Federico Viticci who has made his living as a podcaster and tech writer for several years. For most of that time he’s been a passionate advocate of the iPad as a real computer for getting work done. It’s kind of his thing, a part of his online identity. But in recent years he’s become increasingly frustrated with iPadOS and dissatisfied with what he perceives to be a lack of progress by Apple. In his own contribution to the 2022 report card he rates Apple’s performance on the iPad in 2022 a 1/5 and introduces his comments thusly:

Speaking of dropping the ball: I’m sorry to say this, but that’s exactly what the company is doing with iPad and the iPadOS platform. Unless the company course-corrects its decisions with Stage Manager in the near future, shows they can still innovate in terms of hardware, and, more importantly, starts listening to the concerns of power users, I’m afraid even the most die-hard iPad users like myself will have to accept reality and consider other options.

My problem with his statement is that I think he’s assuming too much authority. He’s one user. No doubt that with his website and large social media following, he touches base with a pool of users many of which might agree with him. But there are “power users” that are actually very satisfied with the iPad as it is today. It’s great that he’s passionate but he’s one user with a particular set of needs and desires.

He concludes his thoughts on the iPad:

I want to continue loving the iPad, but, at the end of the day, I also need to get my work done and I’m tired of having to rely on separate machines (an iPad Pro and Mac mini) to do all the things I need to do. At the moment, the iPad seems to be stuck in this limbo of “more than a tablet but not quite a desktop-class computer”, and I think it’s time for Apple to do some soul-searching and make up its mind. The device is called “iPad Pro”, but this gray area surely doesn’t help pro users at all.

It seems likely to me that Federico is just better served with a Mac if he’s going to stipulate that he wants to work with only one computer. Much of his work is podcasting and at the moment the iPad does not have all of the audio capabilities he needs. Until it does he’ll need the Mac, it’s that simple. But again, his constraints are his, not mine. I’d guess that the vast majority of iPad Pro users are not podcasters with his specific needs. I’d also guess that most iPad Pro users are not professional YouTubers/video creators that need Final Cut Pro. I’d further guess that most iPad Pro users are not app developers that need XCode. These are work flows and Pro apps that are often brought up as barriers to adoption and they likely are a barrier to a very small subset of users.

I’ve read and listened to Federico since the beginning of his publishing of MacStories and always enjoyed him. But in the past couple of years I’ve observed that his tone and approach have shifted. Even as iOS on the iPad was forked into it’s own iPadOS variant and continued improvement year to year, Viticci has become more critical. This has coincided with other prominent iPad content creators doing the same. It’s also coincided with Apple’s transition away from Intel processors, bringing a new era to the Mac with it’s own homegrown Apple silicone starting with the M1 Macs and now the M2 Macs. It could be a coincidence but with that transition and excitement many Mac enthusiasts who had been complaining about the stagnation of the Mac were buoyed by the giant leap forward. Suddenly their beloved Macs had the fast Apple-designed processors that the iPad Pros had been featuring as well as the fantastic battery life that came with them. It seemed to trigger a flood iPad enthusiasts who quickly jumped back on the Mac bandwagon each offering long lists of reasons for their move back to the Mac. This does seem to be a part of the larger group behavior.

But really, it’s not my intent to fall into a rabbit hole about the dynamics of the “Apple Community”, which is itself an interesting, strange sort of thing. But rather to point out that over the past 3 years Apple has steadily if slowly improved the iPad experience by deepening iPadOS with a host of new features year by year. But the prominent content creators seem determined to maintain a willful ignorance (see the examples several paragraphs back). Another example, three years ago one of the big iPad problems being discussed repeatedly was the Files app. “Just bring the Mac Finder to the iPad!” While the name has remained Files, the app now much more closely resembles the Mac’s Finder. It’s not identical but it’s very close now. Open up Files and take a close look, compare it to the Mac and it’s obvious Apple put a lot of effort into making this app work better. And it does. In my experience I would say it’s very close to being on par with the Mac Finder. The complaints stopped but were replaced by other complaints. The goal posts are always moving. The last two years has seen a shift towards “we need free form windowing” and “better multitasking” and “pro apps”.

The problem here though is that aside from the repeated calls for Apple to release its pro apps, the other requests are fairly open ended. Windowing and multitasking can take many forms. Stage Manager is the current form of that windowing and addition to multitasking but it’s Federico’s opinion that it’s broken. Many might agree. But there are some users who like it and I’m one of them. Is it perfect? No. But I find in useful and enjoyable to use. Federico’s states that “this gray area surely doesn’t help pro users at all” but he’s wrong. It just doesn’t help him.

I would urge the Apple podcasters that have such strong feelings to remember that they are not everyone. Their needs are not everyone’s needs. It is possible that there are users beyond their personal experience or imagination who are finding the changes brought to iPadOS each year to be improvements. If your needs are not met by the iPad there’s good news, you can use a Mac or any number of other computers. That’s fantastic. Pick the right tool for the jobs you need to do.

And let me be honest, I’m just a goofball in the woods that can be pretty energetic in my own opinions. In recent years I’ve written quite a bit about how much I enjoy using an iPad. In the years before that the Mac was my favorite computer and I often wrote about that too. But my blog is tiny and I’d guess my readers total less than 10. I blog for fun about the stuff I enjoy and love. More than anything I want to celebrate the cool things we can do with our tech.

So much of the Apple community seems to have taken on a persistent negative tone, a constant stream of hot takes and gotchas about the thing that’s just not good enough. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that critique has it’s place. It’s how progress is made. From what I’ve read Steve Jobs was often intense, demanding in the creative and design process and as the story would seem to demonstrate, it led to same pretty great things. But perhaps we could do with some humility and empathy too?