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Original poster

To never voluntarily buy Apple again

177 replies

SisyphusDad · 23/06/2019 00:02

Sorry, just need to vent (in the same way that an active volcano needs to vent).

I've just had to buy an iPad today for DS2 because his school requires it. They came up with some bollocks about why it had to be an iPad.

We are an Android household. I've spent well over two hours doing basic setup to fit in (roughly) with the way I do things (I'm quite tech savvy and have a particular way of doing things for very good reasons). And there are several things to do with parental controls and access to the Apps store that I simply cannot do without a second Apple device and there is no fucking way I am spending several hundred pounds simply to be able to approve things that need to be done (install the apps the school wants, for one thing).

I am usually quite calm and reserved but this evening I used a large number of words (in his presence) that I'm sure my son thought that I didn't know. And he described me as jumping up and down like a monkey as I repeatedly stabbed an innocent cardboard box with a screwdriver to release the tension.

I will not be going to the Parents' evening where they deliver a patronising lecture on the dangers of the Internet partly because I will find it very hard not to disgrace myself and partly because I've somehow managed to bring my kids up in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.

I used to think that both Apple and Google had their place, and it was mainly a matter of choice but after today's experience I am now firmly in the camp of Apple haters.

OP posts:
thethoughtfox · 23/06/2019 07:37

Online safety isn't just about trusting your children. They are vulnerable.

Tuktuktaker · 23/06/2019 07:39

Have you set the settings on the ipad to approve purchases, under restrictions? You can set it to always ask for a password whenever downloading and installing an app, free or otherwise. I don't quite understand what other control you would need, that would entail having a second Apple device?
I presume the email business is that you need an Apple ID to access the icloud, itunes, music and apps? There's no getting away from that, as far as I can see, so you're going to have to bite the bullet. You still don't need a second Apple device to access apps etc, though, I wouldn't have thought.
Forgive me if I'm missing the point - my ghast is also flabbered at the thought of a school dictating that you should purchase an expensive piece of equipment for use in school. Unless it's a private/public school, I suppose.

Al203 · 23/06/2019 07:40

I think Apple and Raspberry Pi integrate very well together. Yum yum.

BananaCatto · 23/06/2019 07:41

You’re being utterly ridiculous.

Not because you took 2 hours to do a 10 minute job. Not because you took to stabbing a box with a screwdriver.

You are ridiculous because not just once in this thread have PPs told you how to achieve what you need to achieve and you just keep banging on and on about how awful Apple are and how you cannot do what you need to do.

fromthefloorboardsup · 23/06/2019 07:41

You sound delightful... Hmm

Sandybval · 23/06/2019 07:42

I dislike Apple, but not for the reasons you mention- they're easy to set up and you don't need an apple email, as others have already said to you. That's odd that the school has said you need to buy one

ScrommidgeClaryAndSpunt · 23/06/2019 07:43

Do you always react like this when you can't get your own way, OP?

Roussette · 23/06/2019 07:48

I'm with you all the way... loathe Apple - walled garden and all that..

A family of 5 here, all adult, not one of us has an Apple product, only Android.

I would be telling the school to take a running jump, you should be allowed whatever tablet suits

bumblingbovine49 · 23/06/2019 07:48

Op.I completely agree. We too are an android family but a few years ago in a moment of madness bought an iPad for DS. When it was set up it was ok but I remember DH who is quite techy and also an incredibly calm person finding uduly it very frustrating and convoluted.

It was also.a.complete nightmare when ds miskeyed the pin one too many times and locked us out.

Anyway we used it ok but when it broke we never replaced ir. We just use our phones android) and laptops now but would only ever a non apple tablet if we wanted another one.

I have never understood.the apple cult/ lovw per whatever it is. They are just too expensive and frustrating.

LellyMcKelly · 23/06/2019 07:48

Blimey, loosen the knicker elastic, grandpa. Sounds like you’re making things 10 times more complicated than they need to be. Take it to an Apple savvy friend if it’s stressing you out that much, or take it to an Apple store and ask one of the staff to set it up for you. Seriously, it’ll take about 10 minutes.

Chartreuser · 23/06/2019 07:49

No no no, you've got this all wrong. Set up your own parent account on a pc, you need your own apple account (using Gmail is fine). You may to be logged into iPad as this just to set up up then never again.

He clicks ask to buy, hands you iPad and you approve in person on the iPad, doesn't need to be sent to another device or anything. Since I upgraded my iPhone the requests don't always come through, so I decline the crap anime approve the decent requests in person on their device.

I went for Apple for kids precisely as you can't stop them spending on Android if there is a payment card linked to the family account (for my legitimate as the adult purposes), how nuts is that?

Plus when DC2 started secondary and rang me in tears asking where they were as they were lost find my friends meant I could talk then through the rest of the walk to the bus stop, from work an hour away Grin

SerenDippitty · 23/06/2019 07:54

Another one who does not want to be an Apple slave. Someone on here said you don’t own an Apple device, it owns you! I have an Ipad Air and a Pixel3 XL phone which I bloody love. When the IPad finally stops working I will not be getting another one. DH is android too.

SherlockSays · 23/06/2019 07:57

How anyone can use something beside Apple is beyond me. I've had an iPhone for 10 years and counting as well as 2 iPads, although I just don't use them so I won't buy another. MIL recently got a Samsung and setting it up was horrific and a friend recently did the same and regretted it from the moment she swapped.

I don't think school should be able to dictate devices but I also think you sound quite over the edge about it.

00100001 · 23/06/2019 08:04

What would the school do if you didn't actually buy the tablet?

I fail to see how they forced you in to this... It's not as if they can make you pay for one Confused

As for getting so angry you were swearing and stabbing a box, in front of your kids... Wow.

00100001 · 23/06/2019 08:07

I prefer android, mostly because the apps can be in alphabetical order Grin

But also you can customise it more, and I just prefer the OS.

But that's not to say Apple devices aren't very good.

MAXnot73 · 23/06/2019 08:08

take it, @MAXnot73, that you don't have children that are old enough to be left on their own? They still need a bit of help regulating their use.

Why do you 'take it'?

I have adult DC who are fully capable of regulating their entire lives.

EssentialHummus · 23/06/2019 08:11

I repeatedly stabbed an innocent cardboard box with a screwdriver to release the tension.

This is a disproportionate reaction OP. Sorry. If the instructions above don’t do it for you Apple’s support team is very good, both the in-store ones if you’re near an Apple Store, or you can email something angry to Tim Cook / Craig Fedirici (sp?) and your message will get passed on to the relevant team and dealt with, if you don’t feel that a general tech support bod is good enough.

Aragog · 23/06/2019 08:11

I think you must have not followed some instructions quite right tbh.
I use apple constantly and have many apple devices I control at school too.

They've been a doddle to set up and supervise, especially compared to the old Amazon devices we had at work. They are usually way more user friendly. It's one of the (many) reasons most schools opt for apple, especially at primary age.

Though if your anti any device beforehand it's always going to be trickier as you're just waiting for things to not work or be harder in my experience.

You don't need a second device at all. It's all perfectly doable without.

If unsure why not book a free session at an Apple store to talk any issues through.

GreenTulips · 23/06/2019 08:14

There’s a timer option under General accessibly Guided access

In any app press the home button 3 times in quick succession - set the timer

The child can only go on this app for x time and then switch off - you need a short password for this

Whisky2014 · 23/06/2019 08:17

I fucking hate apple and an apple device will never be part of our home! Yanbu!

GreenTulips · 23/06/2019 08:18

Many dyslexic children need IPads for school - plenty buy them round here - same with austistic kids depending on accessibility needs.

It’s not that uncommon

I’d rather fork out the £300 so my son can access the curriculum like his peers.

One local junior school has one iPad per child as they invested in them - others don’t

sashh · 23/06/2019 08:21

How anyone can use something beside Apple is beyond me. I've had an iPhone for 10 years and counting as well as 2 iPads

That's because you are an 'expert user'. You are used to doing things the Apple way.

Imagine buying a car, all the cars you have had previously have the petrol tank on the left, the windscreen wiper control on the left of the steering wheel and the lights on the left.

Then you get a car with things all in different places (my car has the accelerator on the steering wheel) you will initially think, Ahh, I can't drive this'.You can, but you need to get used to it.

jennymanara · 23/06/2019 08:21

OP I agree. My DP has an ipad. If you struggle to use tech ipads are fine. If you don't they are a total pain in the arse.

MAXnot73 · 23/06/2019 08:25

If you struggle to use tech ipads are fine. If you don't they are a total pain in the arse.

This is such a bizarre comment. Plenty of technically competent people can and do use iPads.

It's the good old slate the intelligence of anyone that uses an apple product thing again isn't it? It's not clever and it says more about you than it does about anyone that uses apple.

I'm not shouting apple are the best, I don't care, but I'm not having a dig at people for their own choices either. It's just nasty.

noblegiraffe · 23/06/2019 08:25

I set my kid up with an iphone with a child account, and it was a bit of a pain in the arse BUT I only did it because I wanted to be able to buy her apps and so on using my Apple ID, but not use my Apple ID to log into her phone as this meant that all my books and music and so on synched onto it.

If I didn’t have my own Apple ID that I wanted to buy stuff for her from, I’d have set up the iphone using a standard adult Apple ID and just used the parental control settings to require permission to download apps, set screen time and so on.

I think the OP has misunderstood the reason for setting up a child account and that is what has made it so difficult.