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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
LonelyTiredandLow · 23/06/2019 08:28

I'm with you OP - android household here. It took one Apple mobile to make me realise the con; not being able to put in a memory card to take photos. What company limits the customer experience so that they have to upgrade just to use a basic function?

noblegiraffe · 23/06/2019 08:31

You don’t need to upgrade to take photos.

EdWinchester · 23/06/2019 08:33

Stabbing a box with a screwdriver in front of your son? Excellent example. Not.

countrygirl99 · 23/06/2019 08:36

My personal devices are android, my work ones apple. I can't understand the apple love. I find android so much easier.

LonelyTiredandLow · 23/06/2019 08:38

noble there was no space on the phone and I had to delete apps or photo's to enable it to function - which was sketchy and slow even when I did. It was the worst phone I have ever had until my contract ran out and I could try a Samsung. I'll never go back to that.

noblegiraffe · 23/06/2019 08:39

You could have synced your photos to Dropbox (free) and deleted them from the phone.

Aragog · 23/06/2019 08:40

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

That makes absolutely no sense at all!
I can use tech perfectly well - I teach computing, I've studied computing, and I've used technology all my life even when it was just a basic commodore and at school a big box in the corner. I'm perfectly capable is using Windows pics, Macs, Android, apple, whatever. You have to be prepared to use each type of tech in the way they were designed to be used though.
What's worse are the it techs I work with who only know how to use tech in a certain way (normally obsessed android is king types) and aren't willing (or able?!) to use different tech in different ways. Luckily my current it tech is happy to work with more than one type of computer and device system so we can get stuff working well across school together.

WhoKnewBeefStew · 23/06/2019 08:41

The school insist on you buying an iPad - OMG what type of school do your dc go to!

cannycat20 · 23/06/2019 08:42

"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."

Oh, this made me laugh, having just sat through yet another Windows 10 update on my computer that I know will mess up, at the very least, my sound drivers for a week....

I love the idea of Apple products, especially for graphics and photo processing, and years ago they were my first introduction to Desktop Publishing and GUIs (yes, I'm that old) but they are still so pricey I can't help feeling there's a lot of tacit boasting that goes on on the part of those who use them and flaunt them (with the possible exception of iPhones). And in the early days there was so much industry standard software (Word, for instance) that you couldn't get for them.

Yes, I understand they're allegedly less prone to cyber attacks and all, but some of that is because the hackers and so on go for the biggest hit they can get, and that's Windows. I don't know enough about Linux to comment. These days though when so much is in the cloud anyway, I don't think it's really on for a school to insist on parents buying iPads. Are there any families there who can't afford iPads?

LonelyTiredandLow · 23/06/2019 08:47

noble this was around 8 years ago and i'm not sure DropBox was around. I'm happier not using a trail of other apps just to have a slow working mobile.

MissFitton · 23/06/2019 08:57

My son has an iPhone which has app downloads approved by his father who has only ever had android devices. All set up with no drama at all.

Are you sure you're tech savvy enough to be setting up your iPad in the way you're not supposed to? HmmConfused

PlatypusPie · 23/06/2019 08:57

You hated the idea of Apple, didn’t spend a moment to understand about the things that are important to you, you are convinced you are so tech savvy that you could do things the way you wanted anyway, failed, got in a strop - and are looking for sympathy/a round of applause from the other Apple haters which you have got.

I bought an iPad when the tablet competition from other providers was in its infancy, resolutely resisted leaving my Android smartphone for ages, got an iPhone eventually because I can use iMessage, used by the rest of the family, on my WiFi only iPad.

I still dislike the built in redundancy and the price but the design is so much better, the security of the App Store is better than Google ( ducks as a thousand Google fans come storming my way ) and I love the seamless interaction between my devices for things like iMessages and photos. I do review my choice occasionally ( ie see what Android based has to offer ) but am currently satisfied.

Take the helpful advice from posters here who have the same parental control interests as you.

Whisky2014 · 23/06/2019 09:00

@GreenTulips

Many dyslexic children need IPads for school
Sorry, why does it have to be an iPad and not any other tablet?

I get the feeling these school decisions are made by the people who are biased to one manufacturer.

Loyaultemelie · 23/06/2019 09:00

We had the opposite, I'm an apple junkie and everything school wants done is android which to me is complicated and annoying.

GreenTulips · 23/06/2019 09:02

Allow the local schools use iPad and Mac books so it has to be Apple

Many of the local employers have complained because the kids can’t use android or windows

My kids have windows laptops

familycourtq · 23/06/2019 09:04

YABU OP you are not that tech savvy evidently- frankly you sound more like a weird control freak who insists on doing stuff for no good reason.

These Apple/Droid threads are tiresome and pointless- each has advantages and drawbacks, and both are run by Giant US corporations who give precisely zero fucks about ordinary people, especially non-US ones.

givemesteel · 23/06/2019 09:07

I tend to agree. I am an android user and it's been about 10 years since I has an iPhone. But I bought an ipad pro because at the time it was the first big tablet and it helped for work reasons.

Honestly doing anything on it is painful and counterintuitive, I hate it, and feel disappointed as I thought I'd be able to do so much more with it. I'm sure I could but I dk t want to have to go to an apple store orvrung customer services every time.

The school was wrong to insist on ipads as they're literally double the price of other tablets. If you choose android the parent has a choice over what to spend.

PantsyMcPantsface · 23/06/2019 09:08

My daughter uses an iPad for her work (she has dyspraxia) basically because of the fact that the apps that work best for her are either iOS only, or much better in terms of functionality on iOS (I’ve spoken with the developer of one of them and basically their Android port is much more feature-bare because it’s easier to develop for Apple where you know you’re only dealing with a limited range of screen sizes and resolutions and specs etc versus Android where the range of what you’re developing for is so much wider)... I tried to get things working for her via android but it just was too complicated and required too much faffing about for it to work independently for her - but it does so with her iPad - she works on it, saves it and I just AirPrint it out at home on an evening.

As for the Apple walled garden and tying you into Apple apps - I hop quite happily between working on my iPad, my Windows PC, my kids’ iPads if required and my Huawei phone as I need to these days - tend to save everything I can to OneDrive and just pull it off there to work on, and use MS Office apps on them all.

Getting used to doing things the Apple way if you’re used to doing them on Android takes a little bit of effort - but no more so than working out how to do something on Windows versus Android, PC versus Mac etc... we bought our first iPad for my daughter and now have a house full of them as they just work better for what we need them for (except I dropped my Pro recently and a screen break on that is financially painful as hell!)

PlatypusPie · 23/06/2019 09:09

@familycourtq

Nailed it !

Bloodless · 23/06/2019 09:12

I’m an Apple whore 🤷🏼‍♀️ Everything seems so much easier and quicker with Apple

jamoncrumpets · 23/06/2019 09:12

OP sounds a bit unhinged. You can absolutely set up an iPad for a child with no other Apple devices in the house. Perhaps OP is not as tech savvy as they claim to be?!

tabulahrasa · 23/06/2019 09:13

Why would you need to set it up as a family one when you’ve only the one device?..,

I mean it’s ridiculous that the school are getting people to buy them, that’s a ludicrous cost for a lot of people, but it’s totally you that’s over complicated it. Just turn passwords on.

Oh and shared Apple IDsfor whoever was saying that, you don’t need to share music and books, you can have separate iTunes accounts on the same ID.

Roselinemac · 23/06/2019 09:18

*Perhaps OP is not as tech savvy as they claim to be?!
*
This is what I was thinking. Apple gadgets are normally a pleasure to set up. Also, stabbing a cardboard box with a screwdriver or whatever it was is a bit weird especially in front of your son 😳Shock

GreenTulips · 23/06/2019 09:19

I mean it’s ridiculous that the school are getting people to buy them

On one hand yes, but on the other children with disabilities are always going to need extra in terms of support

Wheelchair users don’t expect school to find those, same for hearing aids etc medical supplies are provided for by the parents for diabetics - they children need these devices to access work - it’s a tool not a toy

jamoncrumpets · 23/06/2019 09:20

I lost my shit last night after a long day looking after two young kids (one of whom is autistic) on my own and at no point did I consider stabbing a box with a screwdriver. I sat down and took deep breaths and found something daft on tv to take my mind off it. Like a grown up.