To never voluntarily buy Apple again

[SisyphusDad]

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.

I came to similar conclusions about Apple as OP. Luckily it wasn't as bad for me as we do have two ipads in the house (DW new and old one)

At one point I was having to repeatedly change the one ipad I had access to at the time, to compledely uninstall the child account and install the parent account, perform a 5 second admin action (which the internet told me I couldn't do any other way than from an ipad, even though there was no reason why it shouldn't have been possible from a browser) and then spend another ten minutes reverting back to the child account. I went through this whole process several times.

Whereas an Android or Windows machine will happily let you have 2 (or 200) different accounts sharing one device, which you can switch between in 5 seconds, Apple apparently wants to make sure that every ipad can only really be used by one account. Presumably if a family ipad could be shared by more than one family member, they'd sell fewer ipads.

Probably the school uses Apple because of the educational discount. Apple provide (or used to) discounts to students and staff.

For information, for my Apple Computer, iPad and phone, I've two email addresses, neither is Apple.

you can have separate iTunes accounts on the same ID.

Thanks - I’ve got loads of apps and stuff on my account that I wanted to be able to ‘give’ her though, can you do that if it’s set to a separate iTunes account?

Lonelytiredandlow - I've used Dropbox for years; sure it was around 8+ years ago. There were others around too. Though I mainly used my laptop (then windows) as my main back up fir everything on my iPad.

I tried android once and hated it, so switched back to Apple.

Doesn't stop my password being I hate Apple! (Genuinely, I hate them, but love their phones even though they always die after like 12 months 😭)

I'm astonished that a school can demand an expensive purchase like an i-pad. What happens if the parents refuse - or genuinely can't afford one?

I imagine it's probably a private school

@SisyphusDad not sure what you’d expect though - to be able to control the Apple device from a secondary device that’s not Apple? Surely no manufacturers do that? I used to just have an iPad and didn’t need a second device to do anything unless I set it up that way - not sure Apple is to blame because you wanted a different set up to the one you provide.
I can’t believe the school insists you need to buy an iPad though that’s actually outrageous and would be enough to give me the serious rage!

not sure what you’d expect though - to be able to control the Apple device from a secondary device that’s not Apple?

I can't remember what it was I had an issue with on Apple, but having just googled, apparently Apple family sharing only allows approvals (for downloads or purchase) from an Apple device. (And not even an imac, has to be a ipad/iphone/ipod.) I haven't double-checked, but I think the equivalent functionality in Android or Windows 10 will let you do it from absolutely any device that supports email and a browser.

, I hate them, but love their phones even though they always die after like 12 months

My 6s is still going strong and I got it in Sept 2015. Okay, the battery's not fantastic ...

But you’d only want family sharing if you had another apple device to share from anyway.

Otherwise just set up the iPad and password protect downloads and do it from the device itself.

@InspirationWontCome if you are experiencing iPhones dying after 12 months I would be questioning what you are doing to them. One iPhone dying after 12 months? Get in touch with apple because that's unlucky but obviously faulty. More than one? User must be doing something wrong. iPhones don't die after 12 months.

God that would annoy me too. I opt out of dealing with technology and DH does it.
I’m quite highly strung so I did laugh at you jumping around like a monkey. That would be me.
Takes the piss that they have to have an iPad are the school on some sort of commission?!

Another 'will never buy an apple device again' here..
I'm pretty tech savvy. Have built pcs, set up small networks, troubleshoot for friends etc.
But, I once spent literally hours trying to get my (gift) iPhone to connect to my iTunes account (which I'd used to set up the damn phone) to get some music, instead every time it offered to format my phone and delete everything off it. And then I forgot my apple account password and honestly it was like a black comedy in how many hoops I had to jump through to retrieve it. And the tiny annoyance that their chargers are always different to the rest of the world's. Ugh.

Never. Again.

YABU. Apple’s software is far superior to android, it’s so easy to use a five year old could do it.

And the tiny annoyance that their chargers are always different to the rest of the world's. Ugh.

Hehe this always makes me laugh. Samsung also use different chargers! Not to mention the fact it has been almost 7 years since apple upgraded their charging port.

Don't agree with the school making you buy an iPad. They can't do that!

The root of the Robles is people trying to use “family sharing” when they don’t have a send device to share with/from. The cue is in the name. Family sharing allows you to share apps bought by one person with another in your family. If only one person has an Apple device why would you expect or want to share apps with someone without one?????

Had to get new earphones from Apple yesterday. They stopped working after 2 weeks! To be fair they just swapped them over, no quibble.

Please ignore all the autocorrect

Did you notice you posted about bringing up your children in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect...in the same post as you also mentioned swearing intently and using a screw driver to stab cardboard to make yourself feel better?

Apple products are do much easier to use than Microsoft or android. And you definitely do not need to have an Apple email address or a second product. You are doing something wrong.

@MAXnot73 it's not overly recommended as the current specs are different, but the same charger will fit different Android phones.

The thing that confuses me most about iPads in schools is that few workplaces use Apple devices yet that's what children are being taught on. Anyway it's all personal choice, but for the school to specify it needs to be a iPad seems a bit unfair.

it's not overly recommended as the current specs are different, but the same charger will fit different Android phones.

I don't understand this. The 2 examples I posted directly from the Samsung website are very clearly different. So they won't fit any android at all. They won't even fit other Samsung devices that don't use the same port.

Have you got a friend with an iPhone or iPad who could help sort out the access emails etc?