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Created on: 2023-10-16; Updated on: 2023-10-16

Apple - Still “no thanks”

In this article, I will tell you about my experience with Apple devices. I’ll start with the first device I purchased in 2011 and then I’ll talk about my more recent purchase.

Second generation iPad

The first device I purchased was in 2011. I needed a tablet and the only one available at that time was the 2nd generation iPad. From the beginning, I could see a lot of limitations that were completely optional. What I mean by that is that this was due to decisions made by Apple themselves and not technical limitations. For example, you absolutely had to use iTunes and it could only be used on one computer at a time. Plugging the iPad into another computer required erasing everything. This is very disabling considering that it is still like a portable hard drive and you could plug it USB into any computer, but you couldn’t use it as a hard drive. It was a little bit ridiculous.

I ended up finding an application that allowed me to have an FTP server and that allowed me to manage my data on several computers at the same time and as a bonus, remotely.

So I was very happy when in 2012, Google’s Nexus 7 was released. I immediately switched to this tablet and then it was night and day: everything worked as expected. Nothing was blocked. It was wonderful so I sold the iPad straight away.

The in-between

In the meantime, every time I had to interact with Apple devices (iPad, iPhone, Mac), it was always very painful: either we couldn’t find the features quickly despite them saying that it was super intuitive or the functionality was explicitly blocked. This second point was a big problem because when you don’t know how to do something, is it really worth spending time looking for it considering Apple just might not want you to be able to do it? Who are they to stop us from using our devices as we please?

Considering that it was always a waste of time, it was simple: if someone came with a problem with an Apple product, I told them that I didn’t know about it because I really didn’t have the time and the patience to play with its artificially limited devices.

Tenth generation iPad

This year my daughter’s school wants her to buy an iPad. Since I’ve been away from Apple for 12 years and a lot may have changed in that long time, I figured I’d keep an open mind and welcome this experience. In fact, over time, I heard that people were very satisfied with Apple, that the customer service was excellent for after-sales service and that it was easy to use.

Spoiler: no, it’s not better.

Let’s start on a positive note with what I liked:

I think the device is really very beautiful. In terms of design and materials, it’s well done. On the other hand, I am not buying a piece of jewelry, but a tool for work, so this point is only an extra and the device must do the required work.
I find it super interesting to be able to laser engrave an inscription. It makes the object unique and personalized. However, of course, I didn’t put an engraving because if I want to resell it one day, having an inscription, it’s not the best seller, but it’s still an interesting option if we know that we will keep the device for a really long time. The idea of keeping it for a long time doesn’t seem so ridiculous considering that the iPhone 15 has just been released and that we can still buy the iPhones 14 and even 13 on the Apple website and in stores.

That’s it that’s all. Now let’s make way for the many disappointments.

Limitations

Just like the second generation iPad, this one has artificial limitations. Fortunately, iTunes is no more in the way, but the limitations are not the least.

The first surprise was to read that it is impossible to have two accounts at the same time. It is not possible for my Apple account and my daughter’s Apple account to be on the same tablet. You must log out (and clear your data) to log in as another person. This is not a great user experience, considering that since 2014 on Android tablets it is possible to have several profiles. Just open the screen and we can enter the last used account or switch to another in 3 seconds. For a company the size of Apple, their defense can’t be that it’s hard to do. The only real reason is that they want one device per person to make more money.

It’s cute to invite Mother Nature into their annual show to pretend that they’re doing something for the planet, but if you want to force people to buy more equipment than they really need, it is in reality just a smoke show.

Subsequently, I removed my account and just gave the account to my daughter. As she is young and it is my credit card that is registered in the App Store, I had set that every time she makes a purchase or installs a free application, that I receive a request for approval. I then start installing free applications like Google Chrome, Google Photo, Google Maps and each time it tells me that a request is sent. For my part, I am waiting for the notification. Still no email with a link. Nothing at all. So, I search a little on the web and the Apple documentation says that you need another Apple device to confirm. This makes no sense considering that Apple does not allow you to have two accounts on the same device. Once again, Apple wants us to buy more devices than we need! I had no choice, but to disable this feature.

User experience

Supposedly, using an Apple device is easy and a great joy. I suppose it must be a great joy for those who like to click a hundred times and enter their password a dozen times while installing applications from the App Store. How is it that when I want to install ten applications, I have to click 3 times, per installation, and I absolutely have to enter my password for each installation. If I have 10 apps to install, I would like to have to enter my password once, check a box saying to remember my password for the next 10 or 15 minutes and then leaves me alone with all these passwords nonsense. The check box is important because if I just want to install a single application and give the tablet back to my child, I will be able to do it without the password being saved. But for sure, I must have the option.

Another example of ease of use was when I had a bug in an app and needed to restart the tablet. Naturally, I try the power button, it doesn’t work. I press the power button for a long time and it still doesn’t work. In fact, it doesn’t show any options regarding power. The other place I look next is next to the time, where you can configure certain things like WiFi. Normally, there should be an icon for power and then choose whether to shut down the tablet or restart it. Again, there is no such option. Finally, in order to not search the Internet, I asked Siri and she told me to go to the control panel, to general settings and then I will be able to have the restart button. User-wise, it’s not really good because I don’t want to configure something; I want to do an action which is to restart the tablet. It seems that Apple wanted to make a joke to those who knew the old versions of Windows in which there were several people who made fun that you had to go to the start menu to stop the computer. So here, Apple went farther by asking to go to the configurations to be able to shut down or restart.

More limitations

Since I had to buy the iPad and was going on vacation in a few months, I figured it was worth getting AirTags. Besides, I had read that you could activate them with a device like the iPhone or iPad, then it would be visible on the iCloud site (which is perfect considering that I only have an Android phone). I don’t know where it’s written anymore because in fact that’s not the case at all. However, even the employees think it’s possible to see the AirTags on their website because I dealt with tech support and had 4 different employees tell me 4 times to go to the iCloud website. Since I didn’t see AirTags initially on the site, I did some research and in Apple’s official documentation it says it’s not possible and it’s for a supposed privacy reason. Basically, AirTags are only visible on iPad, iPhone, and Mac devices; never on the web. (https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/icloud/mm82e8ac5129/icloud iCloud is not in the list for AirTags, but is in the list for other devices).

I say “supposed privacy” because as such, when we activate an AirTag, we can put our name and phone number so that the person who finds it can contact us. That means the account information is available. Furthermore, the location we see on our devices does not appear by magic: it comes from a web service, so all the information is already present on the Internet. Again, the only reason for not having it accessible outside of Apple devices is to force the purchase of more devices.

Customer service

As previously written, excellent after-sales service is supposedly a reason for the exorbitant cost of Apple products. As a result of my experience, the customer service ranges from horrible to ok and I suggest you go in-store to the “Genius Bar” directly if really necessary.

Let’s start with the problem. I bought a pack of 4 AirTags and I have:

Configured the iPad with my daughter’s Apple account,
Associated an AirTag successfully,
Disconnected her account to reset the tablet so that the school could configure it,
Associated the 3 other AirTags successfully,
But the first AirTag no longer wanted to pair.

When I first tried to pair it after the iPad’s reset, the location app just didn’t detect the AirTag. So I followed the steps to reset it on https://support.apple.com/en-ca/102577 (remove and replace the battery 5 times). It worked and the application detected it. However, it started displaying “This AirTag is connected to another Apple ID”, which is of course not the case: it’s still my daughter’s account.

I went on chat support for 30 minutes. We have:

Tried to reset (replace the battery 5 times),
Tried to look at the AirTags on https://icloud.com/find in my account and that of my daughter (as a reminder, it’s impossible to see them there, so he doesn’t know his product),
Looked at the serial number of the AirTag (for nothing. He couldn’t confirm or deny that it’s in the right account or that it’s corrupt and he couldn’t completely reset it)
And he suggested I call on the phone.

I called and it was closed until the next day. So I called the following morning and I was served by 3 different persons over 55 minutes and with sometimes ridiculous discussions:

A woman started telling me “we’re going to reset the AirTag”. Since I had already done it easily 10 times at this point, I said to her “is this the procedure to replace the battery 5 times? » and she told me “no”. Then she continued the instructions “remove the battery, put it back in and do it again 4 times”. There I pointed out to her that this is “replace the battery 5 times”…
The same lady woman told me to go to https://icloud.com/find and I told her that it was of no use since it was not available according to the official Apple documentation. I got a “well, sir!” “. To which I told her that I would love for this feature to exist, but it doesn’t work and if she could make it work I would be very happy. Spoiler: no, she’s not able to make it work…
She transferred me to the online sales department to send me another one since it was broken, but because it had been over a month (one month and two weeks), they couldn’t , but he could send me back to support to do it since it’s under warranty. So much back and forth…
Back at support, the guy tried to get me to reset and go to iCloud, but at least he understood when I told him that it had already been tried. So he made me an appointment at a “Genius Bar”.

Finally, at the “Genius Bar”, it took 45 minutes. She reset 6-7 times, 2 other people joined the party to reset another 3 times and finally she gave me a new AirTag.

In summary, you have to look for the documentation online and if that doesn’t work, you have to make an appointment directly in store without wasting time with chat or a phone call. Considering it took 45 minutes and they tried to reset about ten times, which is a bit too intense, I give this last method a rating of just “okay.” If it had taken 10 minutes, I would have considered it an excellent experience. Especially since she told me that I wasn’t the first to whom this happened.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, Apple is still not a brand I can suggest to anyone. I was thinking of writing “according to what I’ve read, their camera is exceptional and if that’s the only thing you need then it might be worth it”, but since my sentence starts with “according to what I have read” and many of the points I have listed are also things I had read about that did not come to fruition, I will not continue this type of rumor in their favor. I will believe when I see.