iPad User Guide

Apple has fantastic marketing, however there Out Of Box Experience (OOBE) is severaly lacking because there is NO User Guide included with the device. Instead, we have to do a Google Search and find out that the arcane User Guide is on Apple Books, so I have to install that App just to read the User Guide.

At 728 pages in length, it’s a long read, that’s for sure.

What I really wanted to learn about was how to use Split View, and the explanation in the User Guide was deficient, so I ended up watching a YouTube video by a user, and then it finally worked for me.

Yeah, I’m a long-time iPad Air user, so at least that device had a physical Home button, while the latest iPad Pro eschews the Home button, requiring me to learn another upward swipe movement.

The Power button can be used for single tap, double tap, triple tap, long hold, hold with up volume, hold with down volume, uh huh, so you get the idea, lots of bizarre sequences to memorize. I’ll be using the Command+Tab to quickly task switch between apps, along with the Split View and Slide View features.

So Apple, next time just include the User Guide, pre-installed on all iPad devices. I’d even recommend that you open the User Guide as a user does their first login, there should be no hunting. Or, better yet, a series of Videos to demonstrate how to use this fine touch device, because words never caption the simplicity that a video does.

When trying to teach an elderly, computer-illiterate person the basics of using an iPad, it would be very helpful to be able to print down an entire manual or sections of the manual. An electronic-only manual is useless for this demographic.

Who is responsible for deciding not to provide a User’s Manual that can be printed, in whole or in part, for reference while learning to use this product? To force users to use the product so they can access manuals that explain how to use the product is circular reasoning and the pinnacle of absurd silliness! This decision flies in the face of the kind of forward-thinking innovation that Apple built their reputation on. It also condemns the product to minimal and marginal use until and unless the user is able to dedicate time to study and practice with the product - the very thing that Apple slammed their competitors about in their youth.

An extremely poor decision...!

Hint - release manuals in a format that can be easily printed.