Federico Viticci’s recent post, Not an iPad Pro Review: Why iPadOS Still Doesn’t Get the Basics Right, has been circulating this week and I finally finished it. While I agree with some of his suggestions in various sections, most of it reads to me as his personal wishlist of nice-to-haves rather than the basics he deems essential.

His concluding paragraphs made me chuckle. Apparently he’s tired of people disagreeing with him and any of us that do are deluded. Look, my dude, I’m not sure I’ve come across anyone suggesting that iPadOS is perfect, is anyone actually saying that? I am someone who is actually quite satisfied with iPadOS and the path it has been on. It’s okay that people disagree, we can do that. And I guess he can just continue being tired of hearing opinions that do not agree with his.

He writes:

I’m tired of hearing apologies that smell of Stockholm syndrome from iPad users who want to invalidate these opinions and claim that everything is perfect. I’m tired of seeing this cycle start over every two years, with fantastic iPad hardware and the usual (justified), “But it’s the software…” line at the end. I’m tired of feeling like my computer is a second-class citizen in Apple’s ecosystem. I’m tired of being told that iPads are perfectly fine if you use Final Cut and Logic, but if you don’t use those apps and ask for more desktop-class features, you’re a weirdo, and you should just get a Mac and shut up.

…But loving something doesn’t mean ignoring its flaws. And iPadOS is a flawed operating system that still doesn’t get the basics right and, as a result, drags down the entire product line.

Absolutely, there are still some big misses in iPadOS that should be resolved, especially now that we have M series iPads with more capable processors and more memory. For example, background tasks such as exporting a video in apps like Final Cut Pro. Affinity Publisher is another app that will pause file exports when put in the background though it resumes when brought back to the foreground. I think a case could be made that this is the kind of essential OS feature that should be resolved, at least on M series iPads.

The Files App

I completely disagree with his characterization of Files as slow and unreliable. At least in my experience it’s been fairly fast, easy to use and mostly reliable. No, it’s not perfect. No, it’s not 100% reliable. Yes, it could and should be made better.

Federico writes:

It’s a bad product that needs a fundamental rethink from a design and performance perspective.

No, no, no. Strong disagree on all of that. And I have to wonder if we’re using the same Files app? I guess the Stockholm Syndrome has me confused. His description of an app that is more unreliable than it is reliable does not fit my experience at all. But maybe I’ve not used external drives in the same way as he has, perhaps he’s moving files that are much larger. It’s possible I’ve not stressed the app enough to get those errors, I have no way of knowing. But in copying over folders containing large numbers of sub folders and files I’ve found it works very well.

When I have had problems it seems to revolve around iCloud files and he mentions the same so I’ll agree on that point but not much else.

Some of his other points about Files are, to me, minor and, again, do not add up to the need for a fundamental Files rethink:

  • File’s doesn’t display transfer speed when copying something
  • Quick Actions are not customizable
  • Better Shortcuts integration/support
  • Lack of Smart Folders in Files

And one more which I agree is important: “It’s still impossible to set default apps for opening specific file types.” I don’t know what’s possible with the foundations of iPadOS/iOS given the historical sandboxing of files and applications.

In his Files conclusion he writes:

After seven years, I’m starting to wonder if maybe it’s time for Apple to scrap the Files project and start over with a new app based on the strong foundation of Finder.

Nope. He’s not come close to making the case for this kind of thing for Files. I think he’s done the opposite.

Missing First Party Apps He also tackles missing apps and here again I shrug at most of the suggestions as most have third party apps that cover the missed function. You can bet that if Apple does release such apps as he suggests at least half of the Apple “community” will throw a tantrum that Apple is Sherlocking third party apps.

I want to call out his specific request for a Preview app. He writes:

There’s something about Preview’s clarity and ease of use that can’t be replaced by a simple Quick Look preview, and that’s not to mention the features that iPadOS’ Quick Look lacks compared to Preview for macOS.

This is vague and provides zero details about what’s missing. In my experience the Files Quick Look has been entirely adequate, convenient and a pleasure to use.

His last three: Terminal, FontBook and Xcode. Absolutely agreed on FontBook as this is a key functionality currently lacking and important for creative endeavors. The current third party solutions are not up to the task, it requires a system level app. YES.

Xcode, yes please. I think it’s coming. I’d guess a step up from Swift Playgrounds to a interim Xcode lite before a more fully featured Xcode not long after. YES.

I’ve read that there are core technical reasons as to why Terminal would be fairly difficult but I don’t recall the source or details.

Desktop Class Apps

Apple fell down on this promise, agreed. Of particular note: Mail which really should get some attention from Apple.

Shortcuts needs bug fixes and yes, actions that the Mac has should be brought over.

Safari still does not have a customizable tool bar and while it’s performed very well for me it’s not a desktop class browser. I suspect that this will be a tough nut to crack.

Audio Limitations

Yes, please Apple fix this for the podcasters so they’ll have one less thing to complain about. But no, really, it does seem like the audio system could be improve not only for more complex audio workflows but for general use as Federico points out.

Multitasking and Stage Manager

Multitasking is a big one for Federico and others and I generally disagree with their take. Yes, it can be improved. But no, it’s not the mess he makes it out to be. He says the original Stage Manager was a disaster and I think he’s over-stating that.

Stage Manager 1 did have some inconsistencies and it did not work the way HE wanted. And it was buggy for the first few months but I encountered far fewer bugs than he describes. I used it full time and actually liked it. I particularly appreciated the auto-positioning of windows from that version. I spend more time fiddling with the more exact window placement in the second version. See, different people, different preferences.

Though I certainly appreciate that windows can be resized with far more options in version 2.

Here’s an example of Federico’s exaggeration:

However, Apple’s efforts last year only improved the basic functionality of Stage Manager, leaving several requests unanswered and letting Stage Manager’s foundation languish without the additional flexibility that one would expect from a pro-oriented feature.

I’m sorry, does Apple answer to Federico Viticci? Are they expected to answer his requests? And he’s talking about Stage Manager that was released in Fall of 2023. How have they let the foundation languish? Is the problem that they have not released new Stage Manager features in the months since it’s release? Really?

Stage Manager is still limited to four windows at once. Despite the iPad Pro becoming more and more powerful over time (to the point that the latest iPad Pros are now one M-chip generation ahead of MacBooks), Stage Manager still forces you to work with only four windows shown on-screen at once. Imagine if a 13-inch MacBook Air could only let you see four windows at the same time.

Yeah, okay. But it was Federico spent weeks after WWDC 2022 complaining loudly that Stage Manager should be optimized to run on older iPads many of which had only 4 to 6GB of memory.

Which is it? Build features that take advantage of more powerful iPads or restrict features to accommodate older hardware? He’s either forgetful or confused.

I agree with him that presets for combinations would be nice as well as Shortcuts integration. And he’s right about active window status not changing as it should.

And I agree that it would be great to have an option to easily create new windows for the front most app. Seems like that could be added to the 3 button multitasking menu at the top of each window as well as implemented as a keyboard shortcut. And I agree that an easier, Mission Control style action to display the windows of the current set.

I agree that there are improvements to be made but I think his expectations are unrealistic.

SIDEBAR: Honestly, it sometimes feels like he’s putting on a show and/or just throwing a tantrum for attention. And I’d say this about the larger field of pundits and podcasters. Nothing is ever enough, they’re never happy and always in a state of complaint about what is and speculation about what is to come. It seems rare that I see any kind of gratitude and appreciation for the progress made. It’s just a straight jump to criticism.

Okay, back to Stage Manager:

Apple did the bare minimum work for Stage Manager, “fixed” it last year to make it at least passable, and never considerably improved it since launch – which, in many ways, is the story of iPad multitasking so far.

They released an improved version in the fall, is he asking for new features to have been added since then? Or is he suggesting that more should have been added for the fall release? In any case, I think this fits with my suggestion above that these guys are never happy with progress and are impatient for the next new thing.

Next he jumps into the OnePlus Open, an Android phone-to-tablet foldable that he suggests has vastly better tiling for split-screen multitasking. Again he points to saved app pairs. He shares a video that to me just demonstrates an incredibly confusing tile system. Maybe it’s easy to use but I was totally confused by the video.

I do agree with him that improvements can be made to both Stage Manager and Split View, but again, I feel he is way over exaggerating the problems of the current system. I, again, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, actually enjoy using it and find it a delight. I can do that today and also acknowledge that it can be improved.

The remaining sections he covers, Spotlight and background processes, system-wide utilities and again, I agree, that improments can be made. This is especially for background processes on newer M-based iPads. But at some point older iPad Pros with less memory will need to be left behind. Just as with Stage Manager in 2022 people with older iPad Pros will complain but, sorry, that’s the nature of the process. You can’t expect a more powerful OS to continue working on older devices with less RAM.

Proper iPad Backups

Yep, agreed 100%. These devices need proper, local drive or local network or even some sort of iCloud Time Machine.

External Displays

On clamshell mode:

I’m sure that someone out there will spin this as, “Actually, I like that I need to keep my iPad open”, but I don’t buy it.

You don’t have to buy it buddy but yeah, actually, when I’m using an external screen I actually do want my iPad open. Is it really so hard to imagine that some of us might find two screens better than one? Seriously, I find it really strange that this would not be obvious. That said, yeah, external screen support can be improved too.

Wrapping this up, I’m all for improvements to iPadOS. It’s the slagging of previous improvements and progress, the constant negative tone that bother me. It seems to me that Federico and other independent “content creators” might benefit from remembering that it’s actual human beings that clock in every day that do this work. It’s easy to piss all over Apple the corporation because it’s now a tech giant and outrage sells. But maybe remember, especially if you’re someone with an amplified voice, that appreciation and gratitude are also a part of the human experience, perhaps find a better balance.