What iPad and iPadOS needs to become to complete its evolution.

6 min readOct 17, 2020

October 17, 2020 by pycrocoding

Many of us were duped by the marketing endeavours of Apple into thinking the iPad can be your only computer and in fairness, for some workflows, this is true. People who only have basic requirements of office productivity software, media creation and content creation can easily slip into an iPad only lifestyle. However, you can still argue even those people who have transitioned are still stifled somewhat by the device.

People almost always refer to 80 or 90% of my workflow can easily be achieved on the iPad, but this is by no means a pathway to owning one device.

Devs wanna dev!

Developers on the other hand have been neglected, to code on an iPad involves many work arounds and with the exception of Python most languages are not reachable natively. Python via applications such as Pythonista and Juno do at least make good strides into bringing native coding possible on the iPad. Again, we have a caveat here in that only pure Python modules can be used.

Of course, for development workarounds do exist such as adding a raspberry pi sidecar to an iPad Pro via USB C or via any iPad utilising the Raspberry Pi as a hotspot. This then gives us full command line access to the world of development by adding Linux to the iPad and a plethora of coding options albeit without an IDE but guess what? This still isn’t a one device option.

Conversely, we can access IDE’s via the cloud which opens up development in many languages online but is this really what we want? There is a lot to said about working on your own machine, keeping your work local and being able to work offline can sometimes be vital if you are in the zone.

A single screen is not my usual NASA command centre!

Workarounds aside the iPad itself still puts roadblocks into your productivity, most people who spend considerable amounts of time developing like to use a large and or multiple screens. This is where it becomes curtain time for the iPad, whilst the design sports for ultra-mobility the OS lets the device down when it comes to external display options. Sure, you can add a monitor to your iPad but the experience is a waste of time, first of all the screen is simply mirrored and secondly the aspect ratio casts your display with black vertical bars.

There are Apps available to enhance your dual screen experience but full support for all applications is not there and to be frank Apps like this should not need to be available as this is a simple feature that should be part of the OS itself.

Hickory dickory dock and magic

Recently we have seen the addition of mouse support and improved keyboards for the iPad and for me the mouse support has been very welcome, the keyboard however could still do with improvement. Whilst the typing experience on the magic keyboard is excellent some keys such as ESC and function keys are absent (again we are forced to use shortcut workarounds).

Personally I have also found that the magic keyboard also takes out some of the “magic” of the iPad experience, since I added the magic keyboard I have rarely taken the iPad out of the keyboard and thus it spends most of its use in “laptop mode”. This is a shame as prior to this I used to use the iPad mostly in portrait mode; taking notes, writing content etc. You can of course detach it, but I find myself simply not doing this unless I make a conscious decision to do so and when you do your device is out of its protection. This laptop style convenience has also led to me using the pencil less frequently something that was once the coolest part of the iPad.

This is where the magic keyboard could do with evolving, for one I would prefer to use it as a desk dock so when I am at my desk I could attach it easily to the doc and leave my other peripherals connected to the dock which brings me to the point of the pass through USB C Port. This port on the keyboard can only be used for charging whilst very handy it doesn’t allow for the above use case of making a docking station. Hanging dongles from the screen for peripherals does not fit at all with Apples previous design ethos and makes the iPad ugly.

To expand on the magic keyboard a telescopic magnetic circular plate where the iPad connects could fix this it would also allow for rotation so that you can use the iPad in portrait mode whilst connected to the keyboard. This would also allow you to have a skin on the iPad itself which in theory would mean you can leave the heavy keyboard on your desk and take away the iPad for media consumption / or productivity where you do not require the keyboard. This way the pencil still becomes a vital driving tool.

Monitor support must come to the iPad in a no quibble screen extension that makes full use of the screen connected. Whilst working on the native display can be productive with the introduction of split screen it is not something you would want to spend 8hrs a day doing. The Microsoft surface devices are already there with this functionality if iPad replicated it a massive milestone would be met.

The strong ARM of the law may change everything!

Perhaps now that Apple has announced its migration to ARM silicon the other quandary might get addressed in that xCode and a full terminal might make its way to iOS thus turning the iPad into a real computer with next generation interaction too. In essence what we are asking for here is a more complete iOS more like MacOS without ruining the tablet experience we have come to love.

Cash cow tactics!

I suspect Apple’s main fear is that people will only buy one device and not be forced to own a laptop / desktop as well as the iPad to achieve 100% use case, I don’t see a problem here at all people are already trying their best to make this a reality if they continue to frustrate them they may jump ship completely to a surface device. With the cost of an iPad Pro already at the same level as a Macbook they should not be so concerned and for budget entry into the market the standard iPad’s and iPad Air will capture more users into the Apple ecosystem.

So come on Apple, I am challenging you to become what a descent percentage of your users want you to be, start catering for developers on the iPad and let us enjoy new ways of working.

The wish list is simple:

Second monitor support at full screen resolution that extends the existing display.
A full version of safari that allows us to inspect html with a working console for testing JavaScript.
Some innovation on the magic keyboard to allow protective skins for those who want to use the keyboard as a docking station (and think about a rotating upper half to the keyboard).
A full keyset on the magic keyboard.
A sandboxed native terminal (windows subsystem for Linux esq? even ChromeOS has this covered)
The ability to use full Python IDE’s with extension via PIP for all modules and equally Node’js NPM et al. The above point should allow for this.

Let me out! Let me out!

Unleash the iPad please! Something that is marketed as the next level in computing should not require workarounds, the very fact people are creating workarounds is your clients way of letting you know the features they require, all you have to do is read and listen. The hardware is already splendid, top notch and beautiful let the software catch up.

If you are worried about sales, just think the less devices we need to own the more cash we will have available for services, applications and upgrades (taps head in absence of a smart thinking meme).

I love my iPad Pro but I want to love it more.

Thanks for blogging in.