Eric_WVGG
macrumors 6502a
no I don't
no it's not
no we don't
lol sorry but I just disagree with all this
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All iPads Apple, PLEASE Bring Back the Home Button and Headphone Jack to iPad! 😡😡😡
- Thread starter Xuan Chen
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lol sorry but I just disagree with all this
Personally I do want the headphone jack back!!
I rarely use one, but if I was, it’s so convenient to just use cheap but solid headphones that never run out of power.
I’ve been fine with the new swipe up for home thing.
Wasn’t sure I would be, but Apple seems to prioritize responding to that gesture so that it almost always works, even when stuff is being super slow.
I do miss the way you trigger reachability though! But unfortunately it’s not on iPad anyway, but double tapping home was more reliable for me than double tapping the back or trying to swipe down from the bottom.
I rarely use one, but if I was, it’s so convenient to just use cheap but solid headphones that never run out of power.
I’ve been fine with the new swipe up for home thing.
Wasn’t sure I would be, but Apple seems to prioritize responding to that gesture so that it almost always works, even when stuff is being super slow.
I do miss the way you trigger reachability though! But unfortunately it’s not on iPad anyway, but double tapping home was more reliable for me than double tapping the back or trying to swipe down from the bottom.
People don't realize -- and Apple didn't really advertise -- just how good their DAC was (and is, on Macs). I think many assumed it would be low quality because that's what one would find with most consumer electronics, but it most definitely was not.
I don't miss the home button at all and greatly prefer the full screen, but I'm completely with you on the headphone jack. I miss it terribly.
Parowdy
macrumors 68000
Waste of time.
They’ll never reverse course. Not Not everyone misses the click that wears off eventually.
The omission of the headphone jack is a real concern though.
They’ll never reverse course. Not Not everyone misses the click that wears off eventually.
The omission of the headphone jack is a real concern though.
conmee
macrumors 65816
I thought this entire thread bordered on unicorn fantasy wishful thinking and as a result didn't bind our responses to reality. lol 😉
Wishful thinking of the future, not the past! We can fantasize about the future because the future is undetermined*, and anything that's within the rules of physics, no matter how crazy-sounding, has a nonzero chance of happening. But the past is determined so there's no playing around with that.
(*Well, classical physics says the future is determined just like the past, but quantum physics says the future is undetermined. But even in the classical deterministic universe, we can't feasibly know or process all the information in the universe, so it's practically undetermined.)
You probably weren't expecting a scientific response to your jest, right? See, no one really knows the future.😆
chubbycable
macrumors newbie
I don’t have particularly strong feelings about the Home Button either way at this point—gesture navigation has mostly become second nature for me on iPad.
But I do agree with you more on the headphone jack removal, mainly from a practical daily-use angle.
From a usage standpoint, the real issue isn’t just “dongle inconvenience,” it’s that the USB-C port ends up doing double duty for people who still prefer wired audio: charging + audio output (via adapter or USB-C headphones). That means more frequent plug/unplug cycles on the same port. Over time, that’s not ideal for any physical connector, no matter how well engineered it is.
In a way, the iPad becomes more “single point of failure” for wired users. If the port gets loose or fails, you lose both charging and audio at once. That’s a bigger dependency than when the 3.5mm jack existed separately.
Bluetooth is probably the direction Apple is fully committed to, and for most users it works fine. But I still think there’s a gap for people who want zero-latency, no-battery audio without adding wear pressure to the USB-C port.
So I’m not necessarily against progress here, but I do think the trade-off is often framed as “dongle vs no dongle,” when in reality it’s also about port load distribution and long-term mechanical wear.
Maybe wireless is the endgame—but for wired-audio users, that transition definitely didn’t feel neutral.
But I do agree with you more on the headphone jack removal, mainly from a practical daily-use angle.
From a usage standpoint, the real issue isn’t just “dongle inconvenience,” it’s that the USB-C port ends up doing double duty for people who still prefer wired audio: charging + audio output (via adapter or USB-C headphones). That means more frequent plug/unplug cycles on the same port. Over time, that’s not ideal for any physical connector, no matter how well engineered it is.
In a way, the iPad becomes more “single point of failure” for wired users. If the port gets loose or fails, you lose both charging and audio at once. That’s a bigger dependency than when the 3.5mm jack existed separately.
Bluetooth is probably the direction Apple is fully committed to, and for most users it works fine. But I still think there’s a gap for people who want zero-latency, no-battery audio without adding wear pressure to the USB-C port.
So I’m not necessarily against progress here, but I do think the trade-off is often framed as “dongle vs no dongle,” when in reality it’s also about port load distribution and long-term mechanical wear.
Maybe wireless is the endgame—but for wired-audio users, that transition definitely didn’t feel neutral.
chrono1081
macrumors G3
The lack of headphone jack and Touch ID means more room for battery and most people are going to want that, especially when you can get the exact same functionality as a headphone jack with a tiny little dongle.
conmee
macrumors 65816
The battery actually shrunk and battery life/runtime remained the same per Apple estimates even after removing Touch ID and 3.5mm jack. Now that said, the 10th/11th Gen iPads increased the display size from 10.2” to 10.9” consuming more power, but the A14 and A16 chips were more efficient than the A13 in the 9th Gen iPad and Apple was able to get away with smaller batteries with the same runtime. So runtime itself was not a benefit of removing Touch ID and the headphone jack, since runtime didn’t change.
I guess at best the argument for removing those two features was that Apple could maintain existing runtime with a larger screen and smaller battery by removing those features (otherwise the battery may have needed to be a bit smaller to accommodate Touch ID/headphone jack and that would have resulted in less runtime).
I think in the end, imo, removing Touch ID and the headphone jack had negligible benefit in terms of battery life. The efficiency of subsequent A series chips more than made up for any impact those features might have made to runtime.
10.2” iPad A13 9th Gen (TouchID+3.5mm): 8,557mAh / 10hrs battery life
10.9” iPad A14 10th Gen (No TouchID/No 3.5mm): 7,606mAh / 10hrs battery life
10.9” iPad A16 11th Gen (No TouchID/No 3.5mm): 7,600mAh / 10hrs battery life
I thought I would hate not having a home button on my (just arrived yesterday) iPad Pro. I still have to Google “how do I do XXX?” occasionally, but I’m really liking it now. Never quite got the hang of gestures on my iPhone 12, just enough to het by, but I don’t use it nearly as much as an iPad.
Nah, they have been terminated a long time ago.
Fraserpatty
macrumors 6502a
HouseLannister
macrumors 68040
Yeah, no.
Nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia will make a device that will sell dozens of units. It's just not practical to go back to analog buttons and analog ports. Just not enough value for the added complexity, increased failure points, etc. It's retro and that can be fun, but it's just not what the market wants. You could also release a bakelite phone with a rotary dial and get a small group of people really excited, but it is just not what the bulk of us want or need.
Those are also analog and have no place in modern electronics. 😛
retta283
macrumors 68040
Every Mac computer has an analog jack on it. They actually specifically advertise the specs of their jacks too. I don’t see why the fact that’s it’s analog really matters, especially when Apple used to use the 3.5mm jack for digital optical audio as well.
I agree with others in that reducing the load on the single USB-C port is a useful thing, they do tend to get loose over time. Not having to use a dongle while charging is a good thing too. But it’s a pipe dream, unfortunately.
Fraserpatty
macrumors 6502a
No, the headphone jack will never come back. How else is Apple going to make you buy the AirPods? And they are about to make Siri so awesome that you can tell her to do anything the Home button was able to do for you.
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I have had iPhones and iPads with the home button. I can go with or without it.
I have gotten use to no audio jack on iPhones and iPads. I never use headphones or ear buds with my iPhones but I wouldn't mind having an audio jack on the iPad.
I have to agree that Apple will probably never bring either back on the iPads.
I have gotten use to no audio jack on iPhones and iPads. I never use headphones or ear buds with my iPhones but I wouldn't mind having an audio jack on the iPad.
I have to agree that Apple will probably never bring either back on the iPads.
Except the turntable/vinyl audio resurgence might disagree.
kltmom
macrumors regular
My teenaged/high school-aged daughter and her friends, and many others in her school are ALL into having turntables and vinyls. When we go to any stores that have vinyls, it's one of the first things my daughter wants to go shop for. Growing up mainly as an 80's kid, I was all into cassettes and boomboxes and walkmans, so it fascinates me to no end to see my kid into something that predates my generation!