iOS for iPad needs user accounts!!!

I think the iPhone needs locations based profiles for alerts / notifications / etc. before user profiles. (Like old school Nokia - Silent, Meeting, Outdoors)

And while I can see merit in the idea of user profiles for the iPad, I would imagine Apple's stance to be along the lines of

"it's sold at an unbelievable price.....buy one each"

 

Yes!! I agree -- if there's one major gripe I have about the iPad, this would be it (not the lack of Flash support or anything else I can think of at this moment).

I have young nephews who would love to get their hands on my iPad (judging from how they love to grab my iPhone whenever we meet). So I'd love to make sure that I can create a bare-bones account they could use (under my supervision, of course) without the risk of them messing up my settings and bookmarks etc.

 

No, it doesn't. You think it does but you're wrong.

The iPad is a personal device. To have proper user accounts would be a huge pain in the butt. Where does it end? Different iTunes accounts for each member or are they same? Or can it be either? Will each person have different settings? How do you switch? How do you lock your account?

Such functionality would make the iPad more complicated for very little gain (as in, that feature would be useful to very few people IMHO). That's why Apple haven't done it and why I don't think they ever will.

 

The thing is I think the iPad, like the iPod and iPhone, is designed to be a personal device not a family or group used one. It's not to say that some do use it that way, but people use dinner knifes as ad hoc screwdrivers too.

 

You think it does but you're wrong. LOL! Some of you guys are hilarious.

I like the idea. Thought about this the first time I handed my iPad over to my wife.

 

Yeah you can only hope these types don't talk to real people in real life this way... they would be the one's walking around with the *permanent* black eye ;-)

I like the idea too. For most it would be as simple as not using the feature if they don't need it. For me I could have a profile with the browser disabled for when I let my kids play with it...

 

This is where the idea of a storage locker makes some sense. Each family member could have their own piece of the locker. Then each person just puts their stuff in their portion of the locker and it is safe.

Just some quick thinking.

 

I wanted user accounts too. Would have been perfect for my family where three people would have shared one iPad 1. We ended up sharing two iPad 1's and when we sold them, bought three iPad2's. Hmmm....I wonder why Apple would not want user accounts on the iPad.

 

Both the iPad and iPhone are incredibly intuitive devices that kids learn quickly and enjoy using. (And a lot of apps that are developed specifically for kids.)

I think a lot of people would love to be able to share let a family member use their device without fear of someone unintentionally changing anything.

I agree that different user accounts or at least a version that would limit usage to certain apps approved by the primary user would be good option.

 

hopefully it will be released soon http://nowsci.com/userprofiles/

and hopefully it works will all apps but I think it will be difficult

not having the profiles is very annoying to say the least

 

I definitely want this.. my wife and I are sharing an iPad 2 and we have a difference of opinion on a lot of configuration options

 

I agree that it's a cool idea in theory. I also agree that multiple accounts would be a logistical mess and potentially a big memory hog.

Apple definitely doesn't want multiple people sharing/syncing the same content that were purchased by one user. And rewriting apps to allow for separate user databases within each app would be a developer's nightmare.

What could be viable though is a single generic guest account. You could set up the apps you want your guest to have access to and anything not on that list would not appear on the home screen. Guests might have access to games, movies, music, etc. For the web, it could merely put Safari into a private browsing mode, with no bookmarks, history, cookies, etc. loaded on start or saved on exit. Mail, settings, contacts, and calendars would simply be off limits by default.

 

This is very much needed. While it's arguable that an iPod or iPhone are personal devices and rarely shared, the iPad is a different beast. It would be great to have a restricted account for kids (no settings changes, no email out, restricted apps, etc.). Cross your fingers that this will show up in iOS 5.

 

True, but what does the P in PC stand for?

 

I know that feeling

 

I don't need this. I don't let the wife use MY iPad.

 

eh, I think that would be cool... but it might not work for the people that only have 16GBs of data. I have the 32GB.. and If I added an extra user (and say double all of my apps and music) my iPad would be full to the max.

 

Tell that to my daughter who grabs my iPhone or my wife's iPhone CONSTANTLY to do stuff like YouTube, Angry Birds, ar listen to music.

My fear is that in her mashing on the buttons, she will stumble into an app or settings where she can do some damage like deleting something or changing the language to Swahili. It would be nice to just have a guest account that could give the user read-only access or at the very least restrict certain apps & settings from view.

 

I like the idea of the guest account. It's no necessarily needing the ability for two people to share full use of a device. It's more the ability to let someone else use it without being able to inadvertently access/change/delete other items.

 

And then you'd need more memory, because I'm not sure a 64gig device would be enough memory for multiple users. I'm sure that 16 gigs wouldn't.

 

It does need them in my opinion, but Apple have a vested interest in not implementing it until it puts them at a competitive disadvantage with other tablet manufacturers, since they probably reason that people will buy another iPad.....but it isnt really cheap enough for that.

It is a logical thing to implement in some fashion though, even if it's just separate accounts for email and iCal.