iPad iPad for kids

[Cassandle]

Hi all

I have two kids (11 and 8) who currently use very old Amazon Fire tablets. These things are okay but fiddly and have generally terrible laggy performance. Main use cases are homework, watching kids YouTube and things like kids Netflix and Disney and some gaming.

Been thinking about getting iPads for them both. Probably a refurbished base model. Our home is a fully Apple-based ecosystem which is another potential benefit in switching over (in theory at least).

Interested in other people’s experiences in iPads being used by their kids. iPads are obviously quite expensive (relative to a Fire tablet anyway) - do people who’ve done this recommend it? What are the parental controls like?

 

[Student of Life]

Wait for black Friday and get two iPad 11. You should be able to get them for around 250 each on sale or even less if you are lucky. That iPad should easily last your kids a long time. You wont have to worry about lag etc. Dont forget to get them a case and AppleCare because kids are kids.

 

[Bigwaff]

A couple iPad mini 5th generation is the perfect size, weight, and price point. It’ll have iPadOS support for several years, doesn’t have Apple Intelligence features, and 3rd party apps will support it for quite sometime. ScreenTime in iPadOS is pretty good but takes some finagling. Read up and watch YouTube tutorials. My kids are older now so I don’t rely on ScreenTime any more but ScreenTime coupled with parental controls on your router is best.

 

[Alexander_im]

My 5 y.o. kid took away my iPad Pro 12.9 M1 LOL 😂
It was the only tablet at home, so it was his *khm,khm* only choice for a cartoon time and Lingo kids.
But I bought a used iPad 9.7 (this whole iPad line up is a total mess these days, I think it was the one that came after iPad Pro 9.7). It's still great for YouTube, language learning apps and eBooks.

 

[rui no onna]

A couple iPad mini 5th generation is the perfect size, weight, and price point. It’ll have iPadOS support for several years, doesn’t have Apple Intelligence features, and 3rd party apps will support it for quite sometime. ScreenTime in iPadOS is pretty good but takes some finagling. Read up and watch YouTube tutorials. My kids are older now so I don’t rely on ScreenTime any more but ScreenTime coupled with parental controls on your router is best.

The iPad mini 5 has A12/3GB and was released in 2019. Chances are iPadOS 26 is the last update it will get. Granted, app support won't be an issue for the next 3 years.

 

[User #07242024]

The iPad mini 5 has A12/3GB and was released in 2019. Chances are iPadOS 26 is the last update it will get. Granted, app support won't be an issue for the next 3 years.

I think it’s okay. If they can survive on very old Fire, then they can survive on old mini 5.

 

[Bigwaff]

The iPad mini 5 has A12/3GB and was released in 2019. Chances are iPadOS 26 is the last update it will get. Granted, app support won't be an issue for the next 3 years.

I imagine YouTube videos and kid's games like Thomas & Friends, Disney, Sesame Street, etc. won't suffer with A12 SoC. Heck, the mini 5 also supports original Apple Pencil so kids coloring and drawing apps are an option too.