iPad iPad replacement (home hub)... need help

[roland.g]

I have an older iPad at home, I believe it is an iPad Air 1 - 9.7" screen, which honestly looks just like many of the other iPads from that general timeframe. However, it is not able to go past iOS / iPadOS 12.x.x. The iPad is mounted to the wall and is just a home hub. It can pull up our family calendar, run the robovac, pull up recipes in Paprika, add to shopping lists in Reminders, operate the blinds, turn on/off lights. Mostly it is used for the calendar and shopping lists, so the reminders app is a big part of it. But because it is tied to my iCloud account, I have not been able to upgrade the iCloud reminders on my iPhone/iCloud as it would break the functionality on the iPad.

So I want to replace it. Apparently an iPad 5th or 6th gen, or an iPad Air 3 (I think all 3 of those are the same 9.4" x 6.6" form factor would all work. Given the use I would like to spend as little as possible. And I would like to hopefully have it be compatible with the iPadOS for as long as possible. From what I can tell all three of those can run iPadOS 16 when it comes out, so that shouldn't be an issue.

And I would like to keep the form factor the same for the mount I have for it.

Any recommendation on the options I have.

5th gen iPad
6th gen iPad
3rd gen iPad Air

 

[someoneoutthere]

3rd gen iPad Air is the newest amongst the three that you listed and software updates would be supported for the longest amount of time going forward. 3rd gen iPad Air also has a newer chip than the other two options you listed, which would help your cause squeezing in couple extra OS updates. I would go with the 3rd gen iPad Air if I was in your shoes.

 

[roland.g]

3rd gen iPad Air is the newest amongst the three that you listed and software updates would be supported for the longest amount of time going forward. 3rd gen iPad Air also has a newer chip than the other two options you listed, which would help your cause squeezing in couple extra OS updates. I would go with the 3rd gen iPad Air if I was in your shoes.

Darn. I didn't realize, while the Air 3 is listed as the supporting the same OSes as the 5th and 6th generation iPad, it is a 10.5" not a 9.7" screen and the iPad is .4 inches taller, .2 inches wider and slightly thinner than either of those two or the iPad it is replacement. I would have to remove the wall mount the iPad is held by and get a new one, not something I was planning on doing.

 

[GMShadow]

The Air 3 used the Pro 10.5 chassis, yes.

Could you adapt an iPad Mini to the mount, perhaps? The fifth generation is two hardware generations newer than the iPad 6.

 

[rui no onna]

One thing to note, I believe iPads can’t be used as HomeKit hub on iOS 16 anymore. You can still control your IOT devices but automation, remote access, etc. might stop working.

If you’re just staying on the iOS 15, then sticking to the 9.7” 6th gen is fine for the stated usage.

 

[roland.g]

The Air 3 used the Pro 10.5 chassis, yes.

Could you adapt an iPad Mini to the mount, perhaps? The fifth generation is two hardware generations newer than the iPad 6.

I really want to stay with a 9.7 chassis unless in the future I have to change. And would prefer not to lose screen size with the Mini.

One thing to note, I believe iPads can’t be used as HomeKit hub on iOS 16 anymore. You can still control your IOT devices but automation, remote access, etc. might stop working.

If you’re just staying on the iOS 15, then sticking to the 9.7” 6th gen is fine for the stated usage.

I have a HomePod, a couple HomePod Minis, and several Apple TVs, so I don't really need the iPad to be a hub per se. I use it as a hub for access to things for the family, and it would still run the Home App, which honestly I don't use all that much. So not having it as a hub is not an issue.

 

[rui no onna]

I really want to stay with a 9.7 chassis unless in the future I have to change. And would prefer not to lose screen size with the Mini.


I have a HomePod, a couple HomePod Minis, and several Apple TVs, so I don't really need the iPad to be a hub per se. I use it as a hub for access to things for the family, and it would still run the Home App, which honestly I don't use all that much. So not having it as a hub is not an issue.

Gotcha.

One thing to keep in mind, iPhones with A9 and A10 have been dropped from iOS 16 support. I expect the iPad 5th and 6th gen (and Pro 9.7) are next on the chopping block for future iOS updates. There’s really not much future if you want to stick to 9.7”.

 

[roland.g]

Yeah. We are considering moving in the next year. I may punt this upgrade to see if that happens, at which point I'd make any changes with the new home and engineering what works and doesn't there.