Multi-user support on the iPad

It wouldn't surprise me if apple are working on this. There may be changes between the developer release and the final one. I reckon a camera will be included, and multi-users makes a lot of sense.

 

Actually the one thing still bugging me about the iPhone OS is the fact we still don't have a proper manageable way to categorize applications and store them in sub folders.

I have 116 Apps... If I get the iPad this would likely increase. I don't want several hundred pages to flip through to get to App 107.

 

Multi-user a must

Multi-user will be a "deal breaker" for me. If I can't leave the iPad in my living room or rec room to be used by whoever in my family without mixing up email etc it will not be cost effective for me. I have an iPhone and i don't need another "personal" device. I hope they sort this out and announce something soon.

 

multiple accounts?

the iphone as of now is strictly single-user. otoh, mac os x running on a laptop supports multiple users. you have the option to set it up to use auto-login and have a mostly single-user look and feel if you don't use the multi-user capability.

does anyone know how the ipad will behave? i have an iphone and a laptop, so does my wife. i could imagine it still might be fun/useful to have an ipad around the house for surfing, checking mail, etc. but it would make considerably less sense if the ipad had to "belong" to just one of us.

will ipad support multiple users? if so, how?

thinking about this... it seems like it would be relatively easy to support the basics of user login (just like a macbook), but you'd have to solve issues such as how to divide up the available storage across users. also usb sync would have to become more complex, assuming you want each user to be able to sync separately against their own laptops...

 

I am trying to figure out what the little button to the right of the unlock bar is. This may hold the answer.

With that said, it is of course possible. Will they do it? Who knows. If they do, I would hope for OD authentication and the ability to use AFP shares for storage.

 

I thought Steve had said it starts a photo slideshow when it's docked.

 

Single user only.

As above the button turns the slideshow on

 

Ah, guess I missed that. Thanks.

 

iPad User Accounts?

Didn't see or haven't heard anything about the possibility of the iPad having separate user accounts or being able to sync to 2 itunes accounts. This could be a deal breaker for many. The email and calendar apps are great, but my wife is going to want to be able to view her info on it as well. Same thing with media.

We both have 2 iphones, but 2 iPads? Not ready to fork over that much money.

 

Nothing has suggested that this will be the case.

 

If it is going to happen, it seems most likely that it would require a major version iPhone OS update, i.e. 4.0.

 

Interesting idea. I guess the difference in this respect between the iPad and the iPhone is that the phone needs to be "always on" with the owner's identity.

The iPad doesn't have this issue, so could support multiple users - much like (shock, horror) a normal computer.

 

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Simple solution: buy 2!

 

This is a really good question. one I'm sure Apple have thought about long and hard... surely the iPad has to support multiple profiles. However, I wouldn't be surprised not to see it until iPhone OS 4.0 or maybe later. Expect the implementation to be spot-on when it does arrive though.

 

This option would be a deal breaker for us!

The computers in our house all have user accounts for the main reason of managing our sons access to the internet!

It is obvious the main place for the iPad to be sited is in the living room for access by all, if our son can just pick this up and access any sites, email accounts etc etc this would defeat the object for us and render it useless

I know what people are going to say! lock it with the password but that again would defeat the object and render it useless for everyone apart from the owner!

 

You want my to share my iPad? That's just sick.

 

I agree multi user support for the iPad is a must for anyone who is going to use this with the family. No way would I want it being used when they could access my email/contacts/etc. In that way, the iPad is much different than an iPhone which is generally only used by a single person.

 

Well the iPhone/iPod touch all ready have parental controls, I'm 100% sure the iPad will as well. http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/04/13/iphone-101-set-parental-controls-iphone/
Or if you don't want to completely disable Safari for your child, you can download the free app called MobiCip
http://knol.google.com/k/how-to-setup-parental-controls-on-iphone-ipod-touch#
With MobiCip, you will have to put a lock on Safari, but there will be a new browser on your home screen where your son can use their safe browser. But when you want to use it, just tap on Safari and type in your 4-digit code and your good to go.

 

I love Mobicip, but it's not free. It's currently $4.99 for the base app - that gives you filtering on 3 groups. Elementary, Middle School & HIgh School, using the guidelines that most schools & libraries filter with. If you want more control - or want to allow or disallow certain sites, then you can buy a one year subscription for $9.99 on the website. That will let you have multiple devices with different levels, and a bunch of other stuff.

http://www.mobicip.com/

But I do think that multiple users are really needed on this.... i'd also like to have a "school" profile, then a "play" profile and be able to lock out certain apps until after a certain time of day

 

Thanks for the correction. I saw this picture and thought it was free.

Update: Also there are defiantly parental controls for the iPad. Here is proof.

 

Fingers Crossed

Also really hoping that multi-user support is present. Would make a great pseduo-thin client for my aging parents - but I know they would not want to deal with each other's stuff.

Same goes for us here at home, too.

 

Granted all you super-nerds may have multiple user accounts set up on your home computer. However your average family shares a single OS user account. They'll deal.

 

***bit of a rant first***
Apple have over looked the Multi-User and Family experience for most of their products so far. It's so frustrating. Take apple TV and the joke that is home sharing in itunes, they're all dependant on one computer or one apple id, it's really annoying. The" i" in iLife/itunes is very apt.

One fix around this would be to adapt the itunes authorisation for up to 5 computers to include different user/apple id's, so maybe i could authorise my two computers and then three family members who live in the same house.

Apple has failed to acknowledge that with in one household there could be more than one person buying content/apps/media with their own apple ID.
***rant over***

I hope some multi-user feature is in the works for the ipad and the apple experience as a whole.

With some family life apps for the ipod touch, iphone, laptops and desktops, and some tweaks to the mobileme set-up, the ipad could be apple's answer to the O2 joggler or a similar family digital diary.