Although the iPad is trouble free 99 percent of the time, it's still a computer, and like any computer, it's prone to foul-ups and mishaps. When your iPad doesn't cooperate with your wishes, you could have a defective iPad or, more likely, your iPad just needs a swift kick in its electronic behind to make it start working again.
In this chapter you will learn several steps you can take to get an uncooperative iPad back in working condition again.
It's rare, but sometimes the iPad seems to freeze when you're running an app, and your iPad's screen becomes unresponsive to your touch. The fix is quite simple—just press the Home button and you'll quit the app. If the app doesn't quit, try pressing and holding the Home button for five to ten seconds. If the program continues to misbehave after you restart it, you may want to check for updates to the app or even uninstall it. Updating and uninstalling apps are covered in Chapter 11.
If you're familiar with the old world of computers, you know that one of the simplest, yet mysterious, solutions to fixing a broken computer is to turn it off and turn it on again. On Windows PCs, you can accomplish this task by pressing the magical CTRL-ALT-DEL keystroke combination, but with the iPad, you can duplicate this reset process by simply turning your iPad off, waiting a minute or two, then turning it back on.
The process of turning a computer off and back on clears its memory of any misbehaving programs that may have somehow managed to foul up your computer. Sometimes a poorly written app can mess with your iPad's memory, preventing other apps from running correctly. If an iPad app seems frozen, unresponsive, or sluggish, you may need to restart your iPad.
To restart your iPad, follow these steps:
Hold down the On/Off button and Home button at the same time. After a few seconds, the red slider appears at the top of the screen, and then the screen should flash off and your iPad should shut down.
Release both the On/Off button and Home button.
Wait a bit.
Press the On/Off button to turn your iPad back on.
(Optional) If that doesn't do the trick, try restoring your iPad (see “Restoring Your iPad” on page 276).
To transfer files back and forth between an iPad and a computer, you must use iTunes. However, sometimes you may connect your iPad to your computer and iTunes won't recognize that it's connected, which means you can't transfer any files.
To fix this problem, you have several alternatives:
Unplug your iPad's USB cable from the computer and plug it back into the computer, using the same USB port or trying a different USB port. Plug it directly into the computer's USB port and not in a USB port on a hub. Also try unplugging other devices plugged into USB ports.
Keep the iPad plugged into your computer and restart your computer.
Choose iTunes ▸ Check for Updates (Mac) or Help ▸ Check for Updates (Windows) to download and install the latest version of iTunes.
Make sure you have the latest operating system version for your computer (Mac OS X or Windows).
If you're trying to get on the Internet but can't seem to connect, there could be a multitude of problems that may not be related to your iPad at all, whether you're trying to connect using Wi-Fi or a cellular telephone network. First, you could be in a “dead zone” for Wi-Fi or cellular telephone connectivity, which could be caused by buildings or poor coverage in your particular area.
If possible, try connecting through Wi-Fi using another device (such as a laptop computer) or connect to your cellular telephone network using a mobile phone. (Just make sure that mobile phone uses the same cellular telephone network as your iPad.)
If you're positive that there is adequate Wi-Fi or cellular telephone coverage in your area, then check to make sure you have turned Airplane Mode off and turned Wi-Fi on. As a last resort, you can reset the network settings. To do this, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings.
Make sure the Airplane Mode on/off switch is OFF.
Tap Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi Networks settings screen appears. Make sure the Wi-Fi on/off switch is ON. If you don't see any networks displayed under the Choose a Network category, there may not be any Wi-Fi coverage in your area.
(Optional) Tap General in the left pane. The General settings screen appears.
(Optional) Scroll down the General settings screen and tap Reset. The Reset settings screen appears.
(Optional) Tap Reset Network Settings.
Note
If you're connected to a Wi-Fi network and you still can't browse the Web or check your email, the Wi-Fi network you are connected to may not have Internet access. (For example, you might be in an airport or hotel where they'd like you to pay money to connect.) To stop automatically connecting to that bad Wi-Fi network, you want to forget it. See “Forgetting a Wi-Fi Network” on page 73 for instructions.
Each time that you connect your iPad to your computer through its USB cable, the iTunes program on your computer makes a backup of your entire iPad. That way if your iPad malfunctions or fails completely, you can restore your backed up data to a new iPad and start working right away as if nothing had happened.
Restoring your iPad is an easy fix for many software troubles—give restoring a try if your iPad starts to malfunction or fails to sync properly and restarting doesn't work. Even if you lose your iPad, you can get a new one, restore your backups to this new iPad, and essentially clone your old iPad onto your new iPad.
To restore a backup from iTunes to your iPad, follow these steps:
Connect your iPad to your computer through its USB cable.
Right-click on the name of your iPad under the Devices category in the iTunes window. A pop-up menu appears, as shown in Figure 32-1.
Choose Restore from Backup. A Restore from Backup dialog appears.
Choose the backup you want to use (if you have multiple choices) and click the Restore button.
Normally iTunes on your computer just backs up your data without encrypting it. However, if you want to protect your backed up data with a password, you can turn on backup encryption by following these steps:
Connect your iPad to your computer through its USB cable.
Run the iTunes program on your computer.
Click the name of your iPad under the Devices category in the iTunes window.
Click the Summary tab and select (or unselect) the Encrypt local backup checkbox. A dialog pops up, asking you to type in a password twice, as shown in Figure 32-2.
Type a password twice and click the Set Password button.
Note
You can change your password later by clicking the Change Password button on the Summary tab. Before you can restore your backup to your iPad, you'll need to type in your password, so don't forget it!
Backing up your iPad is a good idea, which is why iTunes does this automatically. However, if you're selling or giving away your computer, you probably don't want to keep your iPad backups on that computer anymore. To remove your backups, follow these steps:
Run the iTunes program on your computer.
Choose iTunes ▸ Preferences (Mac) or Edit ▸ Preferences (Windows). A window appears.
Click the Devices icon or tab. A list of your backups appears, as shown in Figure 32-3.
Click the iPad backup you want to delete and click OK.
If you want to return your iPad to its original factory settings, you have two choices. First, you can reset your iPad but leave all your data (photos, video, music, and so on) intact. Second, you can wipe out everything, including anything you have saved, such as photos or apps that you've downloaded.
If your iPad starts acting weird and restoring doesn't do the trick, then you might need to completely reset it while preserving any data you have stored on it. To reset your iPad while preserving all your data on it, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Scroll down and tap Reset. The Reset settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 32-4.
Tap Reset All Settings. A Reset All Settings dialog appears, asking for confirmation before resetting your iPad.
Tap Reset or Cancel.
If you plan to give away or sell your iPad, you may want to wipe out all your data and return your iPad to its original factory condition (minus any minor blemishes you may have made on the iPad's case while using it). To reset and erase your iPad completely, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Scroll down and tap Reset. The Reset settings screen appears.
Tap Erase All Content and Settings. An Erase iPad dialog appears, asking for confirmation before resetting and erasing your iPad.
Tap Erase or Cancel.
As you type on the virtual keyboard, it gradually learns and adapts to the words you use most often. As you type part of a word, the virtual keyboard will display the words you've used before.
Of course, after the virtual keyboard's dictionary gets trained to display certain words, you may change your writing style, so the keyboard dictionary may start suggesting words that you don't want to type. To avoid this problem, you can reset just the keyboard dictionary settings by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Scroll down and tap Reset. The Reset settings screen appears.
Tap Reset Keyboard Dictionary. A Reset Dictionary dialog appears, asking for confirmation before resetting your keyboard dictionary.
Tap Reset or Cancel.
If Location Services is turned on, your iPad can identify its current location. When you use certain apps, such as the Maps app, a dialog may pop up asking whether you want to use your current location in the app.
After you allow apps to use your iPad's current location, they will eventually stop asking for permission to use your current location again. However, if you prefer having a dialog alert you when your iPad is trying to identify its current location, you can reset your iPad's location warning by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Scroll down and tap Reset. The Reset settings screen appears.
Tap Reset Location Warnings. A Reset Warnings dialog appears, asking whether you want to reset location warnings to the factory default settings.
Tap Reset or Cancel.
If someone steals your iPad or if you misplace it in a restaurant or office, you can track it down using Apple's free “Find My iPad” service.
The basic idea is that you register your iPad (and iPhone or iPod too!) using a free Apple ID. Then if you lose your iPad, you can use any computer to locate your device on a map or send a message to its screen. If you have sensitive data that you're worried might get into the wrong hands, you can send a command to “wipe” all data from your iPad! And if you've just lost your iPad among your couch cushions, you can get the iPad to play a sound for two minutes—even if it has been muted.
Before you can track down an iPad, you must first associate it with an Apple ID account. (If you already have an Apple ID from buying music on iTunes or using the FaceTime app, you can use that email address and password for your iCloud account.) Then turn on the tracking feature on your iPad by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars. The Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings screen appears.
Tap Add Account. The Add Account screen appears.
Tap iCloud. An iCloud window appears. Enter your current Apple ID and password or tap Create Free Apple ID if you don't have one yet, and then follow the instructions to set up your iCloud account.
Check your email and look for a message from Apple asking you to verify your iCloud account by clicking on a verification link. After you click the link, you will be able to access your iCloud account by visiting http://www.icloud.com/.
From the Home screen, tap Settings, tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and then tap your iCloud account. An iCloud account window appears, as shown in Figure 32-5.
Tap the Find My iPad on/off switch to ON. Your iPad will now broadcast its location using its cellular or Wi-Fi Internet connection.
When the Find My iPad switch is set to ON, you can locate your iPad on a map by following these steps:
Visit http://www.icloud.com/ and sign in using your iCloud account and password.
Click the Find my iPhone icon. iCloud displays a list of any Apple devices (iPad, iPhone, or iPod) that have been configured to broadcast their locations.
Tap on the name of the device that you want to locate. A dot displays the location of your chosen device, as shown in Figure 32-6.
Click the white arrow that appears in a blue circle. A window appears that displays three buttons: Play Sound or Send Message, Remote Lock, or Remote Wipe, as shown in Figure 32-7.
Play Sound or Send Message This lets you display a message, such as your contact number or email address, on the iPad screen so that someone finding your device can reach you. As an alternative, you can have your iPad play a sound so you can locate it in your house or office.
Remote Lock This lets you block anyone from using your iPad if they don't know your current passcode. (If you didn't set up a passcode, go back and follow the steps in Chapter 9.)
Remote Wipe This lets you erase all your data to prevent unauthorized access.
Warning
Clicking the Wipe button will return your iPad to its factory settings, but then you will not be able to identify its location or remotely lock it with a passcode.
Click the Play Sound or Send Message, Remote Lock, or Remote Wipe button, as shown in Figure 32-7. Depending on which option you choose, you may see additional options.
iPad customers are eligible for free phone support from Apple for the first 90 days of ownership—US customers can call 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273). You can also reach Apple's customer support web page at http://www.apple.com/support/. All new iPads come with a one-year limited warranty.
If you're fortunate enough live near an Apple Store, take your iPad in and ask for help from one of the geniuses at the Genius Bar, and let them worry about the strange behavior of your iPad.
Despite Apple's reputation for producing quality products, there's always the possibility that you could have gotten a defective unit. If possible, back up all your data from your iPad and get a replacement. Then you can restore all your data from your computer to your new iPad.