I'm writing this on my iPad. Why's that significant? well, i've spent ALL day trying to get this thing working.... uh, let's back up!
so, a few weeks ago i installed the ipados 26 dev beta. was this a really smart move on my end? nope! but i had a reason! i've been on the computer market for about half a year now, trying REALLY hard to decide whether or not to upgrade from an ipad to a more traditional laptop setup.
this ipad's gotten me through a lot, multiple school semesters, creative projects, the works. i've grown pretty attatched to it.
however, i ultimately decided it was best for me to upgrade to a normal laptop while i keep the ipad around as a drawing tablet, maybe for some notes.
that was, until apple showed off the new ipad update. it was chock full of features i'd wanted for YEARS, and they genuinely fixed most of my issues with the operating system itself. so i wsa back back where i started: do i get a fancier ipad or keep with the original plan? so, i downloaded the dev beta for the new OS upgrade to test for myself.
it was nice, don't get me wrong! i'm looking forward to the full release in the fall! but i realized in this process that i really don't like using buggy devices. that's pretty normal, i know. but i often like to think my tolerance for an unpolished os it higher than it actually is. i don't want to feel like i'm fighting my devices to make them work how i want.
while on this ipados beta, i ran into a few issues. there was a little screen flickering for my wallpaper, which got pretty annoying. it was also just not the easier to navigate. i'm sure this will get worked out in the final release, but it was still making my overall experience not that fun.
the biggest issue was the battery drain. my ipad is about five years old, and was used before i got it. so, the battery life already isn't great. it could stand to be replaced soon. either way, the added stress of having to run a new, unoptimized operating system, left my device with a really short battery life. and since this was still acting as my main computer, that was a big deal!
so, i set out to revert back to a previous os version a week or two ago.
nothing went too wrong, except it didn't remove the actual os beta and i accidentally lost a bunch of my drawing files. but that freaked me out and i didn't try again
until this morning
and yeah i messed it up really bad
got into a state where it wouldn't boot out of recovery mode, but none of the computers in my house could properly restore it to a stable OS version. i was also getting a super weird error message, and everyone online said it was probably toast.
so, i accepted defeat and ordered that new laptop.
it's really nice! it'll make a LOT of my upcoming projects so much easier. but i was still sad
like i said, this ipad is very special to me. i got it when i was 15, and it's been through so many important parts of my life. and seeing it go... so unexpectedly was a little hard. i know it's silly, but i get very emotional and attatched to my tech. it's like a chapter of my life is ending, and i'm fully moving to something else. (i especially felt this way around switch 2!)
but i really didn't want to spend another $300 on a used, refurbished ipad mini. i still needed a drawing tablet, and that felt like my best option. however, i decided to give the restoration proccess one more go....
i don't really know what changed about this attempt. i selected the option to update the ipad instead of restore it from a backup... maybe tyhat was it? or maybe it was because i was doing this update through a brand new laptop? who knows
either way, we're back! it's on ipados18... the current stable release. AND i got my drawings back, since i restored from a cloud backup i made before hopping on the dev beta.
so, all is well and i have a fresh new laptop that will surely last me the rest of my college time, at the very least.
and i get to keep using my beloved little ipad :)
so anyway, moral of the story: be REALLY careful with developer betas!
that's all, thank you for reading!
until next time,