I write a lot on my iPhone. If I can estimate, I would say at least 70% of my blog posts are published from it. This is largely due to having it with me all the time, and it being comfortable to type on after years of practice. However, I think there is something said for having one app open, without all the toolbars and other things to go with it, that helps me get from idea to publishable post quicker.

As I was deep in thought and wondering why I publish so much from my phone, and why that has been replaced by my iPad. I discovered I had already touched on this point in 2022 in my post The quiet and calm of iOS.

As I type out this post back at home on my Mac, I realise how much calmer iOS is when you expect nothing of it. I wasn’t looking for a do it all machine, I was looking for it do to a few simple tasks, and do them well.

Sure, this iPad can multitask like a champ and have windows floating all over the place just as my MacBook can, but I don’t want that any more. I want something I can use for writing my blog posts, editing photos and catching up with my favourite blog feeds. Don’t get me wrong, I much prefer getting things done on my Mac, but with all that complexity comes the added distraction of work emails and the mess of files on my home screen waiting to be completed.

Whereas as my iPad has none of those things. It could, but I’ve set it up to work in the way that I want. In part due to the fact I am easily distractible and can’t be trusted, but mainly because I want one window (or at most two to refer to something) at a time. I have even set up screen time to block social media sites and other things that I am likely to fall off into. No work emails, no reminders pings, just the things I enjoy doing and that’s the perfect ‘computer’.

That not to say your iPad can’t do much more, and you’re thinking how stupid I am for not having Stage Manager float windows all over my screen, so I can edit videos and listen to background music. I think it’s remarkable that a tablet, albeit a ridiculously expensive one, can be all of these things to different people — but mine is just a full window machine, thank you very much.