I am a PC person and I know there is a lot of maintenance to keep it running smoothly. I am new to apple, so is there anything that should be done periodically to keep the iPad running smoothly?

Thanks for any suggestions

I'm sure other Members will add suggestions - interesting thread - but, really, there's very little to do to maintain your iPad - that's one of its great attractions.

I guess that occasionally - unless you're foolhardy like me and afraid of iTunes - you would want to back up and also Apple suggest that, every so often, you power the iPad completely down rather than just putting it to sleep - you can do that by pressing and holding the Power button until the slider control appears and then, accept the offer to power down, wait until the screen is completely blank, then power up again by pressing and holding the Power button until the white Apple logo appears.

Tim

One of the benefits of the iOS environment (speaking as a 30 year PC person) is that apps are pretty closely vetted before release. Compared to the Android OS, especially Honeycomb, you find few or no problems that disrupt operation...no "force close" situations, etc.

I like to reboot devices pretty often, usually every morning, but I don't think it's necessary with iOS devices. No opinion on Macs, since I haven't owned one in 25 years.

it's an Apple

Force close? Please explain. And what would this do?

The easiest first way to try to solve ‘unexplained’ or ‘unusual’ problems with the iPad are:-

Force the offending app to close. If you have iOS 4.2 or 4.3 double-press the ‘Home’ button to bring up the multi-task bar at the bottom of the screen. Press *and hold* any icon until they start to ‘jiggle’. Then tap the top left-hand corner of the app that you want to close. It will ‘disappear’ from the list. Don’t panic - you’ve not deleted it, just closed it. Now tap the Home screen and the multi-task bar will disappear. Re-open the iPad’s app and see if the problem has resolved itself. If not, it’s on to possible solution number two!!
Restart the iPad. Press *and hold* the Power button. After a couple of seconds a slider control will appear asking you to confirm that you really want to switch the iPad off (this is all you’ll be doing). Slide the control to accept. A rotating white ‘bezel’ will appear in the iPad screen as the iPad powers down (it takes a few seconds, just like it would if you were shutting down your PC). When the screen of the iPad has gone completely blank, press *and hold* the Power button for a couple of seconds until the white Apple logo appears and the iPad starts to power up. This takes several seconds, so be patient. During the power up the automatic screen orientation function is disabled, so don’t panic. A few seconds before the power up is complete, the iPad plays a little ‘jingle’ and then you’re back to the Home screen. Restart the iPad’s app and see if the problem persists. Apple (and Forum members) recommend that you power down your iPad at least once a week, just as you might regularly completely switch off your PC. The normal procedure of just briefly pressing the Power button of the iPad merely puts it to ‘sleep’. Most Forum members have found that one of the two methods I’ve mentioned here cure a whole bunch of unexplained problems and are an easy first step to resolving most anything that happens on the iPad.

Tim
Scotland

Originally Posted by Nickso

This is what I and others do.

"force close" all apps before I hold the power and home buttons and I keep holding the buttons until the device shuts off and the Apple logo appears.

Hope this helps.

Sent from my iPad 3 using iPF

Apple only recommends the reset you are talking about if the iPad is frozen or won't restart normally. I don't think it hurts anything to do a reset, but I'm not confident enough to recommend doing it all the time instead of a normal restart.

Apple does recommend restarting about once a week.

They also recommend charging your iPad to 100%, and then running it until it shuts down, about once a month. This helps keep the battery percentage reading calibrated.

Restart: Hold down the power button until the power off slider appears. Slide it off. When the iPad finishes shutting down, hold down the power button again until the Apple logo appears.

Reset: Hold down the power and home button at the same time until the Apple logo appears. It should reboot. Takes a bit longer than a normal restart.

I own a iPad 2 . I have only let it go to 13% when I first got it. I charge it when it hits 50% And even then when I do not use it I just put it to sleep.
I had no idea that I should turn my iPad off and restart it about once a month. Thanks for the tip. Also, should I let the battery run down to nothing more often?

Once a month is what Apple suggests for running your battery down. Has nothing to do with battery life. It just helps keep the battery level indications accurate.

Ok, thanks again.