Ok, I did a lot of googling and found way too much troubleshooting issues with "Connect to iTunes" problems. My problem/question is simply this...

What causes this? It seems to happen on an almost frequent basis, like once or twice a month. Is there any topic or site or anything that can fully explain what causes the issue, how to fix it, how to avoid it from popping up, etc.

I'm going on a Vacation Wednesday, and I'm using my iPad to do some podcasting while I'm there, and I won't have anywhere to "plug into iTunes" since my PC will be miles away from me. So I want to figure this all out before I am SOL.

Sooooooo what's the question about "connect to iTunes"....when does it pop up? While within certain apps? If so, which apps? Or just randomly pops-up while viewing the springboard?

Also, just as an FYI, this isn't jailbroken or anything fancy like that, it's a standard iPad.

I'm honestly not sure when it happens as my Fiancee uses it more then me. Pretty much on boot up though it will go into the "recovery mode" screen or whatever.

Is it possible that my fiancee is somehow forcing it into recovery mode by turning it off wrong?

EDIT: Just saw this ended up in the iPad accessories sub-forum... whoops! I could've sworn I posted this in iPad Help.

Ohhhhhh....you're talking about that "connect to iTunes" message with the USB cable? Sounds like she is booting it up wrong. When she boots it up does she hold the power and home keys at same time? I would just put it in sleep mode instead of shutting it down completely. But that's just me.

Originally Posted by OUTL4W

I would just put it in sleep mode instead of shutting it down completely. But that's just me.

This sounds like a way safer idea honestly. Is the battery life pretty good in sleep mode? How much battery %age is used per hour when it's taking a nap?

It would blow my mind if she was booting it up by holding down both buttons. That's what I thought at first, but it just seems too ridiculous for that to be the case. Could anything else cause this? Like apps or MP3s or CBR files or PDFs or something? I might spend a good hour or so just booting and unbooting the iPad to see if I can cause the issue myself.

I've also heard that when you exit recovery mode you can't use a majority of your apps until you connect to iTunes, is that also true?

It may be of interest to know, that the connect to iTunes screen can be circumvented, in case it happens again. Just press the home and power button both for 7 seconds and the iPad will reboot.

Anyway, it sounds, as if the iPad entered DFU mode, as that is usually the only reason, why it would enter recovery mode. The proper way to shut the ipad off is to keep the power button pressed, until it says Slide to power off. And restart by keeping the power button pressed. The home button should never be touched.

Anyway, the iPad does not use much battery when in sleep mode, maybe 0.5%/h, or less. It depends, iOS had some power issues, where it would drain 1%/h, but those are fixed with the newer updates.

Steve Jobs said in his keynote presentation that the iPad battery is supposed to have a 30 day standby time. I never completely shut mine down (unless I'm rebooting it) only put it to sleep.

I turn mine off once a day, because I use the Apple wireless keyboard and when I carry them in the same hand if I accidentally hit a key it brings the screen on. For whatever reason, this annoys me so I turn it completely off.

Also I've had times when it's lost connection to wifi and had to restart it.

Originally Posted by DontUnderstandMyIpad

It may be of interest to know, that the connect to iTunes screen can be circumvented, in case it happens again. Just press the home and power button both for 7 seconds and the iPad will reboot.

Anyway, it sounds, as if the iPad entered DFU mode, as that is usually the only reason, why it would enter recovery mode. The proper way to shut the ipad off is to keep the power button pressed, until it says Slide to power off. And restart by keeping the power button pressed. The home button should never be touched.

This is all very interesting... but don't you need to be plugged into a PC to enter Recovery or DFU mode? Or can this be done without the USB plug or via a USB plug into say... a power charger for an outlet? I say this if only because entering DFU looks like it's a lot of effort to "accidentally" do it, you need to wait like 7 or 10 seconds.

As for exiting recovery mode with a reboot... she said she couldn't access any of her apps like Plants vs. Zombies and other things, but could use Safari and other "default" programs?

No, it's not DFU mode. DFU mode is always a blank screen.
It's definitely recovery mode if you see the connect graphic.
It sounds to me like somebody is holding down both buttons for far too long. If you hold both keys together for more than 30 seconds it puts the device into recovery mode (with the connect to iTunes graphic).
So, either one of you are doing this (probably unintentionally) or you have a button that sticks a bit and maybe causes it? Or could be a case / handbag issue? Or it could be a hardware fault. But for whatever reason, it sounds to me like both buttons are getting pressed for 30+ seconds regularly.

Hope this helps.