Sorry. Another Q (on my forum:-) !

[Schwang Dang Doodle.]

This is to do with "very very basics" so a warning: may cause gnashing of teeth & much wailing.

I can't understand what an app is ( told you..). To expand; more specifically, I cant distinguish between two " ways " of using this ipad. So I don't really know whether how I use it, is not the correct way. Or something.

The reason Im in a pickle & trying to understand these two different " ways", is Im attempting to provide my mum with a super-simple basic 3 steps just for the time being, just get her onto her email account... & ( the endgame "goal" ) is for her to send me an email from it. This might seem ridiculously easy in principle, but Ive spent over a week trying to get her to do this without success. Why is quite infuriating for me. But via my instruction, is the only conceivable way she can get to this achievement. She's had a tablet for 5 years too, doing emails ok, so why so much pain here... is a hue unknown mystery. Dementia? Thankfully, no signs.

My super simple steps being:

1. Press blue compass btn in homepage.
2. Tap on the address bar @ top.
3. Few obvious sites appear ( i put in for her, google, outlook/ hotmail eg ).
4. Tap on outlook, put in email + password.

No joy. She gets to google & asks " then what ". I repeat 'press outlook' but she cannot comprehend (thinking her outlook " lives" in her old tablet you see: Ive tried explaining but it doesn't compute). I spent alot of time boiling down this instruction basics for her. I'm sure its fine.

So I'm considering my approach to teaching this simple task. Now, having come from only PC's, the word App is alien to me( still is tbh) & I have simply dived in using my ipad on the www well, pretty much like a boss tbh nipping about ( bar Facetime i found difficult to set up, if super easy to use once done so). Nipping about in my way, which up until Ive seen for eg a ' mail icon app thing ' i have only thought there was this one way, that being via the blue safari button. Like it. Great, i have many tabs open, reminiscent of my PC.. so a familiarity etc.

But it seems everyone else, possibly i don't know, uses these icon App things instead. Do they? I have no idea.

So is the way Im using the internet on it... old school? Wrong? Not as good? Could someone explain these two different " approaches "?

thanks for reading. Schwanger.

 

[J. A.]

It‘s not old school, it‘s just one of a few ways to access emails. I‘m opening my POP account (work account) via browser, just as you wanted to show to her.

Another option would be setting up the account in Settings. Here’s how it’s done:
In the Settings app, go to Mail, and select “Accounts”.

Here, go to “Add Account”:

As you see, there are a few options. She can set up more than one email account here, one by one. She has to select one of those, on my screenshots it’s Outlook.

She has to enter her email address, then her password:

She’ll find her emails (without logging in every time) in the built in Mail app. The app icon looks like this, and is supposedly on one of her home screens:

Another option would be using the Outlook app for Outlook/Hotmail, and the Gmail app for the Google account, e.g. As there’s no Apple ID set up on her iPad, that’s not an option, because it’s not possible to download third party (non-Apple) apps without Apple ID.

 

[Schwang Dang Doodle.]

Just to add/ forgot this: ive just bought my mum an ipad 8th gen.. to replace her old tablet (cr*p windows something). Hence my steps for her, on her new ipad. Thx

 

[Schwang Dang Doodle.]

Hi J.A,

thanks that clears things up a bit, but im still in essence not understanding - why - there are a few option/ ways to get your email for eg. The simplicity of my PC was, so far as I could tell, there was only one way. Same way I do it.

As for my mum setting up anything, let alone an email thing like you kindly show how, is not tenable. Nor would she let me do it for her on her ipad ( just nervous Im forcing X on her, or rehashing her set up.. ironically I did for her, moreso I bloomin bought the thing for her!).

Her skills are so non existant, or rather her -fundamental understanding is- Ive outlined how nigh on impossible it is to get her to tap 3 buttons, to access her emails, via my 'old school' way on her new ipad ( the only way I know from doing it, how to). She thinks her email acc lives on her old tablet, so is reticent/ not understanding why Im prompting her to access it on the ipad.

What I was trying to establish, if I could put it like this, is an idea of how others use their ipads, using the internet ( asI think 90% of the time they likely might), generally. If they nip between google, bbc news, the sport section of it for the cricket (if they have common sense), youtube, hotmail.... how do they nip between these basic pg1 sites?

Obviously I just cant see how anyone else uses theirs.

i thank you. Schwangster.

 

[twerppoet]

There used to be only one way to get your email, using an app (new word for program) on your computer. Newer email services added the ability to get email on a website, while keeping the app/program method. On Windows, the most common app was Outlook. A program you had to download and install on your computer. Recently (by my time line) Microsoft added Office 365 and other services that work, look, and are called Outlook, but are accessed from your web browser.

You can use either of these on the iPad.

Getting email on the web browser (Safari) is just a matter of having the right link, and of course a user account.

Getting email using the app (Apple’s Mail app is the built in solution) is a matter of setting it up, as Johanna showed you.

Both work well, and have different advantages. The biggest advantage of using the Mail app (or third party app) is that once you have it set up, you don’t have to remember your user name and password (until it’s time to set it up again). The advantage of using web mail is that it works on any computer you have access as long as it has internet access.

You can use both, and as long as you don’t have an older POP email account the email will stay updated and in sync. From what you‘ve said so far, you‘re mother is not using a POP account.

In general, iPad users tend to prefer apps, either the built in ones or those from the App Store, over using web based solutions. They are accessed quicly by tapping on their icon, and usually have better interfaces. However, almost all web based services work fine on the iPad. You access them through Safari, just like you use Edge, Explorer, or Chrome on another computer. You can even find iPad versions of these browsers in the App Store, though they may not have all the features of the computer versions.