Yeah, how you control the iPad seems at odds with the job it's best at (and a big customer segment that wants a simple computer)
iPad has a physical disadvantage relative to iPhones and Macs which leads to a touch experience that never quite feels as assured or 'locked in' as the others.
The reason as I see it is that both Mac and iPhone you have much greater physical device stability, and this device stability allows the software to be more fluid and responsive.
For instance, the iPhone's app switch swipe gesture work really well in a one-handed device, since things are generally in reach and you have your fingers holding on the back of the device to stabilize it. As a result, you can switch apps very quickly.
That same app switching gesture feels awkward and is often mis-fired on iPad. The fluid responsiveness of the home bar and app switcher makes the whole experience feel less solid, because the device itself is less stable in-hand.
I think it may have been a mistake to port the home bar over to iPad, and they should have gone with either a physical button-based solution, or a press and hold then swipe solution. Specifically the bottom of the device that is closest to the user should not have anything trigger actions, that's the worst. Multitasking is also too easy to trigger, but that's not quite as bad. Notification & control center shades aren't that bad.
Either you have a stable device and a twitchy app switcher, or you have an unstable device and a solid app switcher. You can't have both be unstable.
(fwiw I'm a huge iPad fan as well as worked on a new tablet computer myself. I love the form factor but recognize it's fighting an uphill battle touch-wise)
Only tangentially related, but I always thought it was rather silly that only a few years after opening their billion dollar headquarters—that was in the shape the only remaining distinctive feature on iPhones—they chose to get rid of the home button in favor of what everyone else was doing. It seemed really rather silly. I miss the home button.
I too preferred the home button, not just for all the navigation features, but also because TouchID worked so well, and FaceID angers me basically every single time I have to use it.
FaceID was such a cool marketing gimmick that ended up a major pain in the ass.
When they announced it, I was so hyped because sometimes I had issues with TouchID (sweating finger after workouts, dirty finger when cooking, or damaged finger after swimming/handwork) but in practice it turned out to be so annoying.
It doesn't work when you don't look at it straight, it doesn't work when there is not enough light, it doesn't work when there is too much light...
Even if you disable the "require attention" setting, it is extremely annoying to unlock during driving (basically requiring you to take your head off the road) and it will randomly fail for no particular reason anyway.
To add insult to the injury, it makes Apple Pay a stupid 2-step process where you have to insistently look at your phone before putting it on the terminal.
I don't use my Apple Watch for Apple Pay either because it requires you to awkwardly twist your arm, since the signal can only go out from the glass display, because they chose aluminium for what is basically a sport watch (to make it look premium with no real benefits since the most vulnerable part get scratched/broken easily anyway).
I don't know why people keep giving so much benefit to Apple because the current user experience is really not good for the price of their stuff.
I guess I don't have to care because after I figure out what I want as an Apple Watch replacement, I'll switch to Android for my next phone.
I had exactly the same issues with TouchID, and also looked forward to FaceID for the same reasons, and I too was disappointed. However, I think that FaceID was noticeably improved by turning off the 'Require Attention for Face ID' setting. Perhaps it's something to do with wearing glasses? Maybe it was a placebo effect, but try it and see if it helps you.
Yeah, I know about that but I thought it was turned off and it wasn't.
So, I turned it back off, maybe it was re-enabled after a major update.
I hope it's going to improve things, it should, but I don't think it's going to solve the driving issue. I've looked to make an automation but as far as I can tell there is no way to change lock settings via automation (even just the duration of auto-locking).
Which is a general trend with Apple software nowadays. Too much focus on security at the cost of user freedom and ultimately functionality. They have made this automation software but so far, I have not found any use for it because there is always some limitation that makes it almost useless.
Shortcuts are also a major pain to "develop", Automator and AppleScript were painful but somehow, it's even worse.
iPad has a physical disadvantage relative to iPhones and Macs which leads to a touch experience that never quite feels as assured or 'locked in' as the others.
The reason as I see it is that both Mac and iPhone you have much greater physical device stability, and this device stability allows the software to be more fluid and responsive.
For instance, the iPhone's app switch swipe gesture work really well in a one-handed device, since things are generally in reach and you have your fingers holding on the back of the device to stabilize it. As a result, you can switch apps very quickly.
That same app switching gesture feels awkward and is often mis-fired on iPad. The fluid responsiveness of the home bar and app switcher makes the whole experience feel less solid, because the device itself is less stable in-hand.
I think it may have been a mistake to port the home bar over to iPad, and they should have gone with either a physical button-based solution, or a press and hold then swipe solution. Specifically the bottom of the device that is closest to the user should not have anything trigger actions, that's the worst. Multitasking is also too easy to trigger, but that's not quite as bad. Notification & control center shades aren't that bad.
Either you have a stable device and a twitchy app switcher, or you have an unstable device and a solid app switcher. You can't have both be unstable.
(fwiw I'm a huge iPad fan as well as worked on a new tablet computer myself. I love the form factor but recognize it's fighting an uphill battle touch-wise)