Information Technology Update – August 27, 2015

Find my iPad

The Find my iPad feature on iPads and iPhones can be one the most useful features on the devices and has been really invaluable on several times at the College locating misplaced iPads. (It should be noted this can also be set up on iPhones and iPod touch devices). It is one of the key settings we ask students to turn -‘On’ on their iPad as part of the iPad Boot Camp. This is part of the iCloud setup where students can backup up to 5 Gigabytes of data from the iPad to the Apple cloud for free. It is in this setup that students are shown how to turn on the Find my iPad setting. Students are also encouraged to download the Find my iPad app onto the iPad and any other Apple device they may own(iPhone, iMac, Macbook etc).

Students can install the Find my iPhone app onto any Apple device such as their iPad, iPhone or an iPod touch which will locate any iOS devices that have been setup to use the Find my iPad/iPhone feature with the user’s Apple ID. (There is also an Android version but is not an Apple App Store app.). In the case of a misplaced iPad, by getting the student to login to their iCloud.com account on a computer or by using the Find My iPhone app on an iPhone or iPod touch we can see the missing iPad on a map. You are able to select the -‘Play Sound’ option which activates a high pitch sound on the lost device. The Find my iPad app can tell where the device is located and the high pitch sound can help you to find its exact location. This has in fact been used on several occasions at the College and has allowed us to locate iPads that have been misplaced. Once the -‘Play Sound’ feature is activated you are notified by email.

Find my iPad also has the -‘Lost Mode’ feature where you can see where your device is and you can track where it’s been. You can immediately lock your device and send it a message with a contact number. Whoever finds it can call you from the Lock screen without accessing the rest of the information on your device. This is particularly useful when trying to locate a lost device.

There also an -‘Erase iPad’ setting you can deploy. If you are worried that your device has fallen into the wrong hands the -‘Erase iPad’ feature allows you to activate a remote wipe to delete your personal data and restore your iPad to its factory settings. Find my iPhone will continue to display your customised message even after your device has been erased. Once you retrieve your device you can restore it from your iCloud backup.

It is important to note that all of these features can be used any iOS Apple device such as an iPad, iPhone/iPod once the Find my iPad/iPhone feature has been turned -‘On’ when the iCloud account has been set up on the device.

Backing up the iPad

It is very important that the boy’s iPads are being backed up. From time to time the IT Staff have to reset an iPad to its original factory settings in order to solve a problem or update an operating system. It is important that in order to do this the student has backed up their iPad. This will allow the student to download all of their data once the iPad has been repaired and is ready to be used again.

There are two main ways to back up an iPad:

1. Backing up using iCloud. During the Boot Camp at the start of the year all students were instructed on how to set their iPads to back up to iCloud automatically. They can use their Apple ID to set up an iCloud account and they can set which apps they want to back up. However, iCloud only provides 5 gigabytes (GB) of data to backup for free so it is recommended that photos and videos are not set to back up to iCloud as they can consume the 5 GB quite quickly. (It is recommended photos and videos on the iPad are backed up to their St Patrick’s College Google Drive account.) Backing up to iCloud is the primary form of back up and the advantage is that it can back up automatically while connected to Wi-Fi. The drawback of backing up to iCloud is that the backup can be time consuming and it if is the only form of backup, restoring an iPad can take many hours. That is why it is also recommended to back the iPad up periodically to iTunes using a computer.

2. Backing up using iTunes on a computer. While automatically backing up to iCloud can be the primary method of backing up, it is also recommended that the iPad is periodically backed up to a computer at home using iTunes. iTunes can be installed on any computer and it does not matter whether it is running Windows or- Mac OSX. The big advantage of backing up the iPad to a computer using iTunes is that the backup is quite quick and restoring an iPad from iTunes on a computer is much quicker than restoring one from iCloud. The downside of backing up the iPad to a computer using iTunes is that it is not automatic and relies on user diligence doing it regularly.

Instructions on backing the iPad can be found on the iPad parent upport website at http://ipads.stpats.vic.edu.au/manuals.html

Required iPad Apps for all Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students

The Booklist for all Year 7, 8, 9 & 10 students listed two paid apps required by all students:

Book Creator $6.49 –

Inspiration Mapps $12.99

Several teachers recently have created tasks around the use of these apps and a number of boys have been disadvantaged by not having purchased the apps and having them installed on their iPad. It is expected all Students in Years 7 to 10 have purchased these apps. I recommend an iTunes Gift Card be used to purchase these apps. Check the https://www.giftcardsonsale.com.au/ web site for any stores that might have these gift cards on sale.

Mark Holland

Director of ICT