Mind you, the Switch has to do user-switching only at app startup time, because it's an effectively single-tasking OS. Given that you can be running tons of apps (and instances of apps) at the same time on an iPad, there are many other UI possibilities that synergize with an explicit user-chooser. Examples:
- You know the app groups in the new macOS/iPadOS? Imagine a user profile as an app-group-group (in iOS) or a group of spaces (in macOS.) Do the slow-swipe-up-from-the-bottom thing again when you're already in the app chooser, and you get the profile chooser.
- Some gesture you can do while in an app, that means "give me this same app, but viewed as a different user" — which is like a retroactive version of the Switch user-chooser thing. If other users already had the same app open, it'd work like Expose/Mission Control for seeing what their instance of the app looks like. And, as an optimization, apps that detect that you've user-switched away from them soon after launch, when they're still in their toplevel view, could take that as a signal to quit (as they'd assume that you just meant to open the app as a different user.)
Huh? How would the ipad detect that?
> - Some gesture you can do while in an app, that means "give me this same app, but viewed as a different user" — which is like a retroactive version of the Switch user-chooser thing
That sounds horribly confusing and complicated. And it doesn't even address the security problem where you don't want other users to see your stuff. (Eg, my kids shouldn't see notifications for me, or be able to read my email).
I agree that its possible (its software, anything is possible). But I think it would take serious design work to implement user switching like you're proposing in a way thats not horribly complicated.
Probably the easiest way to do it would be at the unlock screen. Have the user lock their ipad then unlock it as a different user via a different profile attached to the fingerprint sensor.
Ambient accelerometer data (like is used in the Apple Watch for car-crash detection et al) triggering a background FaceID scan when the movement subsides.
> And it doesn't even address the security problem where you don't want other users to see your stuff. (Eg, my kids shouldn't see notifications for me, or be able to read my email).
Think of this sort of setup as a kiosk device — like a library computer. If accounts were allowed to be persistently signed into the device at all, then it would be in a low-integrity way, where you wouldn't be able to access your email et al through the device. Instead, the only things that would sync would be things that "don't matter" to expose to others: preferences, [non-private-browsing] history, game saves, etc.
The point wouldn't be to allow a whole family to share one iDevice for all their personal information management needs. You — and anyone else that has PII to manage — would still need a personal iPhone for that.
The point, instead, would be to have something like a game console, or a streaming box, or an eBook reader — the superset of all of those. Something for everyone in a family to just pass around to do "general family stuff" with games, books, music, movies, etc; without needing to worry about security. But, crucially, while still able to have "their own" bookmarked pages in books, watched episodes in TV shows, game saves, music playlists, and so forth; where that stuff does sync from their profile on this shared device, to any personal devices they also own.
You probably won't see the concrete use-case, if you don't have multiple children. None of them has any PII to manage, but they certainly do want their own open tabs and game saves, and protection from their siblings accidentally stomping over those.
> Probably the easiest way to do it would be at the unlock screen. Have the user lock their ipad then unlock it as a different user via a different profile attached to the fingerprint sensor.
iPads don't have fingerprint sensors. Also, you're expecting a lot out of children (again, the central point of this) to re-lock the device (just to unlock it again) after taking it from their sibling. My impression is that they'd see something they want to do and just start trying to do it. The ideal here would be to automatically switch profiles when this happens, such that they seamlessly get the same app, but with state recorded for their profile, rather than their sibling's.
Yes they do. My ipad air from last year certainly does. (And its missing Face ID).
> The ideal here would be to automatically switch profiles when this happens, such that they seamlessly get the same app, but with state recorded for their profile, rather than their sibling's.
Sounds like a version 2 feature for user switching. If I were apple and I cared about this, I'd release a simpler version first and wait for feedback.
I hear what you're looking for. I really do. I just think its very complicated to get the interaction you're looking for right. If FaceID started doing its thing every time I handle my iPad, it would be scanning basically all the time.
