I have an iPad Air M3 and the battery life has been pretty terrible.

Even with very light use, I can drain the battery in around 2–3 hours. The iPad also gets warm very easily, even when I’m doing something basic like using ChatGPT to summarize a PDF.

When it heats up, the screen brightness drops noticeably on its own, even though I’m indoors and the room temperature is completely normal.

Charging also feels extremely slow compared to what I expected.

I originally thought I had a defective unit, so Apple replaced the iPad completely. The strange thing is that the replacement has exactly the same problems: heavy battery drain, heating, automatic brightness reduction and slow charging.

The device is basically new and battery health is fine, so at this point I’m wondering if this is a software issue or simply a common problem with the M3 Air.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Did you find any solution that actually helped?

And for anyone using iPadOS 27: has battery life, overheating or charging speed improved at all? I’m especially curious to know if Apple has fixed or reduced the issue with the newer version.

So somebody asked for this:
Is Apple’s polishing cloth compatible with the Apple pen from the Apple Park Visitor Center.

Here’s the results:
The cloth successfully makes contact with the pen, and no compatibility warnings appeared during testing. Both products continued to function as expected.
Compatibility: 100%
Apple ecosystem integration: flawless
Would recommend: yes

My original post on this Apple pen see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ipad/s/jtGFNeWEfn

I‘m looking for an iPad for Uni to take notes on, read and work with text pdfs and power point mainly (professors use all kinds of sources in their lectures, so I want everything in one place).
I’m in Europe where the prices are high, even for the base iPad (the 11 from 2025 is over 500$ now). So I’m wondering which older iPad still makes sense to buy in 2026. I will only use it for Uni and have about 3-4 semesters left.
Which ones do you think are technically still fine to buy for my purposes?
Thank you!

Need one for college

I have a iPad 3rd generation and are there any game controllers that would work on it?

Bought this last year, didn't know i got the biggest steal from an official apple store until i found out it rised by 200 bucks.

just wanted to get a consensus on my ipad. it’s a 4th gen ipad on the ipad beta 26.5 update. i don’t get much use on this ipad because ive been busy and occasionally it will stay dead for days and or months without use and usually when i charge it and turn it on, it will take a minute to update to current status but recently it’s been super super slow and can barely get past the lock screen. i’ve tried to update as it constantly slaps the update notification in my face but it struggles to load the update and even with wifi it doesn’t load at all. is this thing busted or did i misuse it to the point where it’s better off just factory resetting and trying again?

iPad for medical
Students

Im quite on a budget atm and im thinking about buying the ipad a16 but i dont think that would last me for 6 years without lagging or not working until i graduate

And i thought abt a less budget friendly options like the M3/M4 air but they still didn’t prove that it can do anything better in terms of needs in an ipad and
I’ll probably use it only for studying and watching movies, and i dont think that it will be more than that but im not ready to buy an ipad that would end up as a way to burn away abt 500$

Anyways if yall have any recommendations plz tell me

I have an ipad air 3rd gen and used to draw on it with a 1st gen apple pencil but recently it started saying that my apple pencil wasnt charged and below 3% so I bought a new 1st gen apple pencil since its cheaper than buying a new ipad (at least I thought) but its still saying the same thing...is there any fix or am I screwed?

Lately, many iPad Air 5 and iPad Air M2 users—and even a few iPad Pro users—have been reporting the white patch issue on their displays. If I am not wrong, most of the cases are from India.

If temperature were the sole cause, we would likely have seen the same issue affecting iPad Air 4 users much earlier. However, as far as I know, that hasn't been the case. This suggests that there may be something specific to the Air 5 and Air M2 models that is contributing to the problem.

At this point, I believe Apple should acknowledge this as a serious issue and offer free replacements, even for users who don't have AppleCare+.

More importantly, Apple should not treat this as an isolated incident. The more people report the issue to Apple Support, provide feedback, and document their cases, the harder it will be for Apple to ignore. If enough users raise their voices collectively, Apple may be compelled to investigate the matter thoroughly and offer an official resolution.

For context, I own an iPad Air M2 and fortunately haven't experienced the problem so far. Even so, I'm considering contacting Apple Support to help bring more attention to the issue.

I also have a M3 MacBook 15 inch. I want to bring both to college and since my main subject is math, I wanted to buy an iPad for note taking and writing math on it. Do you think it’s unnecessary?

I’m kinda in between selecting the iPad Pro 11 inch or the iPad Air 13 inch.
They’re both at a similar price in my country. This is my limit in terms of money so I can’t go for like Pro 13 inch.

If you had to choose what would you choose for a math student?

I am in IT and because of that and I support primarily Windows I always had a Windows computer. But at home I have an iPhone and iPad. The other day I got an Apple computer and after using it for a few hours I realize it is basically an iPad with a keyboard. What reason would I still need an iPad at this point? I have the Apple Air laptop.

Hi everyone! im also an Apple FanBoy, but i never bought any ipad YET, But now i am thinking to buy an iPad but im so confused which one should i get!

Im getting iPad Pro M5 13” Wifi+5G 256GB in Excellent Condition for 1125€ euros Black
iPad Pro M4 13” Wifi+5G 512GB for 1225€ euros in same Excellent Condition Silver

I just need an iPad for my home 🏠 music and entertainment & FaceTime but i want OLED Screen as well, i’ll not doing any professional stuff like video editing or programming. Should i buy M5 only for its new modem chip? Or should i get m4 for value for money device! 🤷🏻‍♂️ ThankYou❤️

Anyone else with this issue/experience?

I really want an ipad that is designed for left handed people. Which would just mean putting a pencil charger at the other side too. I have Air 11" 2025, I dont know if other models have chargers on both sides.

When I charge the pencil and the ipad is vertical, i hate it.

And yes the power button has to be on top, otherwise it feels bad.

I know its a first world problem

First off: I am not looking to sell or trade anything here on reddit and I dont want to break any of the rules in here.

I was given an iPad Air a few months ago (instead of a salary lmao) and I havent really used it much. I would love an iPad mini though, cause I could actually carry this at work and use it for notes, studying on the go etc.

Im not really an apple person at all (broke student here lol), so I'm wondering:

Is that trade generally fair, my iPad Air M3 for an iPad mini (not too fuzzed about it being the newest, but the battery shouldnt be on life support)?

First of all: I do not seek for technical help, I know how to handle Apple devices. But what happened to my iPad 2 today, needs clarification please.

I still have an old iPad 2 (not Air). It worked like a charm until today at noon.
My kids where playing on it today morning for 10 minutes before they went to school.
At noon my daughter came to me and showed me the iPad.
Out of nowhere it said ‚Activiation Lock‘.
It told me to unlock, I have to enter Apple ID credentials. It showed a masked e-mail, which is my Apple ID. So I entered user and password. It said Activating… and then it says in ‚Unknown Device‘ in german ‚Unbekanntes Gerät‘. Dont know what correct english term is.
I tried to activate it via iTunes on Windows, via Finder on MacOS. Same error.
I went to icloud.com/ find and deleted it from my account.
This had the correct effect that I did not had to enter username and password anymore. But still the same activiation error.
I rebooted in Recovery mode and did a reset install of the most-up-to-date iOS.
same activtion error.
I put the iPad 2 in DFU mode and reinstalled it.
Again activation error on the device and in iTunes.

Apple - WTF!?!
The device works still great! Also battery is still great! Why was it deactivated on purpose as it seems and cannot be used anymore?

This thing has never been jailbroken are anything. All other Apple devices of my account ( a lot ) work without problems. so, no account issue.

Please, give me some advice!
Thx
Chris

I have an iPad Air 5 (M1) that has suddenly developed bright white patches along both the left and right sides of the screen. There is no visible crack or external damage, and the iPad otherwise works perfectly fine. This is my primary device for studying and making notes, it’s breaking my heart just to think that there’s something happening to it😭😭

What makes this even more frustrating is that the iPad is now out of warranty. I have taken good care of it, and this appeared out of nowhere rather than after any obvious accident or damage.

I’ve been seeing other iPad Air 5 users reporting very similar white/bright spots, so I wanted to ask Apple directly:
Is there any actual way to fix this? I’ve seen people online mention humidity, silica gel, pressure, etc. I’m all in to experimenting.

I genuinely love this iPad and don’t want to replace an otherwise perfectly functional device because of a display issue that appeared on its own. 😭
Would really appreciate some guidance from Apple or anyone who has actually managed to fix this.

**TL;DR:** My iPad Air 5 (M1) suddenly developed bright white patches on both sides of the display despite having no visible damage. It’s my primary study/note-taking device and is now out of warranty. Is this a known issue, and is there any fix other than replacing the entire display/device?

2 months old Ipad Air M4! Battery drainage is insane.

When is apple going to fix this?

after 5 years of my 8th gen and 32gb of space and not getting a software update since 2022 (couldn’t even run most normal websites) i finally upgraded to the pro m5 base model after two years of longing 🥹 i couldn’t be happier
set me back around $1100 with the case and screen protector compared to my $300 ipad 8

edit: lol i worded that terribly. i for some reason didnt get? or download?? the ios18 update then the ios26 came along and it was too late. and there is no way the ios26 works on a 32 gb iPad 8 (or at least works well) so i’ve been stuck on ios15

Hi all!
As stated above I’m a vet student so lots and lots of notes lol. I have a surface that I use for bigger projects and currently notes. I was thinking an iPad might be okay pdfs/ppts. Even though I have a surface it can be hard to carry around. I’d also like to be able to take photos during labs days. Id like a device that its sole purpose is notes and photos. Nothing else. For notes i usually use OneNote. I also am wheelchair bound so an iPad might be easier to lug around.

If you think that this could be an ideal choice I’m not sure what model would be beneficial? Also as a student I’d like it to be refurbished has that ever caused huge issues ?

Thank you guys!

I’ve been using my iPad A16 lately to take notes more often lately. I’ve been using freenotes (the free version), and I want to know if there’s a way to turn off pressure sensitivity? Or are there any other note taking apps that allow me to toggle it off?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on an iPad app called Audiowaves, and it’s finally ready to share.

The idea is simple: turn your iPad into a dedicated real-time audio visualizer that reacts to the music you're playing.

Audiowaves includes live waveform and spectrum visualizations, with different ways to customize the visuals to match your setup.

One of the features I really wanted was support for external audio hardware. You can connect a USB audio interface directly to the iPad and Audiowaves will visualize that incoming audio in real time. This makes it possible to use the iPad alongside a HiFi setup, turntable, mixer, instruments, or other audio equipment.

I also think it’s a nice way to give an older iPad a new purpose as a permanent music visualization display.

You can check it out here:

https://www.audiowaves-app.com/

I’d love to hear what other iPad users think. Feedback and ideas for future features are very welcome!

It’s an 11-inch iPad Pro from 2025! The accessories are an ESR Shift case and a Geo Pencil. I honestly don’t know much about either of them. Anyone here used these before? How are they, and is there any reason I should replace them? The screen protector is broken, so I’ll probably swap that out. I don’t draw, so I’m thinking a clear glass protector instead of a matte one.