How to Set Up Your iPad mini

If you got a new iPad mini for Christmas, congratulations. Someone loves you enough to buy one of the hottest tablets available today. Look forward to hours of great fun reading books, magazines, checking email and reading your favorite websites.

Let us guide you through the iPad mini setup process. We will share tips for securing iPad mini, setting up parental controls, and also sharing app recommendations to make iPad more useful. This process will take about 15-30 minutes from unboxing to installing fun apps to use for the holidays.

We also recommend getting an iPad mini case to protect it from bumps and scratches that may occur during normal use. Avoid the iPad mini Smart Cover, which we find more expensive and less useful than the larger iPad Smart Cover.

Initial iPad mini Setup

Watch the iPad mini unboxing we did shortly after the Wi-Fi version was released.

While Apple shipped the iPad mini with plenty of battery life to get started, we recommend draining the battery early in the process.

Here is the list of steps taken on first boot:

1. Choose a language
2. Choose a country
3. connect to wifi
4. Turn on location services for things like Maps or apps that find nearby places
5. Unless you’re going to replace an old iPad and then use a backup from a computer or iCloud if possible, set it up as a new device.
6. Sign in to an existing Apple ID or create a new one
7. Choose to use iCloud
8. Back up iPad to iCloud or a computer
9. Use Find My iPad if lost or stolen
10. Set up FaceTime contact email address or phone numbers
11. Choose to use Siri, a voice recognition function

iPad Mini Security

Like most things on iPad mini, users find security features in the Settings app. It looks like a black gear set.

First, set an AutoLock time. This rotates the screen to save battery life and protects the iPad from people who don’t want the user accessing the iPad. We recommend 2 or 5 minutes.

Go back and select Password Lock. Choose between a simple password or a longer password before opening it.

Simple passcodes use four numbers as shown in the screenshot above. Longer ones might look like this: . Go to the Settings app and screen

When a user protects iPad mini with a passcode, they can choose how long the iPad should be locked before entering the passcode. Set the setting to for the strongest security. Set this to one minute so you don’t have to enter the code if the screen is locked.

The last two options on the Passcode Lock screen allow the user to decide whether to allow the iPad mini using Siri or when using the Picture Frame function, which shows a slide show of pictures on the iPad. For maximum security, set both to .

Finally, choose Wipe Data if an incorrect password is entered ten times. This prevents people from guessing the code.

Parental Controls

Parents can limit what the child purchases, the types of websites they can visit, the games playable by rating, and more.

Find options in Settings. Press the button first. This opens them for all options. The parent can then turn them off for certain apps. Turning off access to explicit music and podcasts, limiting the movies, shows or games that iPad can play based on ratings, or turning off In-App Purchases from this list are a few examples.

Setting Up an Account on iPad mini

A user will now want to create accounts for email, calendars and contacts.

From Settings, select and turn on the items that need to be synced to iCloud first. We recommend turning them all on, but some may not use iCloud for Notes, Calendars, or other items. Save some space on an iCloud account by turning off unused items, which Apple limits to 5GB on a free account.

Now tap on it to add such accounts. This is where the user will add their Gmail, Yahoo or work email account.

Installing Important Applications

The above will only set up an iPad for minimal functionality such as web browsing, email reading, and personal information management. The genius of the iPad comes from the apps that the user can add. Open the App Store on iPad. We recommend getting a few apps like:

Tap 2X at bottom right to maximize iPhone apps on iPad

When looking for apps, understand that Apple designed iOS so that apps were made for the iPhone. Apple designed the iPad’s operating system to enlarge the app to fill the screen, but it won’t look that good.