The iPad is designed to be a friction-free experience. There’s not even a keyboard to get between you and your books, movies, games, and websites. But of course, nothing is ever perfect. And given that the iPad is still a young platform, kinks will need to be worked out. Crashy apps can be a huge pain, but most of the time, fixing the problem is something you can do yourself. So before you turn to a Genius at the Apple Store for helping fixing a problem, try these solutions first--all of them will help with problems on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
Like most electronic devices, turning the iPad on and off can do wonders to improve its mood--and its functionality. To give it a whirl, hold down the Sleep button at the top of the device until you see the red arrow with the “slide to power off” prompt. Obey that prompt, then wait until the spinning wheel disappears and the iPad’s completely off. Then turn it back on by holding down the same button at the top until you see the fancy Apple logo.
Hold 'em.
Hold down the Sleep and the Home buttons simultaneously until you see the Apple logo. This will take a few seconds. In the meantime, ignore the “slide to power off” prompt--just keep holding the buttons down until you see the Apple logo. This method usually involves a substantially longer restart cycle than the power cycle mentioned above--we’ve seen a hard restart take up to 15 minutes, although thankfully that was the exception rather than the rule. Just be patient.
Tap and hold on the app icon until it gets all wobbly. Click on the x to delete the app (and rate it if you want). After deleting the troublesome app, tap the Home button to stop the wobbling, locking your apps in place.
Tap the x to banish wonky apps.
Plug your iPad into your Mac with the USB cable and fire up iTunes. Select your iPad in the Source column on the left and click the Apps tab in the iTunes window. Find the app you just deleted, make sure it’s checked, and click Sync. Some developers report that their apps behave better if you restart after a sync, so if you’re still having trouble, return to Solution One.
Delete the app as described above. Then launch the App Store on your iPad and re-download the offending app. Don’t worry if it’s a paid app. Unlike music downloads, you won’t be charged again to re-download a previous purchase. Give your iPad a power cycle as shown in Solution One.
Restoring your iDevice involves removing all of your apps and settings and reinstalling the OS. After that, you have to re-sync all of your stuff. It’s not at all difficult, but restoring your device takes a while, so use this solution as a last resort.
Restoring from backup--bring a book.
Plug your iPad into iTunes. Control-click on your iPad in the source list and choose Backup. Wait while iTunes backs up your data--you’re going to need this latest backup to get everything back to normal after the restore.
Control-click on your iPad again and select Restore from Backup. Choose the latest backup. Then go get lunch, watch a movie, or reorganize your record collection--this is going to take a while. But once you’re done, your iPad will be fresh and ready to party again.
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