https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGMsT4qNA-c
These toddlers can barely speak, but they sure can rock an iPad.
Check out the video above. In it, two-year-old Bridger shows his mastery of the iPad. Just watch him swipe his way through the Home screen to find the app he wants.
The videos in this post are just a sample of many toddler videos on YouTube, demonstrating the unbelievable ease two- and three-year olds have mastering the iPad.
Here’s a 17-month old:
The 17-month old is still a bit too young for the iPad. She can launch her favorite game, but she hasn’t really mastered the UI. But here’s a slightly older toddler. She’s 2.5-years-old and is supposedly playing with an iPad for the first time. She has no trouble finding her way around:
Here’s a 2-year-old finding and playing a favorite game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3tam2Pwyqk
Via Technologizer: Growing Up Digitally: The iPad As a Learning Device
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
44 responses to “Amazing Videos Of Toddlers Mastering The iPad”
I’ve always felt this is where the future of education is … self-learning with applications. At least the basics of reading, writing, drawing, creating music. So simple and easy to do things on the iPad even a baby can do it : )
I don’t think a baby should be using a ipad they will probably break it
My 18 month old uses my iPhone and iPad pretty regularly and pretty successfully. They’re great tools to occupy their attention for a few minutes. I’ve had to wean him off it a bit, though, because he’s discovered that it’s fun to push a long time and get the little white Xes to pop up, and push them. In other words, to delete apps.
The first video is the best. The baby seems to be in control of what he is doing. Even when he does not do what the father asks him to do, it looks like he does not do it because he is not interested. However, his motor skills shine when he advances the video to the exact portion that he likes best, and when he chooses the right applications from the several pages of apps that his dad has installed. The fact that the baby knows that the sticker menu has animals and knows how to scroll down just blew my mind.
The other videos are good, but the children in them seem to be tapping the screen almost randomly to see if something will happen.
This show how Apple manage to design a simple & great UI. Even baby can use it.
Like anything else they shouldn’t be using it without proper supervision. If you’re using the iPad as a digital babysitter then it’ll probably get wrecked. But if you are using it WITH your child, whether it’s for education or entertainment, then it’s perfectly ok. My nephew has been playing with my iPhone since he was 2 and has never hurt it at all. Now, 2 years later, he’s a little iOS master and his little brother is following in his footsteps. Can’t wait to see what fun things he figures out with my new iPad2…
and you’re too old…;-)
I do not know but those children are old people in disguise! lol The first baby video is really a cute one. He can barely speak but can use the iPad like someone at my age. lol
Hi Leander, this is amazing!
I was exchanging emails recently with an iPad app developer and I told him I found his design decisions amazing for his app ( Notes +). He explained to me that the whole idea behind iOS and therefore the apps, is based upon the concept of “Natural Design” in which things are intended to be played with and eventually you’ll find your way around. That’s why we don’t see long manuals with iDevices and such… This is very different form the mentality we, adults from the PC Era, are used to in UIs. We got used to (in the best case scenario) “Intuitive Designs” but this conception assumes you must know something prior and then use you “intuition” to figure your way around as opposed to the Natural approach where you’re meant to play with and app or any interface… I found this distinction very interesting…The videos with the kids just prove it works indeed!!
the first kid was awesome, and is so cute, he was very focused and knew what he is doing, even after playing the video he touched the screen with his thumb to get away the control buttons, that was damn too awesome…..lovely.
True 17 month old IPAD demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
My 2.5 yo learned how to unlock my iphone @18mos. Shortly after he figured out the flower was “Pic churrs”. He found out how to swipe the pictures on his own. At about 2 years he discovered angry birds in the game folder….that’s the automatic go to app now. It’s funny watching him play on his learning laptop because he swipes and scrolls like mom and dad do on their MBPs.
well it’s surely a great way for kids to learn numbers and letters, but I think if they play with the iPad only, they don’t learn fine motor skills with real objects, like using a spoon, playing with blocks, etc.
Btw, playing outside is still the best way to prevent your baby from having allergies!
You should see my daughter. She figured out how to “unlock” the opening screen by herself, and she can switch between applications. She woke up one day and cried for the the iPad. The immediate addiction is frightening!
My son just turned 3, and he’s been doing this since I first got my iPad at launch. It’s pretty crazy to see it – my 5-year-old daughter asks him to start up games of Angry Birds for her all the time, because I have my apps arranged in folders and she doesn’t like navigating them.
He also loves iPhones and my EVO. The best is when he uses my wife’s Palm PRE – he looks like a pro, and he’s better at it than my wife is. The other day he was playing with it, and he said, “say cheese!” and shot a pic of my wife. Crazy!
Imagine 20 years from now?
Kid will start school with 2 years or earlier.
Who said immortality sucks?
Apple are rather clever, they have come up with a UI that can so easily for kids and OAPs alike that they’re setting themselves up for millions of future loyal customers, the next generation of customers who remembered their childhood experiences.
The other thing is that these kids aren’t tainted by the old paradigm of computer UIs the rest of us have grown up with. They’ll be accustomed to these new touch interfaces and will not be burdened by the old ways that I’ve seen many naysayers dragged down by. One day they’ll be grown up and think how silly it was the way we use to work with computers, in much the same way that as a relatively young man I look back at those people hunched over command line terminals and laugh.
These are not amazing. These are parents treating their children like monkeys.
I was nervous about letting my 2 year old touch my iPad. Once I relented it became his iPad just for the fact that he’s on it most of the time. I’m amazed how well he navigates the device and chooses what he wants to play or watch. Now my wife and I have it loaded with games and videos that keep him entertained on the long rides back and forth from daycare. I wonder how life will be in 10 years when these devices will be much more common.
Ignorance is bliss! You are all urged to look carefully at this (alliance for childhood.org) web site’s home page filled with important literature – research and advocacy – on the subject of early childhood development, in particular the header “Technology and Young Children”
Here is wonderful proof again that Apple products truly conform to the desgin principles of Dieter Rams: Good design makes a product understandable, meaning that the product can express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. This is exactly how the babies are behaivng in these videos. Using an iPad for basic tasks does not require technical knowledge; the babies feel comfortable using simple gestures to input data into the iPad.
Wow that is so cool! That first baby is using our App Drawing Pad http://drawingpadapp.com
Our goal in designing the app was to make it easy enough for a two year old but fun for all ages!
btw: We have an app for GROWN UPS too called Unnecessary Censorship — http://ucapp.com
The way the 2 year old says “Okay” is so darn cute! His attitude exudes confidence!