Using iPads as Roon Remotes

I have 3 main headphone outlets in different rooms, each with remote Roon control using iPads (purchased used). Despite cutting my PC teeth on an Apple 2 decades ago, I’m generally not a fan of Apple because of their high price etc but acknowledge their technical advantages and the generally attractive features of their iPads. So a 12” has been my main remote backstop for over 4 years now and has recently been supplemented with two minis (4th generation).

I do not use the iPads for anything else but Roon control plus the odd Google search so guess there are cheaper alternatives but … With no critical data on board and them never leaving the house, there is no point is requiring a password every time they are used and that has worked well until a few days ago.

Apple kindly upgraded the firmware on one of the minis but when I went to use it found it required setting up once more, something that should have been easy but was not. Maybe I inadvertently (translate as carelessly) took a wrong step because it started to demand passwords which had never been used with the iPad before. Yes, I have a main APPLE password but that led me to another security hurdle requiring digital entry. I asked Apple to send me the code but it never arrived on the PC via email, nor appear as text on my mobile (sinfully a Samsung not an iPhone). I had already downloaded iTunes as part of all this recovery process so maybe the code was there? No, it was not because this PC had not received the Apple kiss of approval. OK, so an attempt was made to legitimize its existence but struck the same infuriating hurdle – no way to receive a verifying code!! Bah.

In the end I did manage to set up the iPad mini for Roon without a passcode when Apple finally rang me with a voicemail telling me the required code. For some reason that option was buried and not easy to find.

Now I appreciate the world is littered with baddies trying to shake us down via entry into our PC devices so passwords, firewalls etc unfortunately are needed. But Apple has the whole process down to a frustratingly fine art so the intelligence so the “skills” of yobbos like me become extremely challenged. It is very annoying that the small mini iPad appears to be more intelligent than me so can outwit me without much effort.

Apple devices require your Apple password to update firmware. If you use two-factor authentication, they also text you a temporary passcode, IIRC. Not a big deal. I use 3 iDevices as Roon control for my Nucleus, but mostly use my Dell laptop.