From my own experience, I have noticed that people around me are more successful with iPhone than a Mac. The graphical user interface in pair with a mouse is intuitive to an extent, but to use Mac comfortably you need to know and remember several fundamental concepts. Some of them I wanted to discuss today is double click action and the concept of the selected item.

I remember when I got a Mac mini for my mom and we would spend some time together using it. With a little guidance, she would figure out most of the stuff on her own. She didn’t know a lot, and when she had a question, she just asked me, and I would smile, and say yes, you are right. It was a joy for both of us. Unfortunately, it didn’t go smoothly always. We stuck with one trivial task. She wanted to open a document. She needed my help to learn double click. Problem is, once she overcame a challenge and learned how to do it, she started double click everything — Dock applications, weblinks. Not a great experience.

Another time, much later, I happened to be a witness when someone wanted to save a document in a specific location. A very common thing you find yourself doing on a Mac. I have noticed an apparent problem that required my intervention — the file did not save to the selected folder. Well, that’s a problem. This made another person frustrated. Believe me, you don’t want to be a clever guy in this situation, this is UX failure. Why it didn’t save? Because you need to double click on a folder first!

iOS has some advantages over macOS. Both Mac and iPhone have a progressive disclosure of complexity which helps novice users get started, and also allows power users to stay productive. However, the entry barrier on iPhone is much lower. You can do everything on your iPhone with a simple tap and swipe. It will take longer yes, but you don’t need to know about double tap, tap and hold, tap-hold and drag. That’s a great thing.

iPad works in the same way. Basic requirements, things you need to know to use it, are very low. It’s forgiving for a novice user. People can pick it up and do more without any help from their nerd friends. iOS and iPadOS have a fundamental advantage over Mac.