A plain-language guide

Your iPad, the Web, Google, Siri and Alexa

Written for someone who uses an iPad every day — YouTube for exercise classes, a search now and then, the odd trip into Pinterest, Alexa on the iPhone — but has never had the pieces explained. No experience is assumed. Read it in order, with the iPad beside you, and try each step as you go. Nothing in this guide can break your iPad.

1. Why this is confusing

People say “I’ll Google it”, “I’ll look it up on the internet”, “I’ll ask Siri”, “ask Alexa”, “it’s AI” and “I saw it on YouTube” as if these were all the same kind of thing. Often all of them lead to the same answer, so nobody ever stops to explain the difference.

They are different things, the way a car, a road map, a passenger who takes instructions and the shop you drive to are different things, even though all of them are involved in getting to the store. In that picture, Safari is the car, Google is the map, Siri is the passenger, Alexa is a helper who rides in a different car, and YouTube and Pinterest are shops. Once you can tell them apart, the iPad stops feeling unpredictable, and you will know what to do when something goes wrong.

2. The iPad and its apps

The iPad is the machine itself. On its own it does very little. What it does, it does through apps — the small square pictures on the main screen, which is called the Home Screen.

Each app is a separate tool with one job. Mail is for email. Photos holds your pictures. The red YouTube app with the white triangle plays YouTube videos, and nothing else. Think of the iPad as a kitchen drawer and the apps as the utensils in it: you pick up the one that fits the job.

Try it. Open the YouTube app, then go back to the Home Screen. On older iPads, press the round button below the screen. On newer iPads with no button, put a finger on the very bottom edge of the screen and slide it up. The video you were watching is not lost — it is put away, like closing a drawer. Tap YouTube again and it is still there.

3. The internet and the web

The internet is the worldwide network of cables and radio signals that connects computers together. You never see it, the same way you never see the pipes behind the kitchen tap. Your iPad reaches it through Wi-Fi at home.

The web is the enormous collection of pages that sit on the internet — pages from newspapers, banks, stores, the government, recipe collections. A group of pages belonging to one organisation is a website. YouTube is a website. So is Pinterest. So are Google, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo, which are websites whose job is finding other websites (section 5).

Every website has an address, just as every house does. Web addresses look like youtube.com, pinterest.com or cbc.ca. If you know the address, you can go straight there.

4. The web browser: Safari

To look at web pages you need an app made for the purpose. That kind of app is called a web browser. On an iPad the browser is Safari — its picture is a blue compass. Safari’s only job is to go to web addresses and show you the pages that live there.

Back to the car: the web is the roads, websites are the shops, and Safari is the car. The car does not know where you want to go and it does not own any of the shops. It takes you to whatever address you give it — YouTube, Pinterest, the bank, anywhere.

There are other browsers. Google makes one called Chrome; you may see it on other people’s phones and computers. It does the same job as Safari. You do not need it.

The address bar

At the top of Safari (on some iPads it sits at the bottom) is a long box. This is the address bar. Tap it and the keyboard appears. You can type two different kinds of thing into it:

That second row is the heart of the confusion. It is why typing into Safari feels like “using Google”: Safari quietly asks Google for you.

5. Search engines: Google, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo

A search engine is a website whose job is to know what is on millions of other websites. You describe what you want, and it gives you a list of pages that might have it. You then tap one of those pages to go there. In the car picture, a search engine is the road map and the phone book. It does not contain the exercise videos or the recipes; it tells you which shops have them. When you tap a result, you leave the search engine and arrive at someone else’s website.

There are several, all doing the same job with the same web:

If you type words into Safari and the results page has a purple Yahoo logo or a duck at the top instead of the Google logo, nothing is wrong — Safari has been set to use a different search engine. Whichever one you see, the results work the same way.

Why you keep landing on Pinterest

A search engine did not write the pages it shows you, and it does not check them. It shows you whatever it thinks matches your words — and for recipes, crafts, garden ideas and exercise routines, it very often shows Pinterest, especially when you tap Images at the top of the results.

Pinterest is a website where people collect pictures they like onto boards, like pinning clippings to a corkboard. Each picture (a “pin”) was usually copied from some other website, and the real recipe or instructions live on that other website. So a Pinterest result is a picture of the thing, not the thing. Tap it and Pinterest usually asks you to sign up, log in or install its app before it will show you more.

How to tell where a result goes. Under or above each search result is its website address in small print. pinterest.com means Pinterest. youtube.com means a video. canada.ca is the Government of Canada. free-pension-help.biz is somebody you have never heard of. Read the address before you tap, and pick the one that is the thing itself rather than a picture of it.

Caution — paid results. The first few results are sometimes advertisements, marked with the word Sponsored in small type. A company paid to be there. For anything to do with money, health or government services, scroll past them.

6. Siri and Alexa: the helpers you talk to

Siri is not a website, not a browser and not a search engine. Siri is a voice assistant built into the iPad by Apple. You speak to it and it tries to do what you asked, using the iPad’s own apps and, when it needs to, the internet.

In the car picture, Siri is a passenger who takes instructions. “Open YouTube” — Siri opens the YouTube app. “Set a timer for twenty minutes” — Siri sets it, using the Clock app. “What’s the weather tomorrow?” — Siri fetches it and reads it out. For a question it cannot answer itself, Siri searches the web and shows you a few results, or offers to open them in Safari — so Siri, too, is often using a search engine behind the scenes.

To wake Siri, say “Siri” or “Hey Siri” if that is switched on, or press and hold the round Home button (older iPads) or the top button (newer iPads) until the glowing Siri light appears. Then talk normally.

Alexa is the same kind of helper, from a different company

Alexa is Amazon’s voice assistant. On your iPhone it lives in the Amazon Alexa app — the blue speech-bubble picture. Alexa and Siri do the same kind of job: you talk, they listen, they answer or do something. But they belong to different companies, and that changes how they behave.

Siri is built into the iPhone and the iPad by Apple, so it is always there and can open any app. Alexa is just another app on the iPhone. You open the Alexa app first and tap the Alexa button in it (or say “Alexa” while the app is open), and she can only do what can be done from inside her own app — answer a question, read the weather, add something to your Amazon shopping list, play music through Amazon. She cannot open YouTube, Safari or your other apps, even on the iPhone she is on.

In the car picture, Alexa is a helper who rides in a different car — your iPhone — and only speaks when you open her door. She cannot reach the iPad at all. The iPad and the iPhone are two separate machines; asking Alexa on the phone to do something on the iPad is like asking a passenger in the car behind you to change your radio station.

Good to know. During an exercise class on the iPad, the helper to use is Siri on the iPad itself: with the class playing, say “Hey Siri, set a timer for twenty minutes”. Siri on the iPhone would work too. Alexa is the slower choice here, because you would have to pick up the phone and open her app first.

So what is “AI”?

AI stands for artificial intelligence. In everyday talk it means computer programs that understand ordinary speech or writing and answer in ordinary sentences, rather than making you press exactly the right buttons. Siri and Alexa are both AI helpers in this sense, and both companies keep adding newer AI that can hold a longer, more natural conversation. Search engines use it too: Google sometimes puts a paragraph written by AI at the top of its results, labelled AI Overview, before the list of websites.

AI is not a place on the internet and not a separate thing you have to go and find. It is the cleverness inside the helpers you already use.

Caution — confident is not the same as right. An AI answer sounds sure of itself whether it is right or wrong, and it can get things wrong — mishearing a name, mixing up two recipes, or giving a health tip that does not apply to you. For anything that matters — medication, a sore joint, money, government forms — treat the AI answer as a starting point, and check it on a website you trust (section 5) or with a person.

7. How the pieces fit

Figure 1. How the pieces connect:

• You can either talk to Siri or type or tap in Safari.
• Siri may open Safari for you, or ask a search engine itself.
• Safari sends words to a search engine (Google, Yahoo or DuckDuckGo), which lists websites; or it goes straight to a website (such as youtube.com) when you type its address.
• All of this travels over the internet (Wi-Fi).

8. Apps and websites: two doors into the same shop

Many companies offer both a website and an app. YouTube is the clearest example. The YouTube app on your Home Screen and youtube.com in Safari show you the same videos and, if you are signed in, the same account and the same subscriptions. The app is quicker and tidier; the website works without installing anything. Neither is more “on the internet” than the other.

The doors behave a little differently, though, and your paid YouTube account shows how. Your subscription (YouTube Premium) is what removes the advertisements. The app on your iPad is signed in to your account, so it knows you have paid. If a search in Safari takes you to a YouTube video on the website instead, that door may not know who you are — and you may suddenly see ads, or no subscriptions. Nothing has gone wrong with your account; you have just come in by a different door.

Rule of thumb. For YouTube, use the app. If you find a video through a search and it opens in Safari, look for an Open in app or Open YouTube button, or simply open the YouTube app and search for the video there.

Pinterest works the other way round: its website keeps pushing you toward its app and an account. You do not need either. When it asks, tap the back arrow (‹).

Caution — paying for things. If YouTube ever starts showing ads in the app, the subscription may have lapsed or the card on file may have expired. Check it in the iPad’s Settings (tap your name, then Subscriptions) or ask a family member to look. Never pay or enter card details because a pop-up or an email tells you to.

9. Worked example: finding a chair-exercise class four ways

This uses sections 4 to 8. Try all four; they end up in the same place by different roads.

A. Ask Siri to open the shop

1. Wake Siri (section 6) and say: “Open YouTube.”
2. The YouTube app opens. Tap the magnifying glass and type chair exercise 20 minutes.

Asking Alexa the same thing will not work: she cannot open apps on your iPad (section 6). She is in an app on your iPhone and cannot open apps, even there.

B. Ask a search engine through Safari

1. Tap Safari (the compass). Tap the address bar, type chair exercise 20 minutes and tap Go.
2. You are now looking at the search engine’s list — Google, or perhaps Yahoo or DuckDuckGo. Many results will be videos marked youtube.com. Some may be pictures marked pinterest.com; skip those.
3. Tap a YouTube result. It may open in the YouTube app, or on the YouTube website in Safari. If you see ads, that is the website door (section 8) — tap Open in app if it is offered.

C. Type the shop’s address

1. In Safari, tap the address bar, type youtube.com and tap Go.
2. You arrive directly at the YouTube website. No search engine involved. Use YouTube’s own search box — it finds only YouTube videos.

D. The everyday way: the app and your subscriptions

1. Tap the YouTube app on the Home Screen.
2. When you find a teacher you like, tap their name under the video, then tap Subscribe. It costs nothing extra.
3. Next time, tap Subscriptions at the bottom of the app. Their newest classes are waiting there, with no searching at all.

What this shows. In A, Siri did the asking — and Alexa could not, because she lives in a different machine. In B, a search engine did the finding and Safari did the showing — and offered Pinterest along the way. In C, you already knew the address, so Safari went straight there. In D, you used the shop’s own door and it remembered you. Same class, four different helpers. D is the one worth making a habit.

Good to know. When one video ends, YouTube starts another on its own. This is called autoplay; YouTube has picked the next one for you, and it may not be the kind of class you wanted. Tap the video to pause it.

10. Getting unstuck

Caution — fake warnings. Sometimes a web page pops up a frightening message: “Your iPad is infected”, “Call Apple Support now”, or a loud alarm sound. This is a scam. It is just a web page pretending, and it cannot harm the iPad. Do not call the number and do not tap anything on it. Go to the Home Screen, then open Safari again and close that tab with its ×. Apple, Amazon, YouTube, your bank and the government will never ask for a password or payment through a pop-up.

11. Words you will hear

12. Where to go next

Make example D in section 9 a habit: subscribe to the two or three exercise teachers you like, and use the Subscriptions page in the YouTube app instead of searching. Then choose one website you use often — the weather or the news — and learn to type its address directly. Those two habits remove most of the mystery, and most of the accidental trips to Pinterest.

When you want more, these are patient, free and trustworthy:

Apple’s iPad User Guide — built into the Tips app on the iPad, and at support.apple.com.

GCFGlobal — free beginner lessons on the internet, searching and iPads, at edu.gcfglobal.org.

Your public library — most run free one-on-one technology help sessions; bring the iPad.

A patient family member — ask them to sit beside you and let you do the tapping.

A note on accuracy. Apple, Amazon, YouTube and Pinterest move buttons around between updates. The ideas here do not change, but the exact place of the address bar, the Siri button, the Subscriptions tab or the back arrow may differ slightly on your iPad. If a step does not match what you see, look nearby for the same word or symbol.