Poll: should Apple add multi-user access to iOS?

iPad mini 3 gold touch id hand

Yesterday, I stumbled upon an intriguing post over at The Loop which I felt raised a valid point about multi-user access in iOS, or the lack of.

It’s especially relevant in light of the fact that Android Lollipop enables multi-user support on phones.

Tablets, of course, have had this for nearly three years with Jelly Bean and up. Now, adding the ability to share your iPhone or iPad with someone else isn’t as trivial as it may appear at first sight as there are many technical hurdles to overcome.

On the other hand, can anyone imagine Apple not working on solving this pain point for its users? I mean, OS X supports multiple user accounts by design and iOS is basically a slimmed down version of OS X.

Anyways, is multi-user access one of those features the company should prioritize for the next major refresh of iOS, do you think?

Debating this with a few friends of mine the other day, I quickly ran up against a counter argument from certain naysayers who strongly oppose multi-users access because the iPhone and iPad were conceived as personal devices.

Be that as it may, it would be an awesome family sharing feature: parents would undoubtedly realize the value of being able to give their little ones an iPhone to use for a bit, knowing their secrets are safe.

Then there are those who nurture the view that multi-user support should be limited to the iPad or exclusively reserved for enterprise users.

Is multi-user access in iOS something you care about?

Cast your vote below.

Touch ID and a souped up version of iOS Restrictions could be tapped to give different people access to your device, but each one would first need to enroll their fingerprint on your device.

In my view, there should be a limited access feature — a guest account of sorts, if you will. This would be Godsent for ad-hoc device sharing. I just want to be able to borrow my device to a friend to look something up or play a song, for example, and resting assured that iOS would keep my private information and app data safe from prying eyes.

Make sense?

How do you suggest Apple go about implementing multi-user support in iOS and what safeguards should be put in place to protect the owner’s privacy?