Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 13 Pro Max What makes a person a power user?
- Thread starter AdamNC
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
🙂 Yeah, someone who needs to regularly see a chiropractor from the neck pain, & when lying on their table receiving treatment, is STILL on their iPhone 😝
Then you become a machine slave.
Only if they using iPhone Pro device.
Yes, which I assumed, since the thread is headlined iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Multiple apps running and creating for sale or free large projects being created.
Using the software tools for the job. Not consuming but creating.
Using the software tools for the job. Not consuming but creating.
To me, a power user is an advanced user, one who knows how to access every minute detail/setting of a software and no longer needs a user manual to do so, although he or she may have had to look up some things on the internet or manual before...
Sadly, the term "power user" no longer has any meaning. Before that, a power user was someone who uses advanced features of a computer product, or potentially third party utilities that unlock certain features that normally doesn't exist. Basically, people who use Windows Power Toys, or maybe Shortcuts for iOS.
"general purpose computer" differentiates a computing device for home/office work from a "special purpose computer". Those computers embedded inside internal combustion engines that regulate the engines' operations are an example of a "special purpose computer". Likewise, the computer inside a lightning-to-HDMI cable is a "special purpose" computer.
I am a power user by definition of I am ALWAYS on my phone. Like i use my phone most when my ipad/surface/desktops can do the same (EXAMPLE: i can easily watch my true crime stuff on apple tv and i will default to my phone unless it is dead).
However, i still have a lot to learn about IOS so id say i am intermediate user over all. Shortcuts are still blowing my mind and i am slowly learning how to integrate with mac os/ipados/ios
However, i still have a lot to learn about IOS so id say i am intermediate user over all. Shortcuts are still blowing my mind and i am slowly learning how to integrate with mac os/ipados/ios
It’s definitely an overly broad term, to the point of even losing meaning. That said, there’s definitely an element of “productivity” and “getting the device to work for you instead of you for it” to it.
It’s also a little like the term “terminally online”. I suppose someone could spend 6 hours a day watching pretty conventional YouTube content and not be “terminally online” despite their high degree of internet usage but another person could be on Twitter or Instagram for only 2 hours a day and most certainly be “terminally online”. The difference seems to be the level of disconnect from things that matter in real life and the internet outrage and hype cycles. For instance, I probably wouldn’t use the term “power user” for someone who uses their phone as a phone for six hours a day in work meetings. (Big whoop, you can use a phone as a phone.) But someone who knows how to save hours of work through the use of clever Siri Shortcuts, that I would definitely consider the mark of a power user. There’s a sense of being “the guy with computer know-how”.
if we’re going on expertise alone, i feel like a power user whenever i walk into any phone store. i’ve had an instance when i told a in store verizon rep exactly what they need to do to fix the issue and they do things their own way, **** everything up, call tier 3 help desk to fix the mess they caused, then revert to what i had suggested initially. ultimately wasting 2 hours of my time in what would have been a cool 15 minutes.
I have been thinking about it more, and my own take is one who makes the effort to optimise the way tasks are carried out on the iPhone, over and above how one might typically interact with it.
Some examples:
1) Copious use of third party apps that replace stock apps because you desire added functionality (eg: spark, fantastical, third party apple music players, overcast, halide).
2) Number of widget stacks, focus modes for various use cases (bonus points if they are tied to automations), shortcuts to make certain actions faster
Feel free to add on. 😬
I mean, it can’t solely be a usage specific criterion. Because otherwise, we’d be forced to call kids babysat by YouTube “power users”. There are clearly a good number of people who use their phones for hours on end per day who just aren’t particularly technologically literate. And some degree of technological literacy has always been part of the term (unless we’re just using it as a euphemism for smartphone addiction now).