Below you can see which year / models are acceptable for students to use at Mercy College. A model with at least 64GB of storage is required to cater for student's personal content as well as their school work. If you already have an iPad, but are unsure of what year / model it is, identify your iPad on Apple's website.

A strong and durable iPad case is strongly advised as iPads don’t have any protection for the screen and can easily be cracked when stored in school bags. A case with a stand or keyboard is highly recommended so students can work in a better postural position.

iPads come with 12 months warranty and 90 days telephone support as standard. It is recommended that AppleCare+ is purchased with the iPad at a cost of $99 for an iPad or $179 for an iPad Pro. This provides two years warranty and telephone support from Apple and two accidental damage claims - each claim is subject to a $65 fee. AppleCare+ can be purchased with the iPad, or within 60 days of the original purchase date via the Apple website.

• Earphones (required)
• iPad compatible keyboard (optional but recommended to make typing easier and support good posture)

The required Apps will be installed during the iPad setup session.

No VPN Apps

Students are not allowed to have VPN Apps installed on their iPad. If they do, they won't be able to access the internet from Mercy College's WiFi network. What is a VPN? A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a legitimate technology for accessing computer networks remotely, often used to work from home. But if you don't know who owns the VPN, they may be untrustworthy and could capture user data, such as websites visited, usernames, passwords and credit card details. VPN Apps are becoming a lot more common and are currently unregulated, meaning anyone can set up a VPN and capture the data of those that use it. For more information on the risks of VPN's read this article.

Don't Jailbreak the iPad

Jailbreaking an iPad allows the user to install Apps and extensions that have NOT been approved by Apple. Jailbreaking an iPad can cause the device to work unexpectedly and it may randomly crash, not start at all or cause Apps to fail. It will also remove the security protections built into the iPad by Apple opening it up to viruses, worms and malware. Jailbreaking voids warranty and Apple will not provide support for jailbroken iPads.