Introduction
Last Sunday, I decided to enter the over-hyped world of NFTs (non-fungible tokens). At first, I expected that I would be unable to use NFTs on my iPad, so I used an iMac instead. But after I created my first NFT, I wondered if I could create NFTs on my iPad. Here's what I've learned.
The Apps
There are a few apps I used for NFTs on my iPad. These include:
• OpenSea, the NFT marketplace I used
• MetaMask, the crypto wallet I used
• NFT Savvy, an NFT-viewing widget
• NFT Go, an app to create NFTs
• NFT Creator, an app to design NFTs
What I Learned
I'm going to be completely honest here: making NFTs on iPadOS sucks. And that's because there are a LOT of limitations.
My main issue is with the creation of NFTs. OpenSea doesn't let you create NFTs on the iPadOS app (users can only view NFTs). This means that the only way I can create NFTs (other than paying almost $200 with NFT Go) is to use OpenSea in the browser.
This leads to another issue. MetaMask, the crypto wallet I use, has a terrible iPadOS app. Even worse, the only alternative to access MetaMask is with browser extensions, which iPadOS doesn't currently have for third-party browser apps. As you can see, I was already having a pretty rough time with MetaMask.
But the worst part was that I wasn't able to access OpenSea in the browser. To provide some context, you need to connect your crypto wallet to log in to OpenSea. For most crypto wallets, this isn't an issue. But, as someone under the age of 18, I can't use most crypto wallets compatible with OpenSea. The only option I could find was MetaMask.
I had assumed that I could use the MetaMask app to log in on OpenSea. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Instead, I wasn't able to log in at all due to a lack of support from the MetaMask app.
The Future?
While there was a lot of negative thought in the previous section, there is a bright future.
Safari has just received the capability of browser extensions, and I hope that we'll soon see browser extensions for third-party apps as well. Even if this doesn't happen, I hope that MetaMask will create a Safari extension for users with iPads or iPhones.
In addition, many users are asking OpenSea to allow the creation of NFTs on the app. There is a chance that OpenSea is currently working on this, especially since this has been a major community feedback point with the app.
Conclusion
Currently, iPads are NOT ready to create NFTs. There are simply too many limitations for users. In the future, however, it's definitely a possibility.