Dad ready to throw the ipad!! closing out of photos

Question

Hi,
I bought my dad an ipad. I don't have one (have a macbook pro). He called me extremely frustrated because he was checking his email and he clicked on a link someone sent him of a slide show of photos and cannot get out of it. I've tried everything I can think of from memory without having the ipad in front of me. I think he is seeing the photographs take up the entire screen. I've asked him to touch the screen and tell me what buttons appear: no buttons appear. He hits the home button, and he gets back to the screen that show 4 folders, his mail, safari and two other things. But his apps and games are nowhere to be found. From this screen, if he clicks on mail again, he is taken directly back to the photos and not back to his inbox (it is gmail).
HELP! I think he is about to throw it across the room! mj

Answer 1

Double tap the home button and his recent apps will appear at the bottom. Have him look for the Mail App icon. Tell him to hold down on the icon until it begins to wiggle. Then he can tap the minus sign to quit the mail app. Tap the home button again and the app icons will stop wiggling.
Then restart the iPad. Hold down on the sleep button until the red slider appears and slide to shut off. Hold down on the sleep button until the Apple logos appears then let go of the button and the iPad will restart.
If he screws up the instructions above and he accidentally goes back to the mail app and the slide show is still on - Force quit mail. Hold down on the sleep button until the red slider appears - but don't slide it - instead hold down on the home button until the mail app quits.