Unfortunately, on a device it will always default to the mobile view. I don't know about iPads, because I know nothing about anything Apple, but on my android tablet, and phone, I was able to put a link (icon) on my home screen that will take me straight to the classic site. It saves me having to load the mobile page, then scroll down to select desktop view. 

On my android, there is a link in the menu to save that page to desktop/home screen. See if there is a similar link on your Apple device.