Best iPad apps for new owners 2023

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The best iPad apps are the only way to make full use of your tablet's incredible potential. Whether you use your iPad for notetaking, drawing, finance or gaming, you no doubt want to make full use of it. Whether you (or someone you know and love) has got your first Apple tablet, or you've had it for years and realized that you haven't even scratched the surface of what it's capable of, this list of the best apps for iPads is for you.

Important apps for your iPad extend beyond your hobbies and into realms you might not have considered, from social media and messaging to security and password managers, to make your everyday life a little easier.

We think that iPadOS 16 brings some much-needed refinement to the iPad, which makes the user experience better than ever. With iPadOS 16.4 on the horizon, there's never been a better time to kit out your iPad with the latest and greatest in third-party software. Whether you've got a current-gen iPad (2022), iPad Pro (M2, 2022), or an older model, make sure your tablet is the best iPad for you with our comprehensive selection of apps.

These apps differ slightly from iPad to iPhone. If you're looking for a mobile device, best head over to our best iPhone apps list instead.

Best iPad apps for productivity

You can always trust iMore. Our team of Apple experts have years of experience testing all kinds of tech and gadgets, so you can be sure our recommendations and criticisms are accurate and helpful. Find out more about how we test.

1Password

No matter what type of device you own, you are always going to need a way to keep track of the dozens of passwords you collect from apps and websites. 1Password makes it incredibly easy to store information across all of your devices so you only have to remember the one you use to unlock the app. It also works with Touch ID, so you can keep your passwords ultra-secure.

iWork

Of course, no iPad would be complete without Apple's suite of productivity apps. With Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, you can create and edit the best files and documents around. And, if you are sharing your work with Office users, no problem — iWork is compatible with Microsoft's counterparts.

Microsoft Office

Microsoft's Office line of productivity apps are similar to Apple's iWork but are better for those still more comfortable with Microsoft's design. You can view, edit, and create documents on your iPad with these free apps, but with an Office 365 subscription, you'll get some really nice extras, like 1TB of OneDrive storage, Skype calls from phones, an Outlook.com email account, and more. If you prefer Microsoft to Apple, you'll want to download these best iPad apps on your new iPad right away.

Fantastical Calendar

Fantastical 3, one of the best ipad apps for new owners — Fantastical Calendar (Image credit: iMore)

You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who thinks that Apple's own Calendar app is one of the best iPads apps, but Fantastical 3 is practically the polar opposite. It's an incredibly robust app for keeping track of your daily events and keeping track of your reminders. There are three different views, to show you your days, weeks, and months at a glance. Plus the sidebar keeps you on schedule with your events and reminders. That's right. Fantastical also connects to your Reminders app, so if you've set a task to grab some milk on the way home from the store today, it'll show up in Fantastical.

Zoom - One Platform to Connect

Child using zoom, one of the best iPad apps for new owners — (Image credit: iMore)

Zoom has become part of the fabric of our lives since the pandemic, and the iPad is a great place to use it. Newer iPad models have Center Stage, so if you're moving around while on camera, it will follow you to keep you front and center on screen. The newest base model iPad even has the camera in portrait orientation, making it an even more natural choice for those Zoom calls.

Best iPad apps for finance

Mint

I discovered shortly after I started using Mint that it automatically creates a budget for you. After you connect your credit cards and bank accounts, the app automatically creates a budget based on average spending habits. You can increase or decrease the maximum for each budget and add or remove categories. Income and expenses are automatically added when you make purchases with your credit or bank cards. Cash transactions must be manually added.

If you don't really need a budget, but like having one, just to see how you are doing, use Mint for the finance tracking and take advantage of the budgeting feature.

TurboTax: File Your Tax Return

TurboTax screenshots on iPad — (Image credit: Intuit)

File your own taxes, TurboTax makes it easy. If you do need help, never fear, a tax expert is only a few clicks away. This app could potentially save you tons of money, and it certainly gives you peace of mind knowing that you're doing your taxes correctly.

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

Screenshot of YNAB app, One of the best iPad apps for new owners — YNAB (Image credit: iMore)

YNAB is a fantastic app to have on-hand for really understanding how to budget your money. It helps you evaluate your lifestyle and decide what purchases are the most important to you right now or what can be put off so you can save up. You allocate every dollar that you make to some budget. If you've gone under budget for the month, your income will roll over to the next month. You can easily and clearly see where you've saved and how much you can set aside for a big purchase.

Best iPad apps for streaming media

Apple TV

Apple TV is the app you need to stream fantastic Apple TV Plus content. The platform started small but has matured into one of the top streaming services out there. Don't miss Oscar-award winning film Coda, Emmy-winning shows Ted Lasso and Severance, live sports, and much more. If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss one of my (criminally underrated) favorite all-time shows: For all Mankind.

Netflix

If you can't stream movies and shows on your big screen TV, watching them on your iPad is the next best thing. With a paid subscription to Netflix, you can access thousands of titles. If you are already a subscriber, all of your history, favorites, and queues will be waiting for you on your tablet.

Hulu

Similar to Netflix, Hulu gives subscribers access to thousands of TV shows and movies right on their iPad. You can watch current seasons of some of the most popular shows on television the day after they air. Plus, Hulu's exclusive content makes it worth the monthly price. If you already subscribe to Hulu, your history, favorites, and queues will be available on your iPad.

YouTube

To round out the media streaming trifecta, add YouTube for hours of homespun fun. Don't forget to subscribe to iMore to keep up with the iMore Show. And, of course, there are always cat videos.

Best iPad apps for cloud storage

Dropbox

If you've made the plunge into the 2TB iPad Pro, you probably don't need to worry about storage, but for everyone else, there is Dropbox. Dropbox is a cross-platform cloud storage service that lets you keep photos, videos, documents, and more in one place. You can access your account from anywhere you have Internet access, and you can also share content with others without having to give them your personal account information.

Google Drive

If you have a Google account, you may want to look into using the Google Drive cloud service. Similar to Dropbox, you can save all manner of files, including videos and pictures. With Google Docs, you can collaborate in real-time with others, too. The only requirement is that you must be signed up with Google, but if you are, it's by far one of the best iPad apps we've used.

Microsoft OneDrive

Microsoft's cloud storage service is also the best way to transfer data between your iPad and your PC. When you sign up, like iCloud, you get 5GB of free storage. For $2 a month, you can get 50GB, and after that, you can subscribe yearly and also get Office 365 for $70 to $100 per year.

With the OneDrive app for iPad, if you have Office, you can get to work on documents right in the app, with the ability to save right in the app. Photos are automatically tagged so that you can find them easily, and you can share everything. You can even access files offline so that you can get work done when you don't have an internet connection.

Google Photos

Looking to store all of your precious photos and videos? Stop storing everything on your iPad/iPhone/Mac and get those photos into cloud storage so you don't run out of storage space on your devices. Google Photos makes it easy. Get 15MG of storage for free. You can easily share from the app, do image searches, and even print photos and other items emblazoned with your images.

Best iPad apps for reading

Amazon Kindle

Having the Kindle Reader for iOS is like having a Kindle inside of your iPad. When you purchase a book on Amazon, you can send it to your iPad directly from the website. When you open the app, it will be there, waiting for you to download. Thanks to landscape mode, reading on the iPad feels more natural.

Libby, by OverDrive

Libby iPad app screenshots — (Image credit: OverDrive, LLC)

Do you love to read but don't want to buy books? After you download Amazon Kindle, your next download should be Libby. Yes, you can purchase books on Amazon, but you can also borrow e-books and magazines for free from your local library and read them in the Kindle app on your iPad. With your library card and the Libby app (assuming your local library uses the platform,) you can read to your heart's delight without spending a dime. This and the Kindle app are two of my most-used iPad apps.

Comixology - Comics & Manga

Screenshot of Comixology, one of the best iPad apps for new owners — comiXology (Image credit: iMore)

Comic book readers will really enjoy getting their weekly fix right on their iPad. ComiXology has the largest selection of comics across all distributors including majors and indies, plus get your Manga fix without having to wait for the next Anime convention. You do have to purchase books from the ComiXology website before you can download them. Now that Amazon owns the service, all of your Kindle comics are readable in the ComiXology app.

Best iPad apps for writing

Bear - Markdown Notes

A relative newcomer compared to the rest of the list, Bear might seem simple, but it offers a great deal of flexibility for handling text, which makes it one of the best iPad apps in our books. It's true that Bear is good for both notes and to-do checklists, but its support for Markdown, a variety of themes, and simple organization make it a great tool for many different kinds of writing. Add images, files, code blocks, and more to spice up your work and give it more context.

In terms of options, you've got few. Choose how to sort your documents, pick a theme, pick your font, and even control fine-grain details such as font size, line height and width, and paragraph spacing. If you'd like to sync your work between Bear on your iOS devices and Bear for Mac, you can purchase a $1.49 per month subscription to Bear Pro.

iA Writer

For bloggers and those that use plain text or Markdown to write, iA Writer is a must-have for the iPad. You can concentrate on your work by activating focus mode, using special tools to highlight such things as nouns or conjunctions, and getting a preview of what your finished work should look like once it is published. The customizable keyboard lets you select specific functions you use the most, like headers, bullets, or bold font. Documents can be stored and accessed in iCloud or Dropbox for easy access across any device. Oh, and there's Night mode.

Day One Journal: Private Diary

Screenshot of Day One Journal, one of the best iPad apps for new owners — Day One Journal (Image credit: iMore)

Every good writer knows that journaling is how you keep your skills sharp. Day One is a streamlined digital journal app for keeping daily notes, musings, and ideas in order. You can add photos and locations to your entries and create multiple journals for different themes. For example, you could keep one journal specifically for writing song lyrics, and another for keeping track of your photoshoots. Bloom Built created an exclusive cloud storage service to keep your journal accessible across all of your devices.

Notability

Notability is a note-taking app that lets you handwrite your notes instead of typing them, which is fantastic for new iPad Pro owners that also have the Apple Pencil. In any given note, you can sketch, handwrite, type, cut out a section and paste it back in, and record audio that is saved with that specific note. It features palm detection, so you can write with your hand resting on your screen (the way most people handwrite) without confusing the program.

Apollo for Reddit

You can learn about and discuss literally anything in the entire world on Reddit. Yes, you can use Reddit in your web browser of choice or use Reddit's own app, but Apollo is just a better user experience. We had the pleasure of interviewing Christian Selig on the iMore Show and he is a responsive developer that truly cares about his app. He is always interacting with users and updating Apollo for the better.

Screenshot of Pinterest, one of the best iPad apps for new owners — Pinterest (Image credit: iMore)

Pinterest is a social networking website for crafting, cooking, and building your dream home. It is sort of like a digital scrapbook for anything you are passionate about. The official app looks great on the iPad. You can browse through pins in your feed, search for specific topics, and see who is saving your posts. Your pins are all saved on your personal board for quick access when you want to check a recipe or see if that couch matches your lounge chair.

Tweetbot for Twitter

You might think that Twitter's own iOS app is perfect, and if you do, that's totally fine. But if you're a diehard Twitter user, you'll probably want something a little more robust, with better features and ways to view your feed. Tweetbot lets you sync your timeline across all of your devices and puts you in control of what you see.

You can mute tweets by certain users, mute hashtags, and even keywords so that you don't get so frustrated with all the crap flying around that you just up and quit Twitter altogether. You can still do everything as you would normally — DMs, tweet, view lists, a night theme for low-light environments, and more.

Best iPad apps for art

Paper by WeTransfer

You may recall that former iMore managing editor Serenity Caldwell reviewed the Apple Pencil entirely in sketch. The go-to app she uses for her amazing art is Paper. It is the perfect app for sketching out ideas, creating graphs, doodling, and more. There are also some impressive tools for taking notes and annotating images. It's an all-around useful app for sparking creativity.

Linea Sketch

If you're looking for a great sketching app, you definitely need to take a look at Linea. It's simple to use but has robust features. It has lots of colors (including customizable shades), supports layers, and has five drawing tools, each with three-line style options. It's the perfect app for sketching or storyboarding ideas for bigger projects. The artist in you will love how easy it is to use, especially if you've got an Apple Pencil to go along with your drawing.

Procreate

For creating full digital paintings, you'll want to step into Procreate. It has dozens of highly customizable painting and drawing tools with a wide array of color options. You can paint on top of colors and blend shades for a very realistic art experience. It also has additional digitizing features, like adjustable motion and perspective blur, color balance, and more. The project tracking feature lets you record your progress as a time-lapse video that you can share with others.

Best iPad apps for shopping

Amazon

When it comes to online purchases, the iPad is the perfect mobile device for finding what you want. Amazon practically has every single sellable item in its online store and the mobile app makes it easy for you to find what you are looking for. You can add items to your wish list, compare items, check for daily deals, view recommended products, and of course, buy it all. If you shop on Amazon, you'll want this app on your iPad. Just be careful, shopping is so easy you might spend all of your hard-earned cash.

eBay

For reseller shopping, eBay has practically everything you can think of, plus everything else that Amazon won't sell. On your iPad, you can search for products and filter by price, ending time, and distance. You can also refine your search by sold items, condition, and auction or buy them now. View full-screen photos, compare items, and bid on that vintage toy you know you shouldn't buy. Or, add it to your watchlist to see just how much you could have gotten it for.

Music creation

GarageBand

Whether you shred on an electric guitar or drop beats on a synthesizer, GarageBand makes it easy for you to create music. You can download tracks you've recorded from another program, connect your instrument with an adapter, or capture your inspiration using a microphone. Even if you don't own a single instrument, you can create multi-track songs since GarageBand includes dozens of guitar, bass, keyboard, and drum options that you can use to create realistic-sounding digital music. Once recorded, you can export your tracks to Facebook, Youtube, SoundCloud, and more.

Audiobus: Mixer for music apps

The iPad is an incredible device for music creation. There are hundreds of apps that all do amazing things. You can lay down beats, clip loops, create synth sounds, and a whole lot more. Audiobus is like a digital pedalboard for connecting music apps. You can link up to compatible apps, like SoundPrism, to combine the music they both make.

What about games?

We love gaming on iPad. That big, beautiful screen and a chipset that gets more powerful with each iteration makes it an ideal gaming machine. There are so many games you'll love playing on the iPad that we needed a whole separate list for that. So, gamers ranging from casual to serious will definitely want to check out our roundup of the best iPad games.

How to get WhatsApp on your iPad

There is no iPad app for WhatsApp, for now. If you're looking for WhatsApp on iPad there is a way to do it, you can follow our guide on how to get WhatsApp on your iPad here.

Luke Filipowicz has been a writer at iMore, covering Apple for nearly a decade now. He writes a lot about Apple Watch and iPad but covers the iPhone and Mac as well. He often describes himself as an "Apple user on a budget" and firmly believes that great technology can be affordable if you know where to look. Luke also heads up the iMore Show — a weekly podcast focusing on Apple news, rumors, and products but likes to have some fun along the way.

Luke knows he spends more time on Twitter than he probably should, so feel free to follow him or give him a shout on social media @LukeFilipowicz.