Best Handoff-compatible apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac in 2022

By Christine Chan
published

Handoff is one of the most magical Continuity features in Apple's software lineup: Start a task on your iPhone and pick up right where you left off on your Mac or iPad. Even cooler, Handoff works with certain third-party apps, and these are the best ones we've found!

Airbnb

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Airbnb lets you find interesting and unique places to stay all over the world. With Handoff support, you can start browsing for places on your iPhone and then view the full blown listing on your Mac. Basically, once you're inside a listing in the iPhone version of Airbnb, your Mac will know what you're looking at and offer a Handoff using your default browser to open the full listing. Aside from Handoff support, Airbnb also supports Notification Center widgets so guests and hosts can see what stays they have coming up in just a swipe.

Free - Download Now (opens in new tab)

NYTimes

The NYTimes app brings everything you love about the print version right to your iPhone. With Handoff support, the experience just got even better. Start reading any article on your iPhone and your Mac will automagically know and let you pick up right where you left off on the New York Times website, and vice versa.

Free with subscription - Download Now (opens in new tab)

iA Writer Pro

iA Writer Pro is a complete writing suite that not only supports Markdown, but also works by breaking down the stages of writing. Each has its own font and style to suit each stage. You can also enjoy Syntax Mode and many other features that make writing long or short form content in iA Writer Pro a great experience from start to finish. Now with Handoff support, you can start writing on your iPhone and pick up on your iPad or Mac.

Pocket

Pocket lets you save all the interesting articles, links, and stories you find around the web and in other third-party apps for later. Then when you have time to sit and read, just launch Pocket and pick up where you left off. With support for Handoff in iOS 8, you can now start reading something on your iPhone and pick up where you left off on your iPad. Then if you need to switch back, you can easily do so in just a quick swipe or a few taps in Notification Center. Better yet, Pocket's Mac app also supports Handoff so you can easily switch from desktop to iOS in mere seconds.

Things

Things 3 dark mode

Things is a complete task management suite that's available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. With support for projects and simple task management, Things can be as intricate and organized as you want it to be. Or you can throw things in the inbox and organize them later if you feel like it. With support for Handoff, you can quickly start creating tasks on your iPhone and pick up where you left off on your Mac. Or if you mark something off as complete from one device, it will pick up on the other right away. It's fast and seamless!

Deliveries

Deliveries iPhone

Deliveries is our favorite app for tracking packages that are coming our way. Just input a tracking number into Deliveries, and you'll be able to see how many days before it arrives, as well as other details about the delivery like current location, status, and where it is on the map. There's a quick link to the website for further information if needed too. With Handoff, you can check the status of your packages on your iPhone or iPad, and also pick up where you left off on the Mac.

CARROT Weather

CARROT Weather

Are you a weather junkie who also appreciates some fine snark? Then CARROT Weather is your new best friend. CARROT is an artificial intelligence that likes to throw snide and snarky insults at you while delivering the weather report. You can get the current conditions for your location, or search for new cities and locale to see what the weather is like. The app also has weekly and hourly forecasts. Handoff lets you check the weather from one device and pick up right where you left off on the other device. You'll always be prepared this way!

Fantastical 2

Fantastical 2 iPhone

Fantastical 2 is one of the best calendar apps around. It has a simple yet beautiful interface that for your entire schedule, and it integrates fully with Apple Reminders too. Creating new events and tasks is super easy thanks to the natural language input parser, so you can write events out like "Have coffee with Lory tomorrow at 10 am at Starbucks" and Fantastical takes care of the rest. The Handoff support lets you view, edit, or create new items on your iPhone or iPad and continue on your Mac without skipping a beat.

Bear

Bear iPhone

If you do a lot of writing, then Bear is the app you want. It features a simple and clean interface that lets you focus on your words and nothing more. You can format your text with one tap, insert images, organize by tags, and more. A Bear Pro subscription gets you cool extras like syncing, themes, and more. With Handoff, you're able to write from your iPhone or iPad and then just continue where you left off on your Mac, or vice versa.

Yoink

Yoink iPhone

Yoink is a fantastic app for those who tend to deal with multiple snippets of text, images, URLs, files, and other attachments. Just copy and paste what you need, or just drag and drop it into Yoink for later. You can then pull those files out of Yoink and into another app — Yoink basically acts as a holding place for your items until you need them. The Handoff support lets you transfer all of your files in Yoink to your Mac and vice versa.

Drafts

Drafts iPhone

Drafts is an app where you dump in whatever text you need, say for a quick jot of a note, or some random thoughts that you don't want to escape. Once it's in Drafts, you can take action on it, such as sending it to your favorite writing app or journal to flesh things out more, or create a new task in your task management app, create a new event on the calendar, and more. Thanks to Handoff, you can start writing on your iPhone or iPad and pick up where you left off on the Mac. There is also iCloud syncing too, so your text goes with you everywhere without a second thought.

What are your favorites?

These are some of the best apps we've found that work with Handoff. What are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below.

July 2019: Added new apps with Handoff capability.

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Christine Chan
Christine Chan

Christine Romero-Chan was formerly a Senior Editor for iMore. She has been writing about technology, specifically Apple, for over a decade at a variety of websites. She is currently part of the Digital Trends team, and has been using Apple’s smartphone since the original iPhone back in 2007. While her main speciality is the iPhone, she also covers Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac when needed.

When she isn’t writing about Apple, Christine can often be found at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, as she is a passholder and obsessed with all things Disney, especially Star Wars. Christine also enjoys coffee, food, photography, mechanical keyboards, and spending as much time with her new daughter as possible.

10 Comments
  • I’ve been totally unable to get the "pick up where you left off" part of Pocket to work, between any devices. I only get taken to the top of whatever article I was reading. Sometimes I get taken to a position that I was at a while ago. Have you had a different experience?
  • It seems to work for me. Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing? Sent from the iMore App
  • Hmm, yes I have. So it consistently will pick up the article from the position you were reading at in your previous device?
  • Try Instapaper..much more cleaner and works flawlessly
  • Hi guys
    Anyone knows where to download that awesome background on the title with the the red leafs? A link would be great!
    Thank you!
    Peace
  • one time i heard "when you get a free product then believe it you are the product" , after 20 years programming i can say yes sometimes it may happen in the software market , but most of the time it is about something else... it is the challenge in my case..
  • Awesome article. Handoff is an amazing feature You forgot Firehose Chat www.firehosechat.com - use it daily with handoff!
  • Why does every freaking article start with "Best...". Seriously! Sent from the iMore App
  • Agreed, especially when it's not, but this article is solid. (e.g. Pocket's macOS app makes it better at handoff than Instapaper.)
  • Great list. I'm loving the feature on iA Writer (which goes on sales every so often). This is the kind of thing that seems small until you start to try it out. Pocket has a much better solution with the desktop app, but Instapaper can open the web app on macOS. (Pocket is great, but lacks a dark enough night mode.) (PS: I think iA Writer dropped the "Pro" part and the screenshots don't match what I have. Just thought I'd let you know.)