Social media camera app Snapchat has come to Apple’s best iPads in a new update, but it’s locked in Portrait orientation for now.

Released on August 26, the new update explains that, “Snapchat now offers native support for iPad! This means that Snapchat will fill an iPad’s full screen, providing a larger canvas when capturing Snaps and allowing you to see more friends on the 2nd and 4th tabs.” This means that whether you own an M4 iPad Pro or an iPad mini, you can now take advantage of the bigger screen to flick through snaps, play with filters, and watch different Stories from friends and family.

Since its debut in 2011, Snapchat has found a niche in sending and receiving photos and videos, known as Snaps, to other users with the best iPhones. But it was in 2013 when the app introduced a new feature called ‘My Story’, enabling users to share snaps into a chronological timeline as if to tell a story to their followers. This feature eventually ‘inspired’ other apps like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to roll out their own ‘Story’ feature. While Snapchat was previously available on iPads anyway thanks to the app running in compatibility mode, using the app on an iPad’s full screen with the updated native app will be massively appealing to those who use the app daily. 

You can download Snapchat for compatible iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 13 and above.

The best iPads to use Snapchat on

With Snapchat now updated to take advantage of compatible iPads, we’ve found some great deals on iPads that you can buy right now to use Snapchat with.

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Procreate is one of the most popular design apps for the best iPads. Amidst other design programs, including Adobe Photoshop, adding AI features, Procreate promises that it will never introduce AI.

So far this year, lots of design tools have come under fire for adding AI features. Many believe that creating art with the use of AI is no longer art. Adobe has come under fire for even going as far as to change its terms of use. Sections 2.2 and 4.1 have been updated to state, “We may access, view, or listen to your Content through both automated and manual methods, but only in limited ways, and only as permitted by law.” And, for the most part, it's in the name of training AI. Figma has come under similar criticism, as have many other programs.

But not Procreate! Procreate has declared that they’re not interested in following the shiny trend of generative AI. The brand put out an official post on X clarifying that "we are never going there."

CEO James Cuda is not a fan of AI in design tools. In a video posted to X, he came out guns blazing. “I really f****** hate generative AI,” he stated. And to drive the point home, he added, “Our products are always designed and developed with the idea that a human will be creating something.”

Other design tools you can use

The announcement has, unsurprisingly, struck a chord with digital artists who’ve been feeling more than a bit uneasy with how AI is creeping into their creative spaces. With other platforms like Clip Studio Paint being forced to backpedal on AI tools after user backlash, and Adobe navigating PR nightmares about AI training on users' content, it’s clear that Procreate’s stance isn’t just a marketing ploy. Rather, it’s a genuine reflection of a growing concern within the artist community.

Here at iMore, we all use different apps that suit our needs without using Adobe’s offering.  For example, Pixelmator is a powerful photo-editing app that’s used by our News Editor, Stephen Warwick. He explained in February how he loves the app’s automated features. “The thing I love the most about Pixelmator Pro is that it’s photo-editing on autopilot. You don’t need to know the first thing about white balance, hue (whoever he is), saturation, sharpness, or anything else for that matter.”

But that’s not all — Affinity Photo is another great app that won’t lock you out from using it if you avoid its terms and conditions, but you do have to accept them regardless. However, if you need to edit something in a hurry, Photopea is a fantastic alternative that can be used in a web browser.

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Apple's "Let Loose" event revealed fresh new models for iPad Air and iPad Pro, but the app that's going to give the new M4 chip a proper workout could be Final Cut Pro.

Revealed alongside a new version of Logic Pro, Apple is leaning into AI-based features to take video editing on a tablet to the next level - and the Mac is getting new tools to use, too.

The headline addition on iPad is the ability to use Live Multicam, receiving four camera feeds at once via a new Final Cut Camera app that runs on iPad and iPhone and will let users connect to their Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 app wirelessly, while also functioning as a standalone professional video capture app.

Users will be able to edit from an external drive on iPad, too, as long as they have iPadOS 17.5 or later, while Apple says you'll be able to isolate a subject from a background in Final Cut Pro with a single tap if you're using the new M4 iPad Pro. It'll also utilize new features like the haptic feedback and shortcut menu offered by the Apple Pencil Pro.

More AI features for Mac video editors

Mac users with Apple Silicon will be able to use new AI features like Enhance Light and Color, which Apple says offers "the ability to improve color, color balance, contrast, and brightness in one simple step, and is optimized for SDR, HDR, RAW, and Log-encoded media".

Smooth Slo-Mo will also intelligently generate and blend frames of video together, while you can now rename color corrections and video effects in the editor.

As of the time of writing, Apple hasn't revealed when either Final Cut update will be available, outside of "Spring" for the iPad version, alongside Final Cut Camera.

Both will be free for existing users. New users will need to pay $4.99/£4.99 a month (or $49/£49) per year for Final Cut Pro for iPad 2, while the Mac version remains $299.99.

We're covering the Apple iPad event as it happens. Follow the Let Loose event LIVE here. Or check out our roundups for all the latest on the new OLED iPad Pro, iPad Air, and the new Apple Pencil. 

Apple's "Let Loose" event showed off new iPad Air and iPad Pro models, as well as the M4 chip, but software got a mention too.

Alongside Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro is getting some sizeable new updates. Logic Pro 2, the latest version for iPad, will offer AI features including Session Players, which expand on the Drummer setup offered by the last version with Bass and Keyboard players.

Apple says these AI musicians have been built in collaboration with real musicians, too.

Users can also use a new Stem Splitter tool to extract parts from single recordings, like an old voice note. Apple says Stem Splitter "can recover moments of inspiration from any audio file and separate nearly any mixed audio recording into four distinct parts: Drums, Bass, Vocals, and Other instruments", and this is done on-device.

ChromaGlow will also leverage AI and Apple Silicon like the latest M4 chip to "dial in the perfect tone with five different saturation styles".

Logic gets big upgrades on Mac and iPad

Logic Pro for Mac 11 and Logic Pro for iPad 2 will both launch on the App Store on May 13.

As for pricing, the Mac version will arrive as a free update for existing users, or be available for $199.99/£199.99 for new users. It requires macOS Ventura 13.5, and Stem Splitter and ChromaGlow will both require a Mac with Apple Silicon.

Logic Pro for iPad 2 will be a free upgrade for existing users, and will stick to the subscription model the first version arrived with. That means it'll cost $4.99/£4.99 per month, or $49/£49 per year, and will offer a one-month free trial for new users. You'll need iPadOS 17.4 or later, as well as and iPad with the M1 chip or later.

We're covering the Apple iPad event as it happens. Follow the Let Loose event LIVE here. Or check out our roundups for all the latest on the new OLED iPad Pro, iPad Air, and the new Apple Pencil. 

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If you're thinking of buying an iPad, checking out the 50 best iPad apps below is a great way of seeing what the tablet is capable of. Since its debut in 2010, it's become a blank canvas for developers, enabling them to take advantage of that big vibrant display.

The current iPad lineup is its strongest yet. The M4 OLED iPad Pro and iPad Air M2 both launched in April and showcase how powerful the tablet has become 14 years on. When combined with the Apple Pencil Pro, exclusive to iPad, so many apps take advantage of the drawing pen's capabilities.

Whether you want to use an iPad for work, fun, or to consume content with the best Apple TV Plus shows, there's an app for almost every use case. With this in mind, our list below should give you an idea of what you could be using your iPad for in the near future.

Best iPad Information apps

Flipboard

Flipboard is an excellent app for a curated view of everything you might want to read about your interests in one place. You choose your topics – spanning business and wine tasting to film and science, with plenty in between – and Flipboard will offer up quick access to all the latest stories and features in your chosen areas.

There is a huge selection of publishers on board, from The New York Times and National Geographic to Runner's World and Elle Decor, so there's plenty to keep you reading and the way it 'flips' between stories is dreamy.

PressReader

Whether you love to read magazines or newspapers, PressReader will have you covered, offering a pleasant way to read either on your iPad. You might not get the feel of the paper in-between your digits, but you don't get inky fingers either. There's a listening mode, dynamic commenting and access to more than 7,000 of the world's most popular titles. 

You can sign up to PressReader Premium to enjoy unlimited reading on up to five devices, but the free version will still allow you to select your favorite sources, discover new ones and toggle between the original print view of issues to the mobile-optimised text view.

Readly

Certainly one for the magazine lovers out there, Readly offers access to over 6,000 US and International magazines, but best of all – it isn't just about the latest issues. This app not only offers back issues so you can flick back a few months, but you can download them and read them offline, wherever you are – plane, train or relaxing in a coffee shop.

There is family sharing for reading across up to five profiles and one subscription covers all, meaning it's pretty much Spotify for magazines. Aside from reading your favorite magazines however, Readly also offers up crosswords so you can keep your brain ticking without leaving the app.

Apple News

Apple News might be a native iPad app, but if you're after brilliantly curated content, then don't ignore it. As with many of the curated news platforms, there is a free option or you can sign up to the subscriber edition where you will get access to hundreds of premium magazines and newspapers in one place. 

The Today feed delivers top stories across a range of news outlets, but there is plenty more than meets the eye with this app. You can like or dislike articles to teach the algorithm your preferences, check out the For You section for recommendations based on the topics and channels you read and scroll all the way down for a special sports section. The side bar is full of treats too, with Special Coverage and Favorites.

Best iPad Entertainment apps

Disney Plus

If you're looking for one of the best entertainment apps out there, Disney Plus is exceptional. The interface is incredibly easy to navigate and there are thousands of hours of content available, whether you're looking for Disney, Pixar, Marvel, or Star Wars. 

Shows or films are added weekly so there is always something fresh to watch, while the current library has everything from new releases to timeless classics. There are multiple parental controls available if your iPad is a family iPad, and while you'll need a Disney+ subscription to watch the content here, it's worth it, trust us.

Netflix

We all know Netflix – it's the OG of the streaming platforms and still one of the best entertainment apps for iPad out there, even if its competition is much fiercer now than when it first launched. Perfect for binge-watching your favorite TV shows and films on the go – whether traveling or commuting – the Netflix iPad app is an absolute must.

Like all streaming apps, you'll need a subscription to access the huge library of content on offer here, whether that's Stranger Things or Emily in Paris. The interface is one of the best though, super simple to navigate and the Netflix algorithm is superb at serving up extra content you might like based on what you have previously watched.

Spotify

If listening to music or podcasts wherever you are is your jam, then you'll want to make sure the Spotify app is on your iPad and your iPhone. It offers access to millions – and we mean millions – of songs, albums, and podcasts for free, with everything from Bad Bunny to Taylor Swift.

The app is incredibly easy to navigate so finding new music is especially easy thanks to the various curated lists like daily music mixes and algorithms working behind the scenes, and you can make your own playlists too. When it comes to podcasts, you can bookmark individual podcasts into your Playlists, and subscribe to your favorites so you don't miss any episodes, whatever your podcast vibe.

YouTube

A 'best iPad app' list has to require YouTube. Whether you get your kicks out of gaming videos, beauty videos, news, or learning, there's something for everyone on YouTube and if you can't find something, well then you can always create your own.

The YouTube iPad app is exceptionally user-friendly, serving up videos within a range of popular topics, along with trending videos and your favorite channels. Personal recommendations can be found in the Home section, while Library collects any videos you've watched, liked, and saved for later.  

Prime Video

It's not our favorite streaming platform interface, but Prime Video still offers up some superb shows. You can search for content by genre, title or even actor, as well as download any TV shows or movies for offline viewing – perfect for taking with you on the move.

From Fallout and Detective Bosch to Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and films like Air, there's content to fill your entertainment bucket for months. Multi-user profiles ensure your entertainment experience isn't infiltrated by others in your home, while features like X-Ray are excellent for finding out information on actors while watching.

Callsheet

If you enjoy watching movies and bingeing on TV shows, you don't just need apps to make that possible but also apps to help you learn more about them. So if you're  the kind of person who always wants to find out more about the films and boxsets you enjoy, like where you recognize someone from or when a TV series was first released, you need the Callsheet app for your iPad. 

It's a comprehensive app filled with all sorts of information about movies and TV shows, which includes age ratings, titles, cast history, crew information and more. If that sounds a lot like IMDb, you're right. But Callsheet is much more straightforward and a great alternative with no login prompts, ads or autoplaying videos that distract you.

Best iPad Productivity apps

iWork - Pages, Numbers and Keynote

Apple's suite of productivity apps includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote and they are all great for working on the move with iPad. As you would expect being native Apple apps, they are all optimized for use on iPad, offering a fluid experience with a range of handy features.

Pages is our favorite app from the three, but all have their uses – Numbers for spreadsheets, Pages for Word documents, and Keynote for presentations. You can create and edit a range of files and document types too, and if you're sharing your work with Office users, all three are compatible with Microsoft's counterparts.

Microsoft 365 (Office)

Similar to Apple's iWork suite but better for those more comfortable with Microsoft's way of doing things, its 365 line of productivity apps is comprehensive. You can view, edit, and create documents on your iPad with these free apps, but with a Microsoft 365 subscription, you'll get some nice extras, including OneDrive storage and an Outlook email account.

If you prefer Microsoft to Apple when it comes to productivity, the Microsoft 365 apps are an absolute essential for getting work done on your iPad.

Notability

Notability is an excellent note-taking app that lets you handwrite your notes instead of typing them, which is perfect for anyone with an iPad and Apple Pencil at their disposal. There are a variety of features on offer, from sketching, writing, and typing to organizing.

You can also record audio that is then saved within a specific note and search everything from handwriting and text to audio. This note-taking app also features palm detection, so you can write with your hand resting on your screen (the way most people handwrite) without confusing the app, and it's compatible with widgets too.

ChatGPT

The ChatGPT app gives you access to the latest model of OpenAI at your fingertips. There's so much power in an app that is on the whole pretty simple in its appearance. Type in any request you wish — from asking what the best iPad app is to asking it to make up a recipe by listing some specific ingredients, and it will deliver you an answer pretty much instantly.

There's a voice mode that allows you to speak to it, ask it to read a bedtime story, or settle a debate between friends, but you can also ask it to help you brainstorm for a meeting, or come up with an elaborate explanation about electricity for a child that likes dinosaurs. The possibilities are pretty much endless.

Notion

Notion is one of many tools designed to make organizing your workflow easier, but this is one that works well, whilst also being very easy to use and navigate. There are plenty of customization options here to get things just how you like them, and in turn, get stuff done. 

It's simple to drag and drop pretty much anything from documents to notes or tasks, while it's also just as easy to share things with others and work collaboratively. One major highlight is syncing across devices including iPad and Mac, helping you stay up to date on all your devices.

Google Docs

It's a classic, but it's a classic for a reason. Google Docs is perfect for creating, editing, and collaborating on Word documents, allowing you to see real-time changes, make comments, and add actions by @ your team members.

Whilst real-time changes are an online feature and require connection, you can choose to work offline and there's a dark mode too. Using the iPad app rather than just a browser gives you greater control and an easier interface to work with.

Noisli

If you enjoying putting background noise on while you work or sleep, like rain sounds or white noise, then there are lots of apps to choose from. But the noise generating app Noisli is one of our favorites because it offers a huge range of noises that can all be fine-tuned from a very beautiful and minimal app.

The app works thanks to a selection of icons that each represent a different sound. For example, a cloud is a rain sound, a wave is the sound of the sea. When you tap on a symbol you turn its sound on and can then move its slider up and down to adjust volume. You can layer sounds, so the sounds of night-time nature with a crackling fire for a camping experience. 

Best Essential iPad apps

Mint: Budget & Expense Manager

Mint automatically creates a budget for you, saving time and effort on your part. Once you connect your credit cards and bank accounts, it does the rest, creating a budget based on your average spending habits and offering insights into things like subscriptions you don't use anymore.

You can increase or decrease the maximum for each budget, as well as add or remove categories. Income and expenses are automatically added as you make purchases, but you'll need to enter cash transactions manually. If you don't need a budget, you can use Mint for finance tracking and take advantage of the budgeting feature should you find it useful in the future.

Fantastical

Apple's Calendar app has improved over the years, but Fantastical 3 is still up there with one of the best calendar apps available. It's a very robust app for keeping track of your daily events as well as keeping track of your reminders. 

It has three different views to show you your days, weeks, and months at a glance and its sidebar helps keep you on schedule too. It connects to your Reminders app so whether it's a meeting or a quick dash to the store for milk, Fantastical will ensure you get things done and don't miss a beat.

Zoom

Zoom might have lost some of its spark since being one of the most popular apps in the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remains an integral part of many lives and the iPad version of the app is great.

Apple's latest iPads have the Center Stage feature on board so if you're moving around the room on camera, they will follow you and keep you within the frame. Meanwhile, the iPad 10th generation, M4 iPad Pro, and iPad Air 6 all have a front camera in landscape orientation, making it a perfect choice for Zoom catchups.

Kindle

There are plenty of reasons to invest in a Kindle as well as an iPad, but the Kindle app is a great start. It offers access to thousands of books and serves up various settings to make reading on your tablet enjoyable too.

It's possible to customize everything from the font size and type to the text alignment, orientation, and margins. When you purchase a book on Amazon, you can send it directly to your iPad and when you open the Kindle app, it will be there waiting for you to download. Landscape mode also means reading on an iPad is more natural than on a smaller screen, but books sync across devices if you want to read on your iPhone and Mac too.

1Password

Whatever device you're using, there's a good chance you have several website passwords to try and keep track of. Apple is pretty good at saving passwords if you use Safari but 1Password also 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 works with Touch ID and Face ID, so you can keep your passwords ultra-secure and it's significantly better for security than using easy-to-guess passwords. No more typing in multiple versions of your favorite password trying to get into an app!

Google Translate

It's pretty much as simple as apps come in terms of appearance, but Google Translate has the power to help you order a drink on holiday, understand a menu, or have a conversation with a loved one who speaks a different language. 

It can translate between 133 languages and it will do everything from translating text that you simply type, to real-time translation of words you speak into the app. It can also translate text in real-time when you hold your iPad's camera up to words you don't understand, as well as translate text in imported images. Comprende?

Google Drive

Many of us have a Google account – even if it's just for email – but that account comes with Google Drive, which works brilliantly as a cloud service. Similar to iCloud Drive and Dropbox, you can save all kinds of files, including videos and pictures, before sharing them with others, and it's perfect for having on your iPad as a storage option.

All you need to do is be online and logged into your Google account, and you can save any files you're working on to Google Drive, as well as access files like saved PDFs. 

Best iPad Gaming apps

Monopoly

If you love a classic board game, Monopoly is an iPad app you should download. You can play by yourself against AI, with friends and family, or with players around the globe, as well as online or offline so plenty of opportunities to grab the boot and get yourself passed Go.

It's fully immersive so you get gorgeous Monopoly graphics lighting up your iPad display and while you do pay for the app initially, no ads interrupt your game play once you start.

Uno

It's another family classic and whether you're an Uno veteran or you're new to the card game, the iPad version lets you take it from the kitchen table to anywhere you're going – plane, train, office, or holiday.

You can play with friends and family, or compete in Uno tournaments, and you can buddy up to play in two-player teams too. For those feeling particularly competitive, try and top the leaderboards, or choose to take on one of the World Series tournaments to see if you can become numero uno.

Where's My Water?

You can always count on Disney to bring the goods when it comes to entertainment – whether for adults or children – and Where's My Water delivers. There are over 500 physics-based puzzles within this iPad app, delivered through four characters; Swampy, Allie, Cranky, and Mystery Duck.

The aim of the game is to guide water to the broken shower, with each level increasing in difficulty. It's fun, but educational too, and who doesn't love a puzzle with some entertaining characters to keep it interesting?

Delta

Delta was released for iPhone in April, followed by iPad in July 2024. The retro-gaming emulator can mimic gaming systems such as Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and more. You can play free games made by independent developers and use Delta's settings to add cheat codes, change controller skins, and much more.

Duolingo

Duolingo might be one of the best apps out there, not just for iPad but in general. The app is a lot more than just learning a language — it features the ability to learn maths as well as music, in the Duolingo way.

Using science-based teaching methodologies, Duolingo gamifies learning languages, music, and maths, offering bite-sized lessons and introducing characters to keep you motivated and build solid skills.

Best iPad Shopping apps

Amazon

The iPad is the perfect mobile device for making a few sneaky online purchases and Amazon has pretty much everything available to buy, making this mobile app both brilliant but dangerous for your bank balance.

You can add items to your wish list, compare items, check for daily deals, view recommended products, and buy pretty much anything. It makes shopping exceptionally easy, with a simple interface too so download with caution.

Vinted

Whether you're having a clear out and you want to make a bit of extra dollar, or you are looking for some second-hand or vintage bargains, Vinted is the app you'll want to download.

The interface is super simple to use and it looks excellent on iPad, serving up what is effectively a newsfeed of bargains. You can shop by brand, view popular items and selling is incredibly easy too.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a social networking website for crafting, cooking, building your dream home, or just great ideas. In what can only be described as a digital scrapbook – that you can also find links to buy from – you can search for anything that interests you with a delightful focus on all things visual.

You can browse through pins in your feed, search for specific topics, and see who is saving your finds. Your pins are all saved on your private personal boards for quick access and it's ideal for finding new recipes, inspiration for a home or cupboard redesign and shopping links to rare trainers.

Ebay

Like Amazon, eBay is a huge online retailer, selling products across a huge range of categories, whilst also enabling you to sell your own products. It is useful for finding some fairly obscure items and it's lovely and simple to use, making browsing a breeze. 

On iPad, you can search for products and filter by price, ending time, distance, and plenty more. You can also see what condition something is in and bid in auctions or purchase immediately. If you've been looking for a vintage favorite from your youth, this is where to go.

Shein

If you're looking for a cheap online shopping marketplace that covers off everything from home, pets and shoes, to beauty, tools and electronics, Shein is an app you shouldn't miss off your download list.

It delivers easy shopping – which is of course both a good and a bad thing – and the interface is exceptionally simple to browse on iPad. You can look by New Arrivals, Trends, Category, Best Sellers and plenty more, so we challenge you not to have something in your basket within several minutes. 

Temu

Not too dissimilar from Shein above, Temu also prides itself on being cheap and cheerful, offering products across a multitude of categories. From clothing, shoes and beauty, to home decor, handmade crafts and electronics, there's something for everyone.

The iPad app makes Temu very easy to navigate – and spend money – with prices so low on some items, it's a constant surprise. Be sure to look at the reviews of products you're buying though and make sure you don't expect the sort of quality you would get from more reputable brands with some things.

Best iPad Creating apps

Capcut

CapCut is an easy-to-use but incredibly powerful video editing tool. It's as simple as you need it to be. You can use it to just trim and shorten clips, or you can add keyframe video animations, adjust speed via the speed curve tool, or remove specific colors.

If you're a keen content creator, it's will simplify your workflow right down to applying text-to-speech in order to make your videos more accessible. 

Procreate

Procreate is a powerful app for creating full digital paintings. It has a huge range of painting and drawing tools with a wide array of color options, plenty of customization and hundreds of handmade brushes. 

You can paint on top of colors as well as blend shades for a realistic artistic experience and it also has digitizing features like adjustable motion and perspective blur, as well as color balance. The project tracking feature lets you record your progress as a time-lapse video, while there are also UHD canvases available in 16K and 8K for compatible iPad Pros. 

Canva

If you're looking for a solid app for photo and video editing, Canva should be on your list. It has plenty of features on board, from offering up the ability make videos to swapping backgrounds on photos, adding filters and flicking on stickers for good measure.

There are a range of templates if you need some inspiration, and you can design and collaborate from any device, meaning you can start on iPad, but finish on Mac.

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop really needs no introduction – it is one of the most powerful image manipulation tools available with more features than many will ever even touch on in use. The iPad app is brilliant, offering everything from brushes and drawing with touch, to smudging, blending and mixing. 

Select images with the lasso tool and the power of AI, and work across multiple layers. You'll need a subscription, but once you have signed in with an Adobe ID, your files will synchronise across all your devices.

Adobe Lightroom

One of the most trusted apps for photo and image editing is Lightroom and the iPad version of the app is superb. The easy-to-use interface offers a huge range of tools at your disposal for turning your photos into professional looking shots, from enhancing portraits with one-tap presents to making detailed edits.

Using AI to its advantage, the iPad Lightroom app lets you blur the background of images quickly, delivering that portrait effect, but perhaps even better, is the ability to retouch and remove elements you don't want in your shots. It effectively puts the power of Google Pixel's Magic Editor on your iPad. 

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe's Illustrator is a fantastic tool for creating logos, illustrations (hence the name), graphics and plenty more. The iPad app is carefully considered, allowing you to design whatever your craft with precision, whist also offering a variety of tools from the ability to upload fonts, to typing on a path. 

There are more than 18,000 fonts available, coupled with over 20 color books, and features including the Blend Tool, the ability to raster images or paper sketches into vector images and stunning art and calligraphic brushes. If you want to let your imagination flow, this is the app to do it.

Garageband

Whether you shred on an electric guitar or drop beats on a synthesizer, GarageBand makes it very easy 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 or play instruments, you can use the app to create multi-track songs as there are dozens of guitar, bass, keyboard, and drum samples here for digital music creation. Once recorded, you can export your tracks to a range of platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and SoundCloud.

Freeform

Freeform is another native Apple app, but it is fantastic for creating what we would describe as mood boards or scrap books. Back in the day you may have stuck inspiration into a scrapbook, but Freeform gives you the power to save paper and create multiple boards directly on your iPad screen.

There's a dotted canvas by default but you can switch to plain if you so wish. After you select your base, you can draw with your finger or Apple Pencil using the various pen options, add sticky notes, add text boxes, introduce various shapes or add your own images from your library. It's a lovely app for brainstorming. 

Best iPad Kids apps

Bluey: Let's Play!

If you're a parent and you haven't watched Bluey, you are missing out. The hilarious TV show about an Australian family of dogs is recreated in this iPad app, allowing children to explore, create, imagine and play in Bluey and Bingo's house.

Kids will be able to hunt for longdogs, play a game of Pop Up Croc, listen to their favourite Bluey tracks or have a bounce on the trampoline in the garden. Best of all,  Bluey and Bingo's friends are in the app too, as well as parents Bandit and Chili.

YouTube Kids

While YouTube is great for entertaining us adults, YouTube Kids is a far more appropriate app for any younger people in your home and it's perfect for iPad. There are a range of parental controls that allow you to customise various settings and content available, as well as features like limiting screen time and keeping up with what your kids watch.

The app offers up a contained environment for kids filled with family-friendly videos on a range of different topics, from learning how to make slime to watching some of the great TV shows out there for kids.

Teach Your Monster to Read

Teach Your Monster To Read's aim is all but given away by the title of the app itself, but it's a lovely app on iPad, and an educating one too. Three games are included – First Steps, Fun with Words and Champion Reader – and the idea is that children create a monster that they then take on a magical journey. 

Through that journey, they meet a range of colorful characters, but more importantly, improve reading skills at the same time. The app is designed to cover the first two years of learning to read for children, from matching letters and sounds to enjoying little books, and it has been designed in collaboration with phonics programs.

Numberblocks: Hide and Seek

It wouldn't be right to have a reading app on our list and not a numbers app right? Numberblocks: Hide and Seek is designed to help children with addition, numbers bonds and other number skills, offering a fun way to learn. 

The aim is to find the hidden Numberblocks and add them together to see what happens, with each time the child gets to 10, they win something new to play with. An animation will play to celebrate each time the child hits 10, and the sums get harder as the child continues to play, helping them develop.

LingoKids - Play and Learn

For one of the best learning apps for kids, look no further than LingoKids. It isn't just about maths or reading, this app looks to cover it all. From science and engineering, to art, music and technology, there are more than 1200 learning activities wrapped up in this delightful app.

Using interactive games, songs and activities, the LingoKids app attempts to introduce life skills like empathy and resilience, whilst also covering off academics. There are more than 650 objectives across the various subjects and curated STEM curriculum. It's excellent.

Photomath

Maths is by no means everyone's bag, but the Photomath app aims to combat that, offering you the ability to learn, practice and understand maths, one small step at a time. It will tackle everything from primary school maths to advanced calculus, allowing you to solve problems and untangle the trickiest of algebra equations. 

You can scan any maths problem on your iPad with the Photomath app to be presented with step-by-step explanations and solutions from a number of teacher-approved methods, breaking the problem down into easy-to-understand steps. Handwritten, textbook or on a screen, there's no maths problem this app won't be able to help with.

Room on the Broom

If you haven't read Room on the Broom then you really should – it's lovely – but even if you haven't, this iPad app is still excellent. Perfect for three to seven year olds, the Room on the Broom app has eight fun-filled games designed to inspire creativity and learning. 

Children will collect medals as they fly star to star and create pictures in the sky, catch things for cat as they fly past and help dog, bird and frog find things the witch has dropped. They will also be able to help the dragon eat his favorite food and steer the magnificent broom through the sky.

How to choose the best iPad apps for you

The last thing you want when you buy a shiny new iPad is to clutter it up with hundreds of apps you don't really need. But at the same time, there are some essential apps we think that everyone should check out – even if they don't end up downloading them. These apps make the iPad's top features really shine and could seriously elevate the way you watch movies, create and even use the iPad for work and productivity. 

Take a look at each of the iPad apps in this list, or browse by category if there's a particular kind of app you want to focus on. For example, the productivity apps section is going to be invaluable if you plan on using your iPad at work or university. But if you want it solely for chilling out, bingeing TV shows and social media, you'll want to steer clear. 

Procreate, the team behind the popular drawing and painting iPad app of the same name, has announced that it has a new app in the works — and it's all about giving digital creators a new way to animate.

Procreate is already one of the best creative iPad apps around and its developers are looking to bring that know-how to bear on Procreate Dreams, a new app to allow people to easily create movie-quality animations on the iPad.

They're going to have to wait a little while to do it, though. Procreate Dreams will ship on November 22. It'll cost $19.99 once it does, but Procreate says that there will be no subscriptions. Procreate Dreams will be a one-time purchase in a sea of subscription-based options in the animation world.

Built for Apple silicon

In a press release provided to iMore, Procreate says that "Procreate Dreams is an industry game-changer, promising to unlock the world of animation in a way once thought impossible through accessible, robust, and powerful features." The press release goes on to say that "Procreate Dreams introduces workflows of unparalleled speed, and tools so intuitive that now anyone can animate."

The next generation of creators will "simply and spontaneously direct how the animation should feel, with new tools such as Performing, which uses gestures to automatically add keyframes as the tool records the actions. Performing brings work to life before the creator’s eyes in real-time, with no animation experience needed." And because this new app is built with Apple silicon in mind, creatives won't be left waiting around when using Apple's best iPads.

"Procreate Dreams delivers unrivaled performance through exceptional innovation, taking full advantage of Apple silicon," the press release points out. "Procreate’s next-generation painting and compositing engine supercharges the painting experience, and now creatives can work on raster projects with resolutions up to 1 million by 1 million pixels, and more layers than they’ll ever need."

As you might expect, Procreate Dreams also supports all of Procreate's existing brushes, with Apple Pencil support included.

November 22 is still a little while away of course, but this could be one animation tool worth waiting for.

Running ChatGPT on your iPad just got a whole lot better thanks to a new update to Petey, an iPhone and Apple Watch app that brings the large language model (LLM )to Apple devices.

The new update not only brings Petey to the iPad with a new interface designed for use on the bigger display but also adds new features that make using ChatGPT easier and more fun than was previously the case.

Alongside the new features, developer Hidde van der Ploeg has also added bug fixes for the Apple Watch, improved formatting for sharing conversations, and more.

Get your chat on

The updated Pete app is available for download via the App Store and costs $4.99 with an optional in-app purchase available to enable GPT-4 support.

Downloaders will immediately notice the new iPad app that not only looks right at home on the big screen but also adds keyboard shortcuts to make using the app a smoother experience.

Other notable changes according to the release notes include the ability to select words and sentences within ChatGPT answers as well as the option to fully disable Apple Music for people who prefer to use other music streaming options like Spotify.

ChatGPT is a great way to do all kinds of things, whether you're doing research for a project, looking for help writing a paper, or just hoping to better understand a subject. Now, Petey makes that even easier and more fun when doing it on your iPad as well.

Alongside the new features, there are plenty of existing ones that make Pete well worth checking out including support for Live Activities, not to mention text-to-speech support. You can also take advantage of the Shortcuts app to integrate Petey into your workflows by replacing Siri with ChatGPT.

Already have Petey on your iPhone or Apple Watch? This new iPad app is a free addition and those with automatic updates enabled might already have it installed.

Final Cut Pro for iPad has received its first big new feature update and it adds a number of improvements across the board.

Available for download via the App Store now, the new update includes the addition of a number of new keyboard shortcuts as well as the usual array of fixed bugs and stability improvements.

Apple also says that it has resolved a specific issue that caused some fonts to not appear in the inspector.

Keyboard shortcuts galore

As pro users know, being able to get work done as quickly as possible can often make a huge difference to a workflow. And for that, keyboard shortcuts are often thought to be one of the best ways to speed the process up — ditch that trackpad and keep your hands on the keyboard.

Apple's App Store release notes out a number of keyboard shortcuts including:

• Turn snapping on or off using the keyboard shortcut N.
• Move the playhead backward or forward 10 frames using the keyboard shortcuts Shift-Left Arrow and Shift-Right Arrow.
• Show info for browser clips using the keyboard shortcut Control-I.
• Turn skimming on or off using the keyboard shortcut S.
• Turn audio skimming on or off using the keyboard shortcut Shift-S.
• Split and switch multicam clip angles using the keyboard shortcuts 1, 2, 3, and 4.
• Show or hide the jog wheel using the keyboard shortcut Control-Shift-W; expand or collapse it using Control-W.
• Switch the jog wheel between playhead mode and nudge mode using the keyboard shortcut Shift-W.

If you already have Final Cut Pro installed with automatic updates enabled, you might already have this new release installed and ready to go. If you're new to Final Cut Pro for iPad you can grab it from the App Store for free to get started.

Looking to make the most of Final Cut Pro? Apple's best iPad is the 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro complete with Apple Pencil support.

I've been editing video since I was a teenager, went to school for television production, and one of my first jobs was editing video for college sports highlight reels. Final Cut Pro has been there through it all. Today I still use Final Cut Pro on a nearly daily basis for my YouTube channel, and I truly love the app.

Needless to say, the appearance of Final Cut Pro for the iPad was a big announcement for me, and I was super excited to see what Apple would do here. After our initial first impressions, I've been going deeper with this version on iPad, seeing how best it can work with what I need it for, and how it can serve the video editing community at large.

Available at $4.99 per month or $49.99 for a year’s subscription, would this be "real Final Cut" or would it be a sort of Final Cut Mobile that would leave people like me disappointed? Let's find out.

Final Cut Pro: What is it?

Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing app that’s been on the Mac for decades and has just been released for the iPad as well. If you’ve never heard of “non-linear video editors” before, that’s okay. They’re what most professional video editors use to create everything from YouTube videos, music videos, TV shows, and even feature films. Your favorite video essay was made with a non-linear editor, as was the latest Marvel blockbuster, so they really do enable lots of different work to be done.

The basic idea is that you have a collection of video clips and you want to create a sequence with those clips to tell a story. In a non-linear video editor, you’ll import your clips (and other media, like images, music, or titles) into the app library, and then you can drag those clips into a timeline. That timeline is your final video, and you can trim clips, move them around, and layer them on top of each other in the timeline. Once you’ve created a sequence of clips that you like, you can export your timeline as a new video file. If you’re a YouTuber, that exported file is what gets uploaded to YouTube, for example.

That’s a very broad summary, but it should give you an idea of what category Final Cut Pro falls into.

The Video Editor Landscape on iPad

Even if you’ve never heard the term “non-linear video editor” before, you may have used one in the past and not known it. iMovie also falls into this category, but it’s a much simpler version of what Final Cut does. If all you need is to edit some clips together from your iPhone, then iMovie is a great place to start.

But once you start to feel constrained by iMovie, it might be time to look for something more robust. Maybe you want more freedom in your edits or you want more advanced titles or color corrections. Maybe you need more layers of video or you just need more control over the finer details of the edit.

For years, iPad users would likely be drawn to LumaFusion, which has done tons to innovate in iPad video editing over the years. Or maybe you like Adobe and use Premiere Rush, which is a trimmed down version of Adobe’s desktop editor. DaVinci Resolve was a big pro app update that hit the iPad in late 2022 which was also a severely trimmed down version of their desktop app.

I’m happy to say that while Final Cut Pro for the iPad is also trimmed down from the Mac app, it manages to feel more complete than those other apps.

Final Cut Pro: Editing on iPadOS

After using the app for a couple of days to edit a video, I can pretty confidently say that despite some paper cuts and limitations, Final Cut Pro is the best video editing app I've ever used for the iPad. Other apps have done good work, namely LumaFusion for leading the way with iPad video editing, but credit to Apple for coming out of the gate with an interface that's both powerful and easier to use than the Mac app in some ways.

For example, resizing and moving videos can be a pain on the Mac. You’re switching between modes and using a mouse to resize things can be clunky, so you find yourself just keying in numbers which feels less natural. By comparison, I was instantly able to naturally use my fingers to grab a clip and resize it and move it around the frame in a way that just felt better than what I had ever experienced on the Mac. As a bonus, all those Mac controls were there too, so I could revert to my old ways if I wanted. The software gave me the choice, which is always a good thing in pro-level apps.

I also really enjoyed how my media library, transitions, effects, and music all feel better to browse than the Mac version of the app. On the Mac these are all separated out into different views and parts of the screen, but thanks to the iPad’s reduced screen space, they had to condense things, and I think this change is just fantastic in terms of getting what I need at any point in the middle of an edit.

Truly, I always expected to be slower when I first used this version of the app, just like I would be with any other new editor. Muscle memory is a heck of a thing, and I just needed to adapt. Once I did, I really started to see flashes of brilliance in this interface.

While Final Cut Pro for the Mac is optimized around using a mouse and keyboard for doing everything, the iPad version is built with a mouse, keyboard, touch, and Apple Pencil in mind. What's brilliant about this is that you can freely switch between input methods and use whatever's best for the task at hand.

I found myself using the Magic Keyboard when chopping up my timeline, setting in and out points on individual clips, and playing back my project, but I leaned towards touch for moving clips around and editing things in the inspector. Apple's also added a cool feature that lets you draw on your video and play that drawing back as an animation. This of course was best done with the Apple Pencil.

Final Cut Pro: What I liked

Final Cut Pro has long been known for how fast it is to work with. It's not just the render times that you always see in benchmarks, but the act of editing itself (you know, 90% of the work) is faster as well, especially on Apple silicon devices. I'm happy to report that Final Cut Pro for the iPad continues this legacy and is insanely well optimized on my iPad, an 11-inch M1 iPad Pro.

Truly, I was working with 4K footage shot on a Canon EOS R6, which is pretty heavy video, but my iPad didn't break a sweat, even when I was layering up to three clips on top of each other and applying color corrections to them at the same time. This is running an M1 processor, which we all know is pretty great, but there's something special about having this power in a device that's just 6mm thick.

I did notice that editing made the back of my iPad a bit warm and crushed the battery life. It seems like I would be able to go from 100% to dead in 2-3 hours of constant editing, which isn't the end of the world, but that's faster than any other app I can think of.

For years we've been lamenting that iPads (especially Pro ones) have more power than any software can actually use, but Final Cut is absolutely pushing the iPad to its limits, and I'm super happy that it's stepped into that role.

Final Cut Pro: Some paper cuts

Now there are some pain points with the app that goes beyond the simple matter of me not being used to the app yet. First is file management, which Apple has chosen to err on the side of simplicity. All files have to be imported into Final Cut, even if they're already on your device in Photos or Files. This can be a big issue if you're working with large video files, as now they have to exist on your iPad twice. I was able to avoid this largely by importing directly from the SD card my camera used, thankfully.

On a related note, I ran into issues exporting my project when I was done. The app kept erroring out telling me I didn't have enough space on my device, even though the Settings app told me I was only using 100 of the 256GB of internal storage I had on this iPad. I tried deleting apps to make more space, but it kept complaining. 

Ultimately, I had to export the whole project to my Mac and render the video there. It was only a 1.2GB file after the export, so my iPad should have had plenty of space left, so maybe this is just a version 1.0 oddity that will get sorted out. One thing that would help here is (like on the Mac version) being able to choose the export destination before rendering, so that I could plug in an external drive and save the video there if I was low on space.

On the plus side, this did prove to me that moving a project from the iPad to the Mac is completely seamless and everything transferred perfectly.

Finally, there is no ability to customize your keyboard shortcuts in the app, which is a bummer since I have a couple of things I do constantly that I've set to specific keys that I use to work super efficiently on my Mac. Basically, there are far fewer things with keyboard shortcuts, and those shortcuts can not be changed.

Final Cut Pro: The Verdict

Despite the limitations and quirks inherent to any 1.0 product release (even from Apple), I find myself extremely excited about this app and I fully expect it to be the basis for the Mac app down the road. The things that are here and are working as you'd expect as just so delightful, and are even sometimes better than what we have in the Mac version.

And while this is less feature-rich than the Mac app, it doesn't leave me feeling like it's a second-class app. It feels more like they had enough to ship and they're going to keep building on this. Eventually, I'd fully expect this to come to the Mac and for this unified app to become Final Cut Pro moving forward, with the current Mac app falling back to a legacy status.

I think Apple will wait quite a while to do this, as they likely don't want to create as much friction as they did a decade ago when they moved from Final Cut Pro 7 to X, but I can't see the point in maintaining two separate apps like this forever. This unification would also hopefully come with the ability to sync projects to iCloud and be able to work on your Mac, pick up your iPad, and do some work there, with all your edits and media syncing seamlessly between the two.

Oh, and Macs would really benefit from having multi-touch if this app were to come over, but that's a can of worms for another day. Right now, I'm super impressed with what Apple was able to deliver in this version of the app and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Audio creation and the iPad have not been a symbiotic relationship - but with the debut of Logic Pro today (May 23), that looks set to change.

It’s available for $4.99 per month or $49.99 for a one-year’s subscription – a far cry from the one-off $199.99 fee that you’ve traditionally been able to grab Logic Pro on Mac for. But there’s also a one-month free trial, so you can see whether Logic on iPad is an easy transition for you compared to working on your Mac.

Logic Pro first debuted way back in 1993, and it was acquired by Apple in 2002, where it’s allowed a bunch of creatives to have a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to help create music, podcasts and more.

While GarageBand fulfilled some of the needs of these users on iPad, they wanted the full experience to come over to the tablet, and, eight years after the iPad Pro debuted, they have their wish.

After a week of trying the app out on an M1 iPad Pro, we’ve come away impressed, and its touch-first design makes us wonder why Logic Pro hasn’t debuted sooner on Apple’s tablet.

Beat Boppin’ Beats in multi-touch

Logic Pro begins with an example project featuring a series of drums and samples that you can change to your heart's content, with the main interface remaining largely unchanged from the Mac version. But this is where it gets interesting, as, like Final Cut on iPad that also debuts today, it’s been made with a multi-touch first focus in mind.

Every menu and feature is selectable and customizable, you can pan around, add instruments, and compose some hippity-hoppity beats all with your fingers – no mouse necessary.  Just as in the Mac version, multi-colored icons representing instruments and samples cover track timelines, but now they can be manipulated and moved with your finger. You can even highlight the pitch and edit out samples by dragging your finger across them.

Sitting in the town center of my hometown working away at my iPad, I couldn’t help but smile and laugh at the random beats my fingers were making. I would switch between portrait and landscape on the iPad to get a better grip when changing the tempo and pitch to some instruments, and the results kept motivating me to carry on.

It resulted in I, a total novice, composing a track that sounded like a demo for a stage in The Revenge of Shinobi on the SEGA Genesis.

But this is only half the story of what made Logic Pro works well on Mac and now iPad - plugins have been a hot topic since this version was announced, and after some testing, we came back with some interesting results.

Plugging it in

First off, if you’re expecting to move over your oft-used plugins to iPad and carry on your project as before, that won’t be happening. Due to how iPadOS is designed, Logic Pro on iPad requires the plugin developers to port them to iPad, where they will be able to be re-downloaded. It’s going to be a pain to start with, but it’s the reality of where audio apps on iPadOS are clearly heading.

Feature parity with Logic Pro on macOS is 99% there – you can easily create a project on Mac and move over to iPad. The only potential issue will be the plugins you’ve previously used.

It’s a small price to pay for the wish that’s been granted here, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the lack of plugins on day 1 evaporate by the time Christmas rolls around.

Logically for Everyone, not just Pros

It’s telling that Logic Pro isn’t just restricted to the iPad Pro with Apple silicon, like how Final Cut is. Logic Pro works on an iPad with an A12 Bionic and above - so that’s an iPad Air 3rd Generation, an iPad mini 5th generation, and iPad 8th generation and up.

So if you want, Logic Pro can be used on the latest iPad mini, and if you think that’s a waste of time, I’m here to insist that you try it before you judge.

The multi-touch-first interface, with its big, colorful buttons and the ability to resize and shrink almost every menu allows you to make as much progress on a project with a 7.9-inch tablet that a 12.9-inch iPad Pro does.

Professional creatives are always looking for bigger screens to work their projects on, but Logic Pro is designed to be multi-touch and fun-first, which is why the iPad mini works so well here. But by all means, if you want a bigger screen and more power, then the iPad Pro will be the way to go here.

But creatives will want the ease of transferring their projects from an iPad to a Mac, and the other way round, and this will be the big draw here for some, rather than the multi-touch features, and it worked great in our testing.

Having said that, it’s an app that clearly wants to help you make great music, or edit podcasts with your hands, and Apple’s team has made sure that this version for iPad will help you achieve your goals.

It’s also important to mention that Accessibility works great in Logic Pro. There are no specific accessibility features found within Logic Pro but in our testing with what iPadOS 16 offers, we were able to use keyboard shortcuts to select certain features, while using Voice Control to select certain drum beats to add worked great.

When you compare this to Final Cut for iPad, Logic Pro feels the more complete out of the two new apps released this week. The user interface feels more modern in its color scheme and layouts This isn’t an app where you feel like it needs another update in some places - Logic Pro is the complete package here already, and that’s mighty impressive.

The podcast elephant in the room

The only caveat so far is how audio still works on iPad. While Ferrite has been able to edit and export podcasts, iPadOS has always had an issue with multiple audio streams playing at once. You may try to play on the track, and it will suddenly pause as another play. When it comes to managing multiple guests on a podcast as you edit, this can be a pain.

I tried to edit a podcast project on Logic Pro on my Mac, then attempted to carry it on with my iPad Pro in Logic Pro, but as I used a time-based ruler to line up different guests, it simply refused to load up the project. It gave the following message: "Project Cannot Be Opened. Logic Pro for Mac projects using the ruler in standard time format instead of the musical grid cannot be opened in Logic Pro for iPad."

That put an end to trying to edit podcasts in Logic Pro, and that's a shame. Hopefully it's a bug, but I have a suspicion that it's simply how iPadOS handles audio.

But this feels like it could be solved in iPadOS 17 when it’s allegedly announced at WWDC in June. Being able to manage multiple audio tracks playing at once, similar to multicam in Final Cut, where multiple videos play at once, feels like an obvious win for Logic Pro users.

Worth waiting for

Put simply, if you’re looking to move up from Garageband or you want to start making some great tracks for an album or even a game as I tried to, Logic Pro is worth the subscription price.

It’s been rewritten with a touch-first focus, and it reminds you how the iPad can be a fun product to create quality content with. This is only emphasized when you notice that it doesn’t support Stage Manager and split-view - it’s an app to be used front and center on your iPad, and it’s totally justified in doing so.

Like Final Cut Pro for iPad, you get the impression that Apple wanted to get these apps right as soon as they were made available, and I’d argue that Logic Pro edges out in achieving that with a home run more than Final Cut does for now. From using Apple Pencil to draw edits and automate certain tracks, to new plugin tiles that give projects new equalizer options, there’s a lot to like here out of the gate.

So if you’ve been hoping to leave the MacBook Pro at home to carry on that project in Logic Pro while you’re away for the weekend on an iPad mini to an iPad Pro, you’re going to have a fun, productive time. You may even find yourself creating random tracks as I did for imaginary game soundtracks.

The beauty of Drafts is implicit in its tagline of Where Text Starts: it's entirely agnostic about where your writing ends up. You can use it as a repository of notes, and you can equally send your work to other apps, blogging software, file systems, reminders, or just about anywhere else you can think of.

I've been using an iPad full-time for several years, and when I made the switch from macOS I had to find equivalent tools to help with many of the tasks I needed to accomplish. One of my most often-used apps was BBEdit on the Mac, and locating something broadly similar was a priority.

I've found that Drafts fits the bill in a multitude of ways, particularly with the flexibility offered by the huge number of third-party JavaScript Actions and other extensions available. I've even created a few myself, including my reusable MGCheckListPrompt library which creates picker dialogs for use in your own automations.

Because of its power, Drafts can be used for many tasks which might not immediately spring to mind when thinking about a notes app. With this in mind, here are a few features that I use most often.

Build a personal wiki

Drafts supports inter-document linking in wiki style, using [[bracketed text]] to implicitly link to existing or new documents. There are many Actions available to enhance the functionality, including listing backlinks, i.e. other documents which link to the current one. I use this feature to create reference material for my novel series, for example, to keep track of recurring characters and settings.

Another great use of local links is to make a repository of the various bits of household information we all need to locate or update from time to time. I keep notes about utility providers, home and motor insurance, packing lists, and lots of other things that families need to access once in a while and tend to be a pain to trawl for in email archives.

Inter-document linking lets me organize them hierarchically, and Drafts also allows tagging documents for easier searching. The workspaces feature even allows viewing just those documents which have certain tags, as if they're an entirely separate collection of files.

Assemble newsletters

The main task I use Drafts for is helping me to publish my writing online. For more than two years, I've sent out a free weekly newsletter with a new piece of micro-fiction every Monday, and while I usually write the raw text as Markdown in Ulysses, I assemble and format the newsletter entirely in Drafts, using several of its features together to make the process easier.

Drafts supports templating, both via its own built-in syntax and also the well-established and more powerful Mustache templating system if you prefer. Both systems allow for inline conversion of Markdown to HTML, and the insertion of calculated values such as dates and times in chosen formats. I have a newsletter HTML template as a document — also called a draft, of course — in Drafts, which is loaded by a custom Action. Alternatively, templates can be embedded within an Action itself if you're not using them elsewhere. Drafts often provides multiple ways to do things.

The JavaScript API for Actions can access the system pasteboard (or clipboard), easily taking the text I've exported from Ulysses, inserting it into the newsletter template and processing the Markdown into HTML, producing a finished newsletter ready for export into whatever sending service you might want to use.

Most services, including my preferred MailerLite, allow the use of custom HTML, which offers complete control over what the subscribers receive in their inboxes.

Publish to the web

I also publish the stories from my newsletter on my own site, and of course, I use Drafts for that too: I have templates for stories and for regular articles, each using Markdown with YAML front matter, and I even have an Action to generate the appropriate filename for my Jekyll blog by reading the front matter.

Being able to execute your own JavaScripts within a text editor, including native support for various cloud storage providers and productivity apps, drastically expands the scope of how Drafts can fit into workflows.

Drafts natively supports the WordPress API, too, so if you're one of the huge number of people who use it as your publishing platform, you'll have no trouble integrating Drafts into your setup. There are actions available showing how to publish posts, link-blog articles, and retrieve lists of recent articles for further manipulation.

Use Drafts as a bridge

Even if you don't want to write text in the app itself, Drafts has such extensive system integration and automation support that it can serve as the middleman between your data and wherever you need it to get to.

Besides its dozens of text manipulation tools, Drafts also offers lock screen widgets, focus mode filters, Apple Watch support, and of course, it syncs its own documents, settings, and automations between Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

Documents can be tagged and then filtered on that basis, and Drafts also offers version histories, as well as third-party syntax-highlighting profiles and color themes. Actions can appear as toolbar buttons above the virtual keyboard and can be triggered via search, keyboard shortcuts of your choice, and Siri.

Post to social media

Drafts can post directly to Twitter and now also to Mastodon, so it's an excellent place to work on and revise content to meet character-count limits, tailor posts for each service, and let thoughts percolate for a while before publishing.

I often compose longer social media posts with Drafts, including the creation of threads. Mastodon integration was recently added, alongside its ability to post to Twitter and any arbitrary web service. Support for draft posts varies by service, but Drafts (the app) offers a place to manage them in a unified and portable way, while also keeping a local archive of your posts.

There's no shortage of note-taking apps on any of the Apple platforms, including the built-in offerings, but to include Drafts in that category is to do it a disservice. It positions itself as a starting point, but for me, it's also the next step, and the next again, in a wide variety of workflows that I use every single week on my iPad and iPhone, and even once in a while on a Mac too. It's a thousand apps in one, if you want it to be, and I bet you could find a place for it in your toolkit.

There is a long list of reasons why Apple’s jump to its own home-grown silicon for Mac was a good thing, from blistering performance improvements to battery efficiency just not seen elsewhere in mobile computing. From the early days of M1 through to the current wave of Mac Mini M2 Max and Pro machines, I’m consistently blown away by what Apple’s pulled off since waving goodbye to Intel chipsets.

But one of the more underrated effects of making that transition was unifying Apple’s disparate app offerings, allowing many iPhone apps and iPad apps to work universally alongside Mac apps on desktop and laptop devices, too. Where once you may have had to juggle multiple devices to get access to a specific iPhone or iPad app that didn’t have a Mac equivalent, Apple’s simple compatibility layer made a huge number of iOS and iPadOS apps work on Mac without the developers having to even lift a finger.

While it didn’t suddenly mean there were millions of additional must-have apps that flooded onto our Macs, it did unlock a few where a native Mac alternative wasn't available — or simply the iPad or iPhone version was superior. With the iPad's screen size better suited to Mac displays, it's iPad apps that have proved the most useful in this setting, and the area I've found most joy. So here are four iPad apps that I now fire up on my Mac every day.

NTS Radio

When I want to pretend I’m still cool (if I ever was) and feel like I’m still a young twenty-something (which is everyday) I listen to NTS Radio. It’s by far the most interesting internet radio service out there, pulling together an eclectic mix of DJs, curators and musical genres across its global streaming platform. Its hosts include musicians, artists and record collectors as well as 9-to-5 DJs, and it shows in the output of its wildly varied shows: from shoegaze to Italian poolside pop, you’re guaranteed to hear stuff you’ve never heard before, every single day. 

Why it hasn’t been bought up for a ridiculous sum by Apple Music or Spotify is beyond me — you can tune in to the two main NTS Radio stations from within Apple Music, but that doesn’t give access to NTS’s excellent back catalogue of shows and infinite mixtapes. But perhaps that’s for the best — it feels like a radio service from an imagined future where algorithms don’t exist, and is all the better for it, free from ‘Big Tech’ influence.

While NTS Radio has a decent-enough website to stream from, the iPad app translates so well onto the Mac as to feel natively built. It’s one of the first apps I open every day.

PressReader

Now this one’s a bit of a rule-breaker for this list — PressReader, a magazine and newspaper reading app, is ultimately at its best on an iPad. When reading on Apple’s tablet you’re going to get as close to the experience of holding a printed page as possible in the digital world — or at least when compared to a Mac or MacBook, anyway. 

But PressReader remains well optimised for Mac hardware, letting you browse mags, rags and broadsheets from right across the globe, right from your desktop. While it technically requires a subscription in order to access its library of content, it has an ace up its sleeve — providing you have a local library card, you can access all its content for free.

Sofa

There’s just too much…stuff out there to spend time on these days. Games to play, books to read, shows to stream, albums to listen to. It can get overwhelming, and keeping track of new releases and prioritising how best to spend the little free time you have can be a chore in and of itself. 

Sofa looks to help alleviate that stress, tapping into that universal human need to categorise and list everything. It’s a pretty simple app, letting you make custom lists of things you want to keep track of, which could ultimately be anything. But it’s really tuned to media consumption, tapping into a database of movies, music, games, apps and more for you to add to your lists, complete with accompanying artwork. And though there are in-app purchases here, they’re mostly just aesthetic ones that you can happily skip. It’s a good one to keep open in the background, adding fresh items as things pique your interest throughout the day. Again, it works just great on a Mac.

Headspace

After all that listening, reading and list-making, you might want to clear your head a bit and wind down. Though I don’t do it as religiously as I’d like to, I try to cap off the end of my working days at my Mac with a little downtime, and the best way to do that is with a meditation app like Headspace.

Everything that’s great about the Headspace iPad app is here, and (fittingly, given the fact that it’s about calming your head from distractions) that's its focus on guided meditations. It’s a clean interface with very little in the way of flashy furniture aside from some gentle animations, letting you soak in the accessible mindfulness its experts offer up. It feels like a mental sage cleaning for your Mac, and a great app to fire up before wrapping up for the day.

The Mac's forgotten apps

We all have our go-to Mac apps, those that live forever in our docks and get opened every day. The thing is, you probably have a similar number of apps on your iPhone and iPad too, so why not let them join forces?

Take my list as inspiration, maybe give a few of the above choices a try. But my advice? Fire up your iPad or iPhone, and make a mental note of the apps you most use on them, then give the Mac App Store a quick search to see if they're alive over there too — while not all of them will be a great fit for a keyboard-and-mouse based OS, you might be surprised just how many work great on your desktop devices, too.

Nothing beats picking up a paper book, feeling the pages and admiring the cover art. But avid readers know that e-books are way easier to travel with, ideal for those living in small spaces and a good way to keep all your highlighted passages in one place. 

The good news is that if you already have an iPad your tablet computer makes a fantastic e-reader. The large screen of one of the best iPads provides an awesome way to read your favorite books, magazines, and other content, like comics and reports. 

Apple has its own Books app, but there are plenty of other e-reader apps to choose from, and these are our top picks whether you're going to be using an old iPad or the latest Apple iPad Pro with M2 chip. 

Our top picks of the best e-reader apps for iPad

Kindle

Although Amazon is now a huge online store that sells almost everything imaginable, back in its early days, it started as an online bookstore, and the Kindle app provides access to Amazon's massive catalog of books.

Kindle can do just about anything you want from an e-reader, including changing the font, background color, highlighting text, making annotations, and more. Plus, Kindle has a very robust library management system that makes it super easy to find pages in any book with only a couple of taps of the screen.

If you're new to e-reading, I highly suggest downloading Kindle and giving it a try. After prompting you to log in to your Amazon account, Kindle will ask you to select some genres of books you like to read and rate a handful of titles. Kindle uses this information to help you discover books you might like in the future, but it also downloads some samples for you to try. While these free samples are only part of a book, it gives you a chance to try the interface out for yourself to see if you like it.

Bluefire Reader

If you're looking for an e-reader app that can access your Adobe content, look no further than Bluefire Reader.

On top of Adobe DRM content, Bluefire Reader can handle EPUB and PDF files, allowing you to transfer your own files from other places and have them conveniently in one place. Plus, Bluefire allows users to easily bookmark locations, highlight text, make annotations, and even use night mode across all your iOS devices, so you'll be able to read how and when you want.

Scribd

If you're the type of person who likes an unlimited subscription service for your content and doesn't mind shelling out some cash every month, Scribd has been called the "Netflix for books."

Much like its nickname would indicate, Scribd has a huge library of books, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers, and more that you can access for a monthly subscription fee, which varies in price depending on what tier you choose.

The app itself is extremely well organized and easy to navigate, plus all the typical functionality of great e-reader apps are included. You'll be able to annotate, highlight text, and use bookmarks whenever you please, all while being able to customize the look.

Google Play Books

If you're locked into the Google ecosystem, you can still read all your favorite books on your iPad with Google Play Books.

With thousands of books, audiobooks, comic books, magazines, and other content to choose from, Google Play Books syncs across all your devices using your Google account. Perfect for people who choose the iPad as their preferred tablet while also carrying around an Android phone.

Libby by OverDrive

Some public libraries across the country already have a digital media lending system that doesn't cost you any extra money and the makers of OverDrive brings that media directly to your iPad.

Libby by OverDrive allows you to borrow books, audiobooks, and other content from the digital collections of participating libraries, without having to leave the comfort of your home, office, cabin, or anywhere else you and your iPad find yourself.

Kobo Books

Kobo has been around for a long time and has a well-established library of books and audiobooks, all of which you can access through the Kobo Books app on your iPad.

It's a store and e-reader all in one where you can buy, download, and read all your books right from the app. It has a ton of different themes you can set your background to, from light and bright white tones to blacks and dark grays, meaning regardless of the lighting around you, you should be able to read comfortably. Plus, it even has a night mode to make it a bit easier on your iPad's battery.

BookFusion

Specifically designed for the iPad (though you can get it for your iPhone, too), BookFusion has a library of over 2 million books to peruse for all your reading needs.

BookFusion also has an incredible suite of customization settings that can allow you to adjust vertical/horizontal margins, line spacing, fonts, bold/italics, colors, and more, making it perfect to tailor to your preferred reading experience. It even has an integrated reader, meaning you can open and read all your EPUB and PDFs, which will help you with productivity as much as in your leisure time.

The best iPad for reading

We've raved about how great the iPad is as an e-reader, but if you're looking for the best iPad that seems especially tailored for being a portable book, we highly recommend the iPad mini 6. 

It's the smallest iPad that Apple makes, which allows it to be ultra-portable. Plus, it's super powerful since it's packing the A15 Bionic chip, so when you're not reading you can game or work with no problem.

If you're looking for a larger iPad to read from, then take a look at our iPad Air 5 review. This gorgeous-looking iPad has a 10.9-inch liquid retina display, as well as Apple's latest M1 chip. If you want to really enjoy colourful comics and non-fiction books with diagrams, then we think this is the best iPad for you. 

The best note-taking apps for iPad and Apple Pencil can help you jot down thoughts, share them with friends and colleagues and back them up to the cloud and across devices. These apps, combined with their handwriting features, can be perfect for work, studying, or if you simply need to quickly make a shopping list.

Additionally, all of these work with Apple's best iPads — if you want to use Apple's Notes app with an Apple Pencil on an iPad mini, it can be done. It's worth noting, though, that if you're an artist, we also have a guide for the best drawing apps for iPad and Apple Pencil as well.

For this guide, we've laid out a bunch of apps that work great with Apple Pencil and iPad — but before you decide to buy a new Apple Pencil or download any of the apps below, we recommend you check which iPad models support Apple Pencil first.

Apple Notes

Notes (Free)

The built-in Notes app is a reliable bet for many people looking to use an Apple Pencil for note-taking. It does more than just allow you to type notes or dictate things. It's possible to add handwritten notes, sketches, and drawings in the Notes app. All you have to do is start a new note, pick the drawing tool, and then get writing or sketching to your heart's content.

The app has native text recognition search and in-line scanning. It also has annotation support, so it immediately covers all the most essential features required from a note-taking app. In comparison to third-party apps, it can feel a little limited such as its primary use of iCloud, but it's the perfect starting point, especially if you don't want to download anything new.

You can download Notes on the App Store.

GoodNotes 6

Goodnotes 6 (Free with in-app purchases)

Goodnotes is ideal for the note-taking power user, and it has a ton of great features. There's handwriting and sketching with Apple Pencil, of course, but there's a lot more. You can pick from a huge selection of digital paper types to suit your needs. Options include lined, graph, design, music notation, and much more.

It's also possible to upload your own custom paper template if you have something specific in mind — from Ruled Paper to Checklists and Planner. You can also choose from multiple cover styles for digital notebooks so you can keep things personal and well-organized.

For actual handwriting, Goodnotes 6 supports writing and drawing with your Apple Pencil, as well as a third-party stylus. Add on built-in handwriting search recognition, text conversion, and more, and GoodNotes is a feature-rich package of useful tools.

You can download Goodnotes 6 on the App Store.

Notability

Notability (Free with in-app purchases)

Many of us at iMore use Notability as it's one of the best options. Like GoodNotes, it's powerful but it's also a little easier to use in some ways. It has tools for handwriting and drawing. You can also annotate PDFs here, along with creating shapes, highlighting sections, moving objects around the page, and even adding audio notes. Integration with photos and web clips is also an option if you need a more media-rich set of notes.

Notability provides plenty of paper styles for your handwritten notes or sketches, with grid-based paper likely to be popular among many users. It's easy to share your notebooks with third-party cloud apps like Dropbox and Google Drive.

For anyone unsure where to start, a tutorial helps guide you through the basics the moment you launch the app.

You can download Notability on the App Store.

Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote (Free with in-app purchases)

For those users already invested in the Microsoft Office ecosystem, OneNote is a logical choice to make. Even for those who aren't, it's still useful for viewing and editing notes. The app has handwriting and sketching tools that are perfect to use with your Apple Pencil. It's simple to handwrite everything from important notes to quick reminders, to sketching out diagrams and ideas. You can also annotate existing documents you already have in OneNote. 

Other features include rich text notes, photos and audio support, calendars, and a fair few other things too. It's easy to share a link to your digital notebook any time you want others involved too.

You can download Microsoft OneNote on the App Store.

PDF Expert – Read, Edit, Sign

PDF Expert (Free with in-app purchases)

Anyone who deals with PDFs often knows they can be awkward to annotate or change, which is why PDF Expert is such a welcome inclusion here. It does all the basics like allowing for annotations or marking up PDFs. You can also quickly open those PDFs from iCloud or third-party syncing services.

From there, you can easily fill out forms, sign documents, and use tools like a digital pen, as well as add shapes, underline, strikethrough, or highlight pieces of text. It's even possible to create stamps for frequently used wording, and you can edit the structure of the PDF document too.

The free version of PDF Expert allows you to read, annotate, highlight, draw, fill forms, and more. For features like being able to edit the original PDF text, add or edit images, sign documents, or password-protect a file, you'll need a Pro subscription. 

You can download PDF Expert on the App Store.

Nebo: Notes & PDF Annotations

Nebo (Free with in-app purchases)

Easily the best note-taking app for anyone who wants to write handwritten notes before converting them to regular text, MyScript Nebo is certainly flexible. Write something with your Apple Pencil and Nebo converts it on-the-fly. The conversion is non-destructive so you can preserve both the handwriting and the text to check for any errors.

There's support for multiple digital pen tools so it's easy to make things look how you want them to. Support for adding photos and videos is also possible, along with diagrams, and even quotations to go alongside your text. If you don't need the whole handwritten document converted, it's possible to convert one paragraph at a time. 

Once completed, it's then possible to export as text, HTML, PDF, or Word document, with syncing available through iCloud, MyScript's own service, Dropbox, and more.

You can download Nebo on the App Store.

Google Keep

Google Keep - Notes and Lists (free)

Simple yet refined, Google Keep is well-designed for jotting down quick thoughts, ideas, or lists. It's not as comprehensive at systematic note-taking as other apps here, but it's so simple to use that it's very appealing. It's even possible to create checkboxes for your lists, forming a type of to-do list. There's rich text support too, while it automatically works alongside the rest of the Google ecosystem that many of us rely on.

That makes it very appealing for anyone who uses Google regularly. It's easy to write a quick note before accessing it from another one of your devices, while Apple-native tools can be pickier about exporting and using in different formats.

You can download Google Keep on the App Store.

Noteshelf - Notes, Annotations

Noteshelf ($9.99)

Noteshelf claims that its experience is like writing on a notepad being smooth and fluid. It offers different pen styles to work within the app including an elegant fountain pen choice. Its notes can consist of your handwriting, PDF annotations or even recorded audio.

The app also offers handwritten note conversion so you gain easy search features for looking through your notes and creations. There are hundreds of different paper styles and templates too, so it's ideal for a more attractive digital paper experience. 

You can download Noteshelf on the App Store.

Whink

Whink (Free with in-app purchases)

Simple yet with a sleek interface, Whink is an instantly appealing app. It offers natural handwriting tools so it feels like writing with a pen and paper. There's also a gel-pen tool with natural ink colors, so it looks professional while being simple too. Users can zoom in on their notes for extra precision, so it's good for sketching and drawing.

Taking notes is only ever a tap away, while there are also PDF and photo annotations. It's possible to add shapes along with audio recordings, so you're covered for most needs. Sharing notes is a matter of syncing with iCloud or other services like Dropbox. 

You can download Whink on the App Store.

Why use the best note-taking apps for iPad and Apple Pencil?

Sometimes you just can't beat the old paper-and-pen experience, but digital notes offer many benefits. It might not be possible to send your digital note into flight like a paper plane can, but everything else is very similar. Add on Apple Pencil 2 and you get a pen-to-paper-style experience with all the convenience of digital.

There's also the added benefit of drawing the odd design while you take notes, although for a pure experience, check out the best drawing apps for iPad for the most functionality.

If you're more interested in reading with the occasional moment of interaction, the best e-reader apps for iPad might be better.

Finally, if you're still not sold on the need for an Apple Pencil, you may prefer checking out one of the best Apple Pencil alternatives around to keep costs down and do things a little differently.

If you use your iPad for more than just gaming and Facebook, you need tools to keep up with your workload. The iPad has never shipped with a calculator app for some strange reason. However, the App Store got you covered whether you need something rudimentary or something that's capable of complex, scientific functions. Check out these great calculator apps to help you stay productive on your iPad.

The best calculator apps for iPad

Bottom line: PCalc is one of the most robust and customizable calculator apps around. If you're an engineer, scientist, student, or need to deal with some heavy expressions in your daily life, then PCalc is where it's at.

It features buttons and options for advanced calculations, as well as an optional RPN mode and a rich history that you can edit and change. You can undo and redo, and it even supports hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations.

Bottom line: Calzy is one of the best-looking calculator apps on the market, even winning an Apple Design Award back in 2018. It's extremely powerful, too, with all your day-to-day mathematical calculation needs covered.

One clever feature is the app's "Memory Area" which allows you to save multiple numerical values for reuse later, and the app supports tons of iPad technologies like Slide Over and Split View, drag and drop customizable Apple Pencil 2 gestures, and more.

Bottom line: Calcbot 2 offers pretty much everything you'd want from a calculator, and a bit more. It's super easy to use with several themes to choose from with common scientific functions available in addition to regular calculations.

While the free features will likely be enough for most people, there are some neat extras unlocked with a $2 in-app purchase. These include conversions for 500 units across various categories, including auto-updating currency rates, plus a history tape for easily referring back to a previous calculation.

Bottom line: You might not have considered running a Microsoft-made calculator app on your Apple-made iPad, but the company's Math Solver is definitely worth considering. It's an entry-level educational app for solving math and science problems and is a great tool for actually understanding math rather than just punching numbers into a calculator.

You can use it to scan handwritten math problems, draw equations on screen with Apple Pencil, or type using the built-in calculator, and the app will help you to solve it with detailed step-by-step explanations.

Bottom line: If you need a graphing calculator for school or work, you probably already own a dedicated device, but the Desmos Graphing Calculator app is worth picking up for when you don't have that handy.

The iPad's large screen gives you much more space for graphing algebraic equations, plus the graphs can be animated, with support for sliders, points of interest, and tables.

Bottom line: Want an iPad calculator app but don't want to spend a dime? You can get one with the All-in-one Calculator, which is free to use and doesn't include any in-app purchase since it is ad-supported.

It offers support for all of your everyday math needs plus unit and currency conversion. There's also support for working out useful health metrics like BMI, financial tools like interest or profit calculators, or DIY and construction material estimates.

Botton line: Though iPad (2022) does not have a built-in calculator, it does have a built-in calculating function that's handy for quick equations and conversions: Spotlight search! Go ahead, swipe down on any Home screen, and type "2 + 2" in the search bar. Sure enough, the answer's there for you.

Spotlight Search will also follow the proper order of operations if you need to perform some more complex calculations, and if you need to know how many British pounds it is to the U.S. dollar, just type something like "$5 in £" and it'll come up with the result.

By our calculations

The lack of a built-in calculator app on your iPad doesn't mean you have to reach for your iPhone every time you want to work something out. The above selection represents our pick of the best iPad calculator apps, but the App Store is chock-full of options for you to choose from. Looking to upgrade your iPad? Check out the best iPad deals. 

Updated December 2022: Updated for iPadOS 16. 

What you need to know

• Slack has released an update to its iPad app.
• The update brings a new two-column layout, updated sidebar, and new accessibility features.
• The iPad app is much more like the Mac app now.

Slack's latest update to its iPad app is another move in the Mac's direction.

In a blog post on the company's website, Slack announced a slew of changes for its iPad app. The update includes a new two-column layout, updated sidebar, and new accessibility features that align the iPad app closer to the Mac app.

The new two-column layout, as Slack explains, more closely resembles "the layout of the desktop version."

The app now features many of the functionality of the desktop app in the sidebar as well, including the ability to collapse sections:

• Sections are now collapsible, so you can hide groups of channels and focus on just the most relevant conversations
• Section preferences will now be synced with the desktop version, keeping your sidebar consistent when you switch between devices
• Usernames in direct messages now feature avatars, making them easier to scan. Channel activity can now be sorted by recency, so you can more quickly review the latest updates from your team
• With just a long press on a channel name, you can now access a context menu from which you can easily mute or leave the channel, copy a link to it or mark it as read

The company has also released new accessibility features, including improvements to VoiceOver:

You can learn more about all of the new changes to the Slack app for iPadOS on the blog post. The changes come right ahead of the launch of the 5th generation iPad AIr which will release to customers on Friday, March 18.

What you need to know

• Apple may be working on a new 'Mixer' feature for iPadOS.
• It could be a more convenient way to manage apps and windows on the tablet.
• It would automatically detect a connected keyboard, shrinking your full-screen app to a windowed alternative.

A new rumor claims that Apple is working on a new feature for iPadOS that could automatically detect a connected keyboard, shrinking your windows from full screen to make them more manageable.

The report comes from the Twitter account Majin Bu, a self-professed researcher who posts insight into Apple software. The account shared the first hands-on video of the new green iPhone 13 well before anyone else just last week, as well as leaking new upcoming iPhone cases prior to the Apple event last week.

From the leak:

As noted, this is purportedly a feature only for Apple's M1 iPad, so the M1 iPad Pro (2021) and iPad Air, and might not be ready in time for iPadOS 16, expected to debut at WWDC later this year.

While you should definitely take the report with a pinch of salt, it could indicate that Apple is trying to make the keyboard and iPad experience more convenient and tactile for users, giving them better options for app and screen management beyond either Full Screen or Split Screen. Indeed, the image shared by the account seems to indicate floating windows more indicative of Apple's desktop experience on its Mac lineup.

With the advent of Universal Control on iPad And Mac, rolled out officially early this week, Apple is doing more to blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac in terms of software and usability, a key criticism of the iPad lineup in recent years. Many of Apple's best iPads have lots of power, but software that can't really take advantage of all that juice. The new rumored feature, if indeed real, could be a great next step in terms of multitasking on iPad beyond the current options of Split View, Slide Over, and Centre window.

The iPad Pro (2022) will run all of the hundreds of thousands of tablet-optimized apps in the iOS App Store and with its 11-inch or massive 12.9-inch display, powerful Apple M2 processor, and optional Apple Pencil 2 and Smart Keyboard, it can run them at lightning speed. After all, the best iPad is the one that can run your favorite apps with no hiccups! Here are the best iPad Pro apps you should check out right now!

Don't have an iPad Pro? No problem! You can run all of these best iPad apps on your iPad mini or iPad Air as well.

Procreate

Astropad Studio

Astropad lets you use your iPad as a graphics tablet for your Mac and it works supremely well. Now, Astropad will also let you use your iPad Pro as a big graphics tablet. It works with Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Corel Painter, Manga Studio, Pixelmator, and more, so there's no need to get a separate surface for your computer. Your iPad Pro can serve double duty. And yes, it supports the Apple Pencil as well! Astropad Studio requires a subscription, you can pay $11.99 per month or $79.99 per year.

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft is still king of the Office apps and that's especially true for spreadsheets. If you've ever wanted to pivot a table or do any number of ledger-ly things, you've wanted to do it in Excel. What makes Excel for iPad especially great is that Microsoft prioritized it even over the company's own mobile devices and that head-start has made it not only a good Office app but a good iPad app. Heck, with split-view support, it makes it a great one. And Word, Powerpoint, and OneNote are no slouches either.

Affinity Photo 2 for iPad

Affinity Photo is photo-editing tool like no other for the iPad Pro. All the editing tools you need to turn your photos into works of pristine art are at your fingertips — and Apple Pencil tip. With support for unlimited layers, layer groups, adjustment layers, filter layers, and masks, you'll never overpower the software running on the iPad Pro's powerful A10X processor chip. Affinity Photo also has a huge selection of brushes to choose from and use with your Apple Pencil, and you can even make custom brushes on the fly — meaning you'll always have the tools at your disposal to achieve your desired effect.

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.

Pixelmator

With Pixelmator, users can play around with advanced photo settings like single-tap color correction presets, beauty and facial editors that can easily erase imperfections, blemishes, and unwanted objects; the ability to pinch, bump, twirl, or wrap areas of an image; the option to edit images of up to 100 megapixels, and so, so much more.

You can even use Pixelmator to paint images directly onto your iPad, turning your tablet into a digital canvas of sorts. You can pick and choose from over 100 artist-designed brushes, smudge color with your finger to blend as you would IRL, use eyedropper tools to isolate and perfect your colors, and really bring your creativity to the forefront of your digital artwork!

Codea

If you're at all curious about game design, app design, or coding for iPad, Codea lets use your iPad Pro for creating all things iPad apps.

It's built using the Lua programming language and is specifically made to be a friendly and inviting coding editor. In Codea, you can just tap and drag elements to change how the code interacts and you'll see those changes in real-time. There's a great set of reference materials built right into Codea, so you don't have to worry about getting stuck.

Codea won't have you making a top-selling game on the App Store immediately, but it's an amazing tool to help you understand the fundamentals of game design and 3D graphics. And by surfing through the weekly App Store charts, there are many examples you can mess around with, helping you further draw inspiration and nail the fundamentals of a game design and 3D graphics.

iMovie

On the iPad, iMovie is already amazing. On the iPad Pro, we're going to need a bigger superlative. That's because, thanks to the Apple M1 processor, iMovie on the iPad Pro can handle not one, not two, but three streams of 4K video all at once, which is ludicrously great. Apple's other iPad apps also shine on the larger iPad Pro canvas, including GarageBand for music, and Keynote, Numbers, and Pages for presentations, spreadsheets, and documents.

Complete Anatomy 2023

The world's most accurate, most advanced, and best-selling 3D anatomy platform uses new technology, models, and content. It's not just an atlas, the app is an anatomy learning platform with unique collaboration and learning tools. On the new iPad Pro, you can now study and take measures with a real human being and use that information to visualize and understand muscle movement and more.

Plenty more apps out there

There you have it, some of our favorite apps updated for one of the best iPads: iPad Pro. But, that doesn't mean these are the only apps you should download. There are plenty of amazing iPad apps that will be awesome to put on any iPad, including your new iPad Pro. So go out there and explore that wonderful App Store. 

What you need to know

• The popular Luna Display is now available for Windows PCs.
• PC users can now extend their desktop onto an iPad just like Mac users.
• Dongles are available in USB-C and HDMI configurations.

Fans of the popular Luna Display from Astropad can now use it to extend their PC display onto their iPads for the first time — just like they could extend their Mac\s previously.

The change comes thanks to an updated Luna Display 5 as well as new hardware. The standard USB-C dongle is still available and can be used with either PC or Windows devices. But now there's an additional HDMI option that's designed specifically for Windows users — their machines come with HDMI, see. Hopefully our new mini-LED MacBook Pros will, too!

The new update was announced yesterday along with an explainer for how things now work.

The changes aren't just about adding Windows support, either.

Use an iPad as a second display for your PC! We completely rearchitected the apps to support both PCs and Macs, and added a new Luna Display HDMI unit.

• Luna Display for Windows is available in two port types: USB-C or HDMI
• USB-C units are compatible with both Mac and PC
• Current USB-C users: Upgrade to Luna Display 5.0 to use your unit on a PC or Mac

Along with Windows support, this update also brings significant improvements on the Mac side: Users with M1 Macs will experience a faster setup flow.

Luna Display has long been one of the best Mac accessories around. Now you can check it out on PC, too! There's more information, and a celebratory launch discount, available on the Astropad website now.

What you need to know

• Serif has a new update for its Affinity suite.
• It brings memory optimzation for some tasks.
• Serif says it could make some processes up to 10 times quicker.

Serif has today announced an updated to its Affinity suite of products for Mac and iPad that could improve performance of some tasks tenfold.

The company stated:

Serif MF Ashley Hewson said "We're proud that the Affinity apps already offer class-leading speeds in many tasks, and for our latest update we wanted to take a step back and really see what further levels of performance we could achieve."

The company has completely rewritten memory management in Affinity Publisher, so that really big documents with gigabytes worth of images can load instantly, offering smooth live editing and very fast scrolling across the whole document. Rendering in Affinity Designer is also much faster, and there are performance tweaks in Affinity Photo to add more efficiency when blending layers.

You can read more about the update here, the new v1.10 is free to current users.

What you need to know

• Photoshop for iPad has just got two major Cloud documents upgrades.
• You can now access a Version History, and make documents available offline.

Photoshop for iPad is getting two big new upgrades to improve its functionality when it comes to cloud documents.

As announced today by Adobe:

The changes are big welcome upgrades to PS for iPad users, many of whom were left wanting following Photoshop's debut on iPad in 2019. Many found it didn't deliver on the desktop experience and couldn't hold a candle to the best drawing apps for iPad.

Alongside these changes, Adobe has confirmed an earlier previous announcement that Photoshop for Mac now supports Apple silicon. From our earlier report:

In its later release, Adobe said the internal tests show a 1.5x speed increase, and many operations feel "substantially faster". Adobe said the improvements are just the beginning, and that it will continue to work with Apple to further optimize the experience over time.

You can read the full release here.

What you need to know

• You can now download the Microsoft Office app for iPad.
• This is the first time all of the Office apps have been available in a single app.

Microsoft has released its Office app for iPad for the first time, allowing users of Word and other Office apps to do all of their work from within a single app.

Previously, people had to download the Office apps individually while those using iPhones were able to get the unified Office app. This new move means iPad users can enjoy the same thing.

There are additional changes in this update with the full rundown below:

Fans of Microsoft Office – is that a thing? – can download the new unified iPad app from the App Store right now It's free with in-app purchases available for Microsoft 365 in both personal and family variants.

What you need to know

• Microsoft has updated its Office apps with new features for the iPad.
• Word now supports mice and trackpads and Excel now supports Split View.

Microsoft has released some notable updates for its suite of Office apps for the iPad. The new versions of the apps bring some new features that some may have been waiting for for some time now.

The Word app has been updated with mouse or trackpad support for the iPad. Now, you can hook up a wireless or wired mouse or trackpad to your iPad and use it for precision pointing within the Word app.

The Excel app now supports working with multiple spreadsheets at the same time with Split View. Powerpoint has released a new feature called Presenter Coach with lets you get feedback on your presentation.

See all of the release notes below:

Microsoft Word

• Support UI Text Interaction: Use the trackpad from the all new magic keyboard to interact with your document.
• Use a Pointing Device: Connect a trackpad or mouse to your iPad for another way to interact with Word.

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Powerpoint

All of the updates are available now. You can update each app for free on the App Store.

What you need to know

• iPhone and iPad apps on Mac can now be used in full-screen mode.

Reported by The 8-Bit (via MacRumors), you can now run iOS and iPadOS apps in full screen on an Apple silicon Mac. The change was silently part of macOS Big Sur version 11.1, which released to the public yesterday.

While the major features of macOS Big Sur 11.1 included things like support for Apple's new AirPods Max headphones, a dedicated Apple TV+ tab in the TV app, support for Apple ProRAW, and privacy labels in the App Store, Apple also slid in the ability to run an iPhone or iPad app in full screen on the new M1-based Macs.

When users were first trying out iPhone and iPad apps on the Mac, many complained that apps could not go full screen. Even video apps that were highlighted during Apple's presentation like HBO Max were stuck in a small window which made using the app on Mac quite useless. Now, you can run all of those apps in full-screen mode.

While these apps will most likely improve once the developer optimizes them for the Mac, it is great to know that little changes like this can have a major impact on users in the meantime. For those looking to try out an iPhone or iPad app on their Mac, you will need a Mac with the new M1 processor. You'll find the "Designed for iPhone" or "Designed for iPad" apps in the Mac App Store.

During Adobe Max 2020 it was finally revealed that Illustrator is coming to iPad. Many designers and artists out there have been anxiously waiting for this day for years. And while there have been other programs like Adobe Fresco and Adobe Illustrator Draw on tablets, Ai on iPad gives more professional control that aligns more to the scope of the desktop software.

I had the opportunity to test Illustrator on iPad for roughly two weeks. It can take a while to adjust to the tablet layout and controls if you're already thoroughly familiar with the desktop version, but this software is intuitive, works fast, and gives you all of the vector designing tools you need on the go.

Adobe Illustrator on iPad review What I like

I've loved Illustrator ever since I learned to use it in grade school. It's always been a dream of mine to be able to access the full version of these powerful vector tools directly from my iPad. Now that day has come and I'm not disappointed.

Considering how complex Illustrator on Mac and PC is, this app is very clean and intuitive to use — at least for those already familiar with the original software. I still found there was a bit of an adjustment period as I got used to the new layout on iPad, but certain touches made the learning process smooth. I found all of my go-to tools neatly placed on one of the two toolbars on either side of the screen, similar to how Illustrator is set up for desktop, and whenever I needed a little additional help, the Learn tab helped walk me through the app's various functions.

One of the things I absolutely love is how fast this app works behind the scenes. For instance, when accessing the Pathfinder tools, the software automatically gives me a non-destructive preview of what will happen to my selected shapes when combined in different ways (as seen in the image above). Then, when I've made my selection, it quickly makes the changes. Because of this nifty feature, I'm able to save time while working on projects instead of guessing and checking to see how certain effects will look.

Just about anything I would normally create in the Mac or PC versions of the software can be done on iPad. Illustrator on iPad also gives me access to 18,000 Adobe Fonts and allows me to arrange text similarly to how I would on desktop.

The app responds beautifully to the press of the Apple Pencil. I was impressed by the pressure sensitivity and how well is followed and smoothed out my hand movements as I drew. I also found that adjusting the curves and lines that I had drawn was incredibly easy. Whenever I make mistakes, all I have to do is double tap the screen with my fingers to easily undo one step instead of searching around for the undo button.

In the pictures I've added, you've probably noticed a circle that shows up within the software in the bottom left corner. This is the touch shortcut button. When pressed, it temporarily changes how a tool responds. It sort of acts like a Command or Shift key when selecting various layers, allowing me to highlight and make changes to multiple layers at a time. It can also help me keep an object on the X or Y axis while moving it, rotate images at exact 45-degree angles, or keep the proportional dimensions of a selected object when making it bigger or smaller.

The touch shortcut button can be moved anywhere within the window, but I like keeping it in the bottom left so I can press it down with my thumb while using the Apple Pencil in my other hand to select various tools. The inclusion of this button makes the software feel very intuitive and helps give me more control when working on my projects.

It's so easy to save and share my work within Illustrator on iPad. I was able to open a vector drawing of a frog I had previously created on my desktop version of the software and continue working on it from my iPad. I can also access my iCloud images or other Illustrator documents right from within the app.

When I'm done, I can export my work as as AI, PDF, SVG, PNG, or PSD file types. I can even livestream my creation process for other Illustraton iPad users to enjoy or I can go looking for other artist's livestreams using the Discover tab.

Adobe Illustrator on iPad review What I don't like

Sometimes while drawing or making adjustments, my knuckles hit the tools on the sidebar and derailed the changes I was making. I just had to get used to raising my fist a little as I drew for this to not be an issue. It can be rather annoying until you get used to it.

On another note, Adobe Illustrator on iPad is basically a modified version of the original software. Just because it has been made easier to use on iPad does not mean that this is an intuitive software for beginners. If you're new to Illustrator, you will still need to undergo plenty of training and watch plenty of tutorials before you can really understand how to use this app. As such, I recommend it to people already familiar with the original program or people who are seriously dedicated to learning how to use it.

Adobe Illustrator on iPad Competition

If you're not sure that Illustrator on iPad is right for you, then you might want to check out these other creativity software options.

I've personally tested Affinity Designer and have been very impressed by it. It gives you access to professional tools and has a very clean layout similar to Illustrator on iPad. Best of all, it's a one-time purchase instead of an ongoing subscription.

Adobe Fresco is a free app that allows for in-app purchases, though, I've used it for several months and have never felt compelled to purchase anything. There are plenty of raster and vector-based tools to help you create all of the images your mind can come up with from within one app. However, you should note that there are no text tools.

If you're strictly looking for a vector-centered app, then Vectornator Pro is another great software to go with. Despite being free-to-use, it offers a truly comprehensive set of tools contained within an intuitive menu.

Adobe Illustrator on iPad review Should you buy it?

If you're an artist or designer who already works with Illustrator on a regular basis, you will highly benefit from the iPad version. It features the same tools as the desktop software, but in a simplified screen that allows you to work on your vector projects from just about anywhere.

I love how intuitive the software is and how quickly it processes changes and edits I apply to my projects. Plus, the way it integrates with iCloud and Illustrator on desktop makes it easy to access work I've initially started on Mac or PC and continue working on my tablet. I also love how easy it is to look for other people's work directly from within the software and watch livestreams of what others have created. It might be a simple idea, to move Illustrator over to the iPad, but it'll be a gamechanger for a lot of people.

What you need to know

• GoodLinks is one of the best read later apps around.
• It just received a big version 1.2 update on iPhone and iPad.
• iOS 14 widgets, a new iPad layout, and more are included.

GoodLinks is my go-to read later app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac and now the first two have new versions available – version 1.2 – complete with a ton of new features. The best of those? Support for iOS 14 widgets.

Now users can put a list of their articles right on their Home screen if that's their jam, but that isn't even close to being the only change here. There's quite a bit going on here, including an all-new iPad layout.

• Added support for iOS 14.
• List Widget: quickly access to a list or tag right from your Home screen.
• Link Widget: open a random unread link.
• 3-column layout with sidebar for iPad.
• Added option to show or hide read links in lists and tags.
• Added settings to change badge counts for the app icon, lists and tags.
• Added new keyboard shortcuts.
• Improved drag and drop support.
• Various other improvements and bug fixes.

That three-column iPad layout is a big deal because it makes GoodLinks look right at home alongside all of the other apps that have been revamped for iPadOS 14. It's a great look and one I've been enjoying in beta form for a little while. Now we need all apps to get the same layout.

This new update is available for free to existing GoodLinks owners. Everyone else can pick it up for a bargain $4.99 right from the App Store now.

What you need to know

• Microsoft is testing trackpad support for iPad.
• Specifically for Word and Excel.
• It has rolled out the feature in betas of both apps through TestFlight.

Microsoft has started testing trackpad support for both Word and Excel on iPad through TestFlight for iPadOS.

As reported by MacRumors:

Apple released trackpad support for its entire iPad range back in March with iOS 13.4. From that release:

The feature supports Apple's Magic Mouse and Keyboard, as well as Apple's Magic Keyboards for iPad, and some third party offerings with options for both USB and Bluetooth connectivity.

As noted, the new trackpad compatibility for Word and Excel on iPad is currently only available to TestFlight users on the beta. As per the report, Microsoft has previously noted that it would bring trackpad support to Word, Excel, and indeed PowerPoint in the fall of this year.

How to use a trackpad or mouse with your iPhone or iPad

What you need to know

• Flexibits has just updated Fantastical.
• Fantastical 3.2 brings support for widgets on iOS 14.
• It also has Scribble support for iPadOS 14.

At the time of publication, Fantastical 3.2 is yet to go live on the App Store, but will be released today, September 23.

Flexibits has today rolled out a brand new update to Fantastical, bringing iOS 14 widgets and support for Scribble on iPad.

In a press release today the company stated:

As mentioned, Fantastical is also getting Scribble support for iPad, allowing users to write information about events, tasks, and notes with Apple Pencil right into the app. Fantastical can even instantly convert written text into an event or task:

Fantastical has 12 new widgets for showing the weather, date, events, and tasks. All 12 will be free to all users, but some premium features like conference call joining and detection require Fantastical Premium.

CEO Michael Simmons said the launch was "very exciting" and that the 12 unique widgets would let users "customize the exact views of Fantastical they want on their home screen."

You can check out the new features in this teaser video below!

The new updated Fantastical is available now from Apple's iOS App Store.

What you need to know

• Things 3.13 is now available for download from the App Store.
• It includes support for iOS 14 widgets, new Apple Watch complications, and more.
• It also takes advantage of the new iPad Scribble feature.

If you're looking for an app to show off everything that's going on in iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7, look no further. Things 3.13 is now available for download and it takes advantage of tons of new features added by Apple this week.

Starting with widgets, Things has options available in all three sizes and you can configure them to show exactly what you want to see, too.

Scribble has been implemented on iPad as well, allowing users to write new tasks directly onto the screen and have Things pick them up. Scribble is already magical, but having your task manager support it is a game-changer.

Apple Watch gets some love here, too. NEw complications have been added that can show information in different ways and on different watch faces.

There's more in this update as well, including improvements to Notes, Shortcuts, and much more. Things for iPhone and Apple Watch is available now and costs $9.99. The iPad version can be had for $19.99 right now, too.

What you need to know

• Tweetbot for iPad now supports trackpads on iPad.
• There's also new support for opening links in more browsers.
• Bug fixes are also the order of the day.

Hugely popular – and for a reason! – Twitter app Tweetbot has received an update to version 5.2 on iPhone and iPad today, with the biggest change coming to the latter. Those using a trackpad or mouse will no longer need to tap the screen when using Tweetbot!

Alongside the addition of trackpad support, Tweetbot can now also open links in more browsers including Opera, Edge, and DuckDuckGo. That's a great option right now, although it shouldn't be needed once iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 ship next month. They both feature the option to select a new default web browser at the system level.

Rounding out the changelog we have the usual array of bug fixes as well as an "option to open universal/deep links in apps that support them".

Tweetbot is a $4.99 app and you'll get both iPad and iPhone versions for your money. This update is a free download for all those who already own the app, though. Tweetbot 5.2 is available in the App Store now.

What you need to know

• Clips on iPad now has mouse, trackpad, and Bluetooth keyboard support if you're running iPadOS 13.4.
• A new Duplicate button creates a copy of your clip with all of its effects.
• A new Split button lets you divide any clip into two separate clips.
• New stickers, posters, and stability performances as well.

Apple rolled out a major update to Clips (version 2.1.1), its social video app that lets you quickly, easily, create and share videos, perfect for Instagram, Facebook, or wherever you want to place them.

Clips on iPad will now support mouse, trackpad, and Bluetooth keyboards (this requires iPadOS 13.4), thus bringing the Clips app for iPad up to speed with other Apple apps that have support for peripherals since the launch of iPad OS 13.4.

On top of the iPad specific changes, Apple has released a few additions to the app, including two editing features, Duplicate, and Split.

The Duplicate feature will allow you to duplicate any clip along with all its applied effects to the timeline _ handy for when you want to repeat any pictures or videos in your clip.

The Split feature allows you to split any clip in two. This is awesome for making certain effects start at a different point in your video or even letting stickers pop up and disappear from the screen at certain moments.

Other additions to version 2.1.1 of Clips include 11 more Mickey and Minnie Mouse stickers, as well as new Springtime and Game Over posters to add to your videos. Apple also mentions that performance and stability improvement were included in the update as well.

Still, no changing the aspect ratio fo the video, though, so you're still stuck record everything in the square format. As always the full update notes can be found on the App Store

What you need to know

• There's a big new update for Pixelmator Photo!
• Version 1.2 brings Trackpad support and Split View to iPad!
• It also has a new machine-learning powered feature that matches colors from one photo to another.

A new update to Pixelmator Photo has brought Trackpad support and Split view to iPad!

Announced today, Pixelmator stated:

Updates include support for Apple's Magic Keyboard, trackpad and mouse support on iPad:

You can also now use Pixelmator Photo in Split View alongside any other app:

Pixelmator Pro's ML Match Colors feature is also now available:

Other updates include controlling the intensity of adjustments with a slider, a new Recents collection of presets and changes to copying and pasting adjustments between photos.

Pixelmator Photo version 1.2 is available for download now!

What you need to know

• There's a new update for Fantastical 3.
• Version 3.0.9 brings cursor support for iPadOS 13.4.
• There are a host of other new features on both iOS and Mac.

Fantastical 3 has been updated to bring trackpad and cursor support to its iPad app with iPadOS 13.4.

The following changes are included for iPhone and iPad:

• Cursor support on iPadOS 13.4
• A preview of surrounding events and tasks is now shown when viewing incoming invitations
• Weather is now shown on days that have no events when showing one or two days at a time in the list
• Day and Week view can now show more hours at once
• Tightened spacing in Month view to make more text visible
• Event and task notifications now appear when Fantastical is active
• Tapping date headers in the list of events in the watch app now shows the weather forecast
• Improved sync responsiveness between iPhone and Apple Watch
• Fixed an issue where the Apple Watch could get stuck syncing and would stop updating
• Fixed an issue where Office 365 accounts wouldn't prompt for reauthorization if the login expires
• Fixed an issue where the prompt to request G Suite sync access could cause some events to not be synced
• Fixed an issue where long events could appear at the wrong time when the option to only show hours from day start to end is enabled
• Fixed an issue where all-day tasks wouldn't appear correctly in Month view
• Fixed a crash when trying to send changes to Todoist while offline
• Various fixes and improvements

Fantastical 3.0.9 also brings some fixes and updates to Mac:

• Added a "1 minute before" alert option
• Performance improvements when resizing Fantastical's window with month view visible
• Fixed an issue where default alerts weren't added to accepted invitations
• Fixed an issue where Office 365 accounts wouldn't prompt for reauthorization if the login expires
• Fixed an issue where the next upcoming event in the menu bar wouldn't update when the day changes
• Fixed an issue where choosing a template from the calendar window wouldn't keep the selected date when the sidebar is hidden
• Fixed an issue where long events could appear at the wrong time when the option to only show hours from day start to end is enabled
• Fixed an issue importing ics files that are part of a recurring event into Exchange calendars
• Various fixes and improvements

Fantastical announced Fantastical 3 earlier this year, and think it's the bee's knees when it comes to calendars. Check out our full review here!

What you need to know

• Apple has added mouse and trackpad support to iWork and iMovie for iPad.
• iPads runnings iOS 13.4 will be able to take advantage of the new feature.
• The apps have also been updated with support for iCloud Folder Sharing.

Earlier today, Apple updated its suite of productivity apps like Pages, Numbers, Keynote with support for iCloud Folder Sharing. Now, Apple has also updated its productivity apps for iPad with support for a mouse and trackpad.

Mouse and trackpad support came to iPads capable of running iOS 13.4 last week, but barely any apps supported the feature at launch. Today, Apple has added support for the accessories for Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and even iMovie on iPadOS.

All three apps have also gained the support for iCloud folder sharing, something its Mac companions had received earlier today. It also provides full support for the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro which is expected to ship this May.

You can check out all of the new features for Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and iMovie below:

Pages

• Use Pages on an iPad with Magic Keyboard, a mouse, or a trackpad for a new way to work with your documents. Requires iPadOS 13.4.
• Select from a variety of gorgeous new templates to help you get started.
• Add a Pages document to a shared iCloud Drive folder to automatically start collaborating. Requires iPadOS 13.4 or iOS 13.4.
• Add a drop cap to make a paragraph stand out with a large, decorative first letter.
• Apply a color, gradient, or image to the background of any document.
• Touch and hold, then drag across multiple objects to select them.
• Easily access recently used templates in a redesigned template chooser.
• Print or export a PDF of your document with comments included.
• Edit shared documents while offline and your changes will upload when you're back online. Requires iPadOS or iOS 13 or later.
• Enhance your documents with a variety of new, editable shapes.

Numbers

• Use Numbers on an iPad with Magic Keyboard, a mouse, or a trackpad for a new way to work with your spreadsheets. Requires iPadOS 13.4.
• Create spreadsheets with more rows and columns than ever before.
• Apply a color to the background of a sheet.
• Add a Numbers spreadsheet to a shared iCloud Drive folder to automatically start collaborating. Requires iPadOS 13.4 or iOS 13.4.
• Edit shared spreadsheets while offline and your changes will upload when you're back online. Requires iPadOS or iOS 13 or later.
• Touch and hold, then drag across multiple objects to select them.
• Easily access your recently used templates in a redesigned template chooser.
• Print or export a PDF of your spreadsheet with comments included.
• Add a drop cap to text in a shape.
• Enhance your spreadsheets with a variety of new, editable shapes.

Keynote

• Use Keynote on an iPad with Magic Keyboard, a mouse, or a trackpad for a new way to work with your presentations. Requires iPadOS 13.4.
• Add a Keynote presentation to a shared iCloud Drive folder to automatically start collaborating. Requires iPadOS 13.4 or iOS 13.4.
• Edit shared presentations while offline and your changes will upload when you're back online. Requires iPadOS or iOS 13 or later.
• Select from a variety of gorgeous new themes to help you get started.
• Touch and hold, then drag across multiple objects to select them.
• Easily access your recently used themes in a redesigned theme chooser.
• Print or export a PDF of your presentation with comments included.
• Add a drop cap to make text stand out with a large, decorative first letter.
• Enhance your presentations with a variety of new, editable shapes.
• New "Keyboard" text build in and build out animation

iMovie

• Use iMovie on iPad with Magic Keyboard, a mouse, or a trackpad for a new way to create movies and trailers (requires iPadOS 13.4)
• Use keyboard shortcuts to toggle between the five inspector modes when a clip is selected: Action, Speed adjustments, Volume, Titles, and Filters
• Use keyboard shortcuts to quickly rotate video 90-degrees clockwise or counterclockwise
• Tap the Download All button at the top of the soundtracks list to download all bundled soundtracks at once
• Add PNG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP files to your movie
• Performance and stability improvements

You can download Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and iMovie for free on the App Store now.

What you need to know

• A new Duolingo app helps kids learn to read.
• It's aimed at ages 3 through 6.
• Duolingo ABC includes over 300 lessons.

If you're dealing with homeschooling your kids right now you're probably on the lookout for all the help you can get. That's why Duolingo has released its ABC app ahead of schedule. It was set to be released at some point in the future, bug given the coronavirus situation, the company decided to do parents a solid and get it out now.

And boy are we glad that decision was made!

Duolingo ABC is aimed at kids from three through six years old and hopes to help teach them to read via 300 different lessons. And there's a ton going on in this free app, although you need to be in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or Ireland to get your hands on it.

Duolingo outlines its methodology so:

You probably can't sit your kid down with an iPad and Duolingo ABC and expect them to teach themselves, but there's plenty on offer here – especially when you remember that the whole thing doesn't cost a penny!

You can download Duolingo ABC for free from the App Store now.

What you need to know

• Adobe has issued an update for Photoshop for iPad.
• Version 1.0.2 will allow users to provide reviews and feedback in-app, as well as request features.
• The sign-up process has also been tweaked (again).

Adobe has issued an update for its Photoshop for iPad app. which will allow users to request features, as well as provide in-app feedback on their user experience.

Adobe released its Photoshop for iPad app earlier this month to much fanfare, however many users were left disappointed at what many felt was a lack of depth in comparison to its desktop counterpart. Adobe's Chief Product Officer was quick to defend the release, and earlier this week Adobe confirmed some of the new features in the pipeline for the app, including subject select and brush sensitivity.

Those features aren't due until later this year and into 2020. However, Adobe's most recent update should give users a good deal more say in the direction the app takes. According to the release notes for version 1.0.2:

This seems to suggest that users of the app will be able to provide feature requests and give feedback on their user experience. The release notes also state that Adobe has updated the sign-up process, which should make it easier for new users to try the app, as well as signing in as an existing user. Those who have downloaded the app may have noticed problems with this feature, it was also tweaked in the app's first update, version 1.0.1, and seems to be an ongoing issue.

Adobe has repeatedly highlighted the importance of user feedback as a part of the update process. Despite some protests, Adobe has highlighted that trying to port a fully decked-out "desktop port" of Photoshop to iPad would've probably been a disaster. Instead, Adobe has chosen to start with the app's core features, building it from the ground up to provide the best possible user experience. You can find out how successful we thought they were by reading our review!

Photoshop for iPad is available to download on iPadOS now.

What you need to know

• Adobe has announced some of its planned updates for Photoshop for iPad.
• Adobe released Photoshop at Adobe MAX earlier this month to mixed reviews.
• New features on the way include 'Select Subject', cloud documents and 'Refine Edge'.

Adobe has offered us some insight into how it plans to upgrade and improve its new Photoshop for iPad software in 2019 and also next year.

In the post, Pam Clark, product manager for Photoshop, gave her thanks to all the customers who have downloaded the app and started creating with it. She spoke briefly about how Abode had built Photoshop for iPad, specifically version 1.0, to feature its top workflows, compositing, masking and retouching, things she described as "core" features of any project. The goal, she says, was to create "a seamless experience so you can create anywhere you have Photoshop, on the desktop or on the iPad."

However, Adobe reckons that they have only just started to scratch the surface. Taking user feedback on board, they described some of the things in the pipeline for the app.

In 2019, Adobe will bring Select Subject to the app, which uses Adobe Sensei AI machine learning technology to allow you to automatically select objects within your composition. this feature was demoed at Adobe MAX but not included in the release. It also points to a new cloud documents system, that will save documents between Photoshop on iPad and desktop to make working between the two seamless:

In 2020, the Refine Edge brush will be added to the app, along with Curves and Adjustment Layer Options. Also on the way is brush sensitivity, rotate canvas and Lightroom Integration.

The initial reaction to Photoshop for iPad was mixed, many lauded the long-awaited arrival of the app on the App Store, however plenty of users seemed to be disappointed with a lack of features, so much so that Abode Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky took to Twitter to defend the release. You can check out our full review of Photoshop for iPad here.

Adobe has previously attempted to bring Photoshop in whole or in part to mobile devices, with Photoshop Touch, Photoshop Mix, Photoshop Fix, and Photoshop Sketch. Those endeavors have worked out pretty well when the scope was small. But, this time it's different. Adobe promised us real Photoshop. An app named "Photoshop" with no suffixes, and no qualifiers.

Given how monstrously large Photoshop is, that seems like an impossible challenge. Photoshop can be automated with scripts and actions. Photoshop can generate 32 kinds of trees, clouds, and fire. Photoshop can render 3D scenes. Photoshop can edit video with audio. I've been using Photoshop for decades and I still occasionally find a menu item I've never used, leading to a window I've never seen. It would be unreasonable to expect that's all coming to Photoshop for iPad. I'm not sure it should, either — this is a good opportunity for Adobe to reassess and reboot the franchise.

While there has been a lot of hype around this release, Adobe themselves said they'll be "starting with Photoshop's top workflows, compositing, masking, and retouching, with more to come". Expectations should be tempered.

Features

Adobe's description of what's included is bang-on and should be taken very literally. With that in mind, it's far easier to describe what is there, rather than what's not there. Most of the layer management and blending options have survived the journey. Layers can be reordered, renamed, moved, resized and transformed as per the desktop version. Opacity and blending modes can be set, and the blending mode popup menu includes preview thumbnails — a nice touch that's not present in the desktop version of Photoshop. The layers panel can also be displayed in a highly compact mode with just thumbnails and no layer names, helping maximize screen real estate, while still allowing access to many common features via gestures.

The painting and retouching tools are a joy to use with an Apple Pencil. Custom brushes can't be created or loaded in, but there is a wide range of bundled brushes. If you're looking for something that's better in Photoshop on an iPad than the desktop version, using the spot healing brush and clone stamp tool with a Pencil is a great place to start. Given the lack of other tools and panels, Photoshop for iPad feels fluid and focused for this kind of work.

Masking is limited to bitmap masks only (no vector masks yet). However, clipping layers to other layers and groups works. That means many of the standard masking techniques used for photo retouching and illustration are well covered.

The selection basics are all there, but advanced features, such as automated selection of people and other selection refinement, aren't in this version. There's also no way to directly work with channels or save selections. I'm in two mindsets about that — do channels only exist in desktop Photoshop because they were created when layers didn't exist? Given a clean slate, would an ideal tool include them? I use them all the time, but I'm not sure if that's due to learning Photoshop at a time when they were the only way to do certain things.

Photoshop's adjustment layers are a staple when it comes to making overall image adjustments. They offer many ways to brighten, darken, change the contrast, change the color balance, and perform other color manipulations. Around half of Photoshop's adjustment layers made it into this version, but Adobe has done a good job choosing the most commonly used types.

Text and gradients are included but very stripped back. Text can be multi-colored and can use custom fonts via the new font management system in iPadOS. Linear gradients can be drawn, but only using the current foreground and background colors — there's no editable stops and no other gradient types.

Version 1.0 works in RGB and 8-bit per channel only. There's no CMYK, higher bit depths, or a way to choose color profiles yet, but Photoshop itself notes that they're coming soon. For many customers that won't be an issue, but for those hoping to use it for print pre-press or higher-end photo retouching, you're out of luck for now.

Layer Effects and Smart Filters aren't in this build, but their spot in the interface exists, and there's some placeholder text suggesting they'll be coming soon.

If your favorite Photoshop feature wasn't mentioned above, there's a very good chance it's not in this version.

Storage and user interface

Photoshop happily opens files from the iPadOS Files app, meaning it'll also import from Dropbox and other sources. However, when documents land in Photoshop, they get stored locally and in Adobe's Creative Cloud. You can export as a PSD, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF, but it's clear that Adobe intends customers to see Creative Cloud as their primary storage. iPadOS includes an Open in Place feature developers can support, which means when something is opened in the Files app, changes are saved in place. Photoshop doesn't support Open in Place, but it would nice if it did.

You can add Adobe's Creative Cloud as a source to the iPadOS Files app, but that gives you access to the "Files" section of Creative Cloud, and not the "Cloud Documents" section, which is where Photoshop stores its documents. I understand why this is, although it's confusing. Storing documents on Creative Cloud works well, but the kinds of people who use Photoshop professionally are accustomed to having control over their files. More flexibility would be great.

Overall, the user interface is more fluid and animated than I'm used to in Photoshop. A good example of this is switching channels in the levels adjustment layer properties, where the histograms transition into place. It's very nice, but also what you'd expect of a modern app. It's also great to see keyboard support, as well as a light and dark mode interface supported from day one.

The real test for the user interface will be how it holds up as new features are added — iPads have smaller displays than Macs, and multitouch interfaces require larger hit targets. For an app like Photoshop, that could be a problem.

Testing the limits

The desktop version of Photoshop places limits on certain features. The largest document you can create is a ginormous 300000×300000 pixels, groups can only have a hierarchy 10 levels deep, and documents can only contain 8000 or fewer layers. In practice, it'll be incredibly rare to even get close to those limits, and I suspect most professional users of Photoshop don't know they exist. That's okay — a single layer 300000×300000 pixel document will consume at least 250 gigabytes of memory and swap to create. I've tried creating a document like that on an iMac Pro and it ended the way any operation like that ends — I stopped it once I realized what I was asking of the hardware.

Those limits have an interesting purpose given the context of Photoshop for iPad. If Photoshop for iPad is truly running the same code, it's likely the same legacy limits will exist. After double-checking, I can confirm the document size and group hierarchy limits match perfectly. I was informed that the iPad version doesn't have a cap on the number of layers, and is only limited by available RAM.

I opened and edited a wide range of documents to check feature support and performance, and was pleasantly surprised to see it handled everything. An 830MB photo retouching project from 2004 opened with only a minor hitch (a warning about CMYK support). Another 291MB document that uses an extremely broad range of features pushed Photoshop for iPad a lot more, but the performance was honestly pretty solid. That document can strain an iMac Pro, so I'm surprised it opened at all.

I used an 11-inch iPad Pro and Pencil for all my testing. The iPad Pro hardware is extremely well suited for running Photoshop, with one major exception. Having only 4GB of RAM is just not enough to hold big documents (the iPad Pro with 1TB of storage has 6GB of RAM, which would certainly help). That's not Photoshop's fault — there's either enough space in memory or there isn't. Adobe has done an admirable job, and Photoshop does swap parts of the document to disk when needed, but there's just no substitute for having more RAM available.

Given that knowledge, and given I was doing my best to stress test all aspects of the tool, I was able to get Photoshop to crash when throwing documents with thousands of layers at it. I do need to emphasize that I make a sport of these things, and Adobe already has my PSDs, so those issues could be fixed in an update soon.

This is the real deal. This is the full Photoshop engine under the hood, even if only a small subset of the features are available in the user interface.

Who is it for?

If you're a current Adobe Creative Cloud or Photography subscriber, it's a great companion to the suite you're already using. There's no reason to not install it if you have a compatible iPad. It also doesn't count against your Creative Cloud login limit, meaning you can use Photoshop on two computers and Photoshop on your iPad.

If you're not already in Adobe's ecosystem, the pitch is more tenuous. There are a few very capable competitors, depending on the tasks you're looking to accomplish. Adobe's pace in rolling out new features will likely determine Photoshop's value to new customers — in its current form, it's only viable for painting, compositing, and retouching. The interface is very approachable, and I could see it being a good starting point for someone new to Photoshop.

One thing Photoshop for iPad does extremely well is accurately opening Photoshop documents. That may sound like an empty compliment, but other tools that claim to open Photoshop documents fall over quickly when the file contains complex masking, adjustment layers or other advanced features. They can't be trusted round-tripping PSDs to and from desktop Photoshop, but Photoshop for iPad can.

A new beginning

Photoshop means different things to different people. It spans an incredible array of industries, including some possibly less obvious uses, such as game development, medical research, and astronomy. It's almost inconceivable that any one person uses all of Photoshop. However, in its current form, it is conceivable that almost all professional customers will find Photoshop for iPad lacking. This is reflected in the app's current low rating in the App Store, and the many negative reviews.

I don't envy Adobe's predicament. I feel like they have taken the correct and more difficult path, bringing the full Photoshop engine to the iPad with a ground-up rethink of the interface. This release is precisely what Photoshop needs. I can see Adobe moving to a place where the engines of their main tools run on iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows, with different user interface layers. I'm excited for what can't yet be seen.

However, the messaging could have been a lot better. I don't think they had to ship like this. Holding off until there were more features, or labeling it a beta, or launched with introductory pricing, or simply keeping the marketing department in check would have provided a smoother release. You only get one chance at a first impression, and Adobe is now on the back foot, needing to work to regain trust.

What you need to know

• Adobe has shared a video previewing its new import feature for Lightroom on iPad.
• The update will allow users to import photos to Lightroom directly from their camera or memory card.
• It will reportedly be available in an update this year.

Adobe has released a video previewing a brand new import feature for Lightroom on iPad, which will allow users to import photos into Lightroom straight from their camera or a memory card.

A video posted to YouTube November 13 features Lightroom's Tom Hogarty previewing the new camera-to-tablet workflow, which will allow users to directly import photos from a camera or a memory into the app, beginning with iOS 13.2.

Not only that, the update will allow users to import RAW photos, and delete them on the device after import. The news is a huge breakthrough for users who have been requesting the feature, which will replace the infuriating process of importing images to Photos in iOS, before adding them to Lightroom, creating a plethora of duplicate images.

The video description states that the update is "coming soon", and 9to5Mac reports that the update may be released before the end of the year. Check out the video below!

What you need to know

• Adobe's Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky has taken to Twitter to defend the launch of Photoshop for iPad.
• The highly touted app has fallen foul of poor early ratings and criticism.
• Belsky acknowledged they couldn't please everyone, claims there's an amazing roadmap of features ahead.

Adobe's Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky has taken to Twitter to defend the launch of Photoshop for iPad in the wake of poor App Store ratings and criticism.

Photoshop for iPad was launched on November 4 to much fanfare and rejoicing. However, since its launch, the app has slumped to an App Store rating of just 2.1 out of 5. By far the most popular choice of rating is 1 star. Likewise, Twitter is awash with poor reviews, with criticism mostly concerning lack of features from the full desktop version.

Although not everyone hated it...

As noted by Bloomberg In response to early criticism, Scott Belsky has taken to Twitter, acknowledging that releasing a juggernaut like Photoshop on a new platform was bound to be a painful experience at first:

Belsky clearly acknowledged the initially poor ratings, but promised that the Photoshop team had an "amazing roadmap of features." Belsky even engaged with comments on the thread, when one user asked what Adobe could have done differently, Belsky replied:

You can read the full thread below! Have you downloaded Photoshop for iPad? Tell us how about your early experience with the app! Or if you haven't, tell us why not!

What you need to know

• Pixelmator Photo 1.1 is out now.
• The new update brings iPadOS 13 support (including editing from external locations).
• Features batch editing, a new workflow and export sizes.

Pixelmator Photo has today been updated to bring support to iPadOS 13. Version 1.1 is available to download now and brings some fantastic new changes!

The first new feature to shout about is the support for iPadOS 13. The app is now fully compatible with the latest iPad software. Using the Files-based design and editing workflow, you can now take full advantages of the improvements made to Apple's Files app. Not only that, you can now edit photos from an external drive or file server! iPadOS 13 brings support for external drives on iPad, and Pixelmator Photo takes full advantage of this, allowing you to edit photos directly from a hard drive, memory stick or SD card.

Along with support for iPadOS 13, Pixelmator Photo now features batch editing. With just a few taps, you can edit an entire photoshoot using Pixelmator Photo's incredible algorithms powered by Core ML. This allows you to automatically enhance, crop and straighten an entire shoot all in one go, again with photos on your iPad or an external location.

Pixelmator Photo makes it possible to batch edit photos using every color adjustment available in the app. The update also includes individual actions for cropping, straightening, and even resizing images for a full-featured batch editing experience. Batch edit directly in Photos or in Files. Batch edit photos directly in your Photos library, saving changes right back to the original images. Or batch edit image files on your iPad, in iCloud, or third-party storage providers. Create custom batch workflows. Once you find a set of editing actions that work for you, save them as a custom workflow to run it whenever you want.

The all-new workflow allows you to edit photos directly in your image library, without having to create a separate Pixelmator Photo file before you start, eliminating duplicates. Any changes you make can be saved directly into your library. Nondestructive effects are automatically preserved, so if you reopen a file you were editing previously, you can pick up right where you left off.

The final new feature is export sizes. Once you've finished editing, you can now export photos at different sizes in order to optimize storage or make your photos ready for the web. Choose from presets or create your own custom sizes.

All in all, the changes in 1.1 are a fantastic update on an already phenomenal photo editing tool.

What you need to know

• Cultured Code has released Things 3.10 for iPadOS.
• The update introduces support for multiple windows and pinned widgets.
• There are many other features that will be available once iOS 13.1 is released.

Cultured Code on Monday released Things 3.10 for iPadOS ahead of the software's release on September 24. The update available in Things 3.10 brings a host of new features to iPad OS, which Cultured Code lays out below:

iPad only:

• Support for multiple windows.
• Support for pinned widgets on the home screen.

iPad and iPhone:

• New actions for Siri Shortcuts, including support for conversational shortcuts.
• Dark Mode integration to switch Thing's appearance at sunset.
• A new Share Extension that lets you target a list for your to-do.
• Support for new system-wide text-editing gestures.
• A new Reminders importer for migrating an entire Reminder database to Things.
• Accessibility improvements with VoiceOver and Voice Control.

Conversational shortcuts is a powerful feature in iOS 13.1 that will make it easy for someone to have a conversation with Siri while their shortcut runs. Things 3 users will be able to dictate the title of their to-do, attach a due date, and more.

If you use Things 3 as your to-do app of choice, you're in for a treat when iOS 13.1 and iPadOS become available on Tuesday, September 24.

Whether you're opening the Gallery to view suggested shortcuts, searching for a shortcut in your list, or quickly controlling parts of the shortcuts editor, these simple keyboard shortcuts are worth learning.

Note: since these both have similar terminology, "shortcuts" refers to utilities from the Shortcuts app and "keyboard shortcuts" is otherwise used in full to refer to pressing physical key pairings to accelerate an action you want to take.

A couple of these keyboard shortcuts are only available in iOS 13/iPadOS 13, which we note in this guide. The screenshots in this guide are reflective of iOS 13/iPadOS 13, even when the steps are the same in iOS 12.

Apple occasionally offers updates to iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS as closed developer previews or public betas. While the betas contain new features, they also contain pre-release bugs that can prevent the normal use of your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, or Mac, and are not intended for everyday use on a primary device. That's why we strongly recommend staying away from developer previews unless you need them for software development, and using the public betas with caution. If you depend on your devices, wait for the final release.

"My Shortcuts" view

While looking at your list of shortcuts in the main tab of the app, you have two keyboard shortcuts available: Search (⌘+F) and Create Shortcut (⌘+N).

Search uses Command + F to immediately enter the search field so you can begin typing a query to filter down the results from My Shortcuts (think "find"). For iPad users, this allows you to avoid reaching up from an attached or external keyboard just to tap the Search field, which is always a plus when using a vertical screen. (Note: Command+F to Search is also available in the Gallery view).

Create Shortcut uses Command+N (available in iOS 13/iPadOS 13) to add a shortcut to the end of your shortcuts list (think "new"), opening you into the shortcut editor immediately and giving it a name like "New Shortcut" or "New Shortcut 2" if you already have another unnamed shortcut.

While these are fairly simple, iPad users can use both well in combination with Spotlight search. From any app, pressing ⌘/Command + Space will open to the search field in Spotlight, so that you can type in "Shortcuts", then use the arrow keys to navigate to & open the app, then quickly search and find just the right shortcut.

Spotlight + Shortcuts search only takes one reach up from the keyboard—right at the end to run the shortcut—and creating a new shortcut takes you right into the editor, which has its own keyboard shortcuts too.

Shortcut Editor

Once you've found your shortcut and tapped on the "..." button to open it, you'll be inside the "shortcut editor" where you can see all the included actions, add new ones, and open the Details view to change the shortcut's settings.

In the editor, you have seven keyboard shortcuts available:

• Details (⌘+,)
• Run shortcut (⌘+R)
• Stop shortcut (⌘+.)
• Search actions (⌘+F)
• Undo (⌘+Z)
• Redo (⌘+⇧+Z)
• Close shortcut (⌘+W)

Changing settings in Detail Pressing Command and the comma key opens the "Details" view of the shortcut, where you can adjust settings like the shortcut name, icon, & color, use Add to Home Screen, toggle Show in Widget or Show in Share Sheet, add Import Questions, or quickly open the Shortcuts Help.

Note: Detail is still in beta and will release in iOS 13/iPadOS 13.

Plus, if any actions are used or have been used that requires permissions, they'll be listed here.

While the Details view itself does not have any keyboard shortcuts, it's nice that Apple adopted a common keyboard shortcut shared with macOS – ⌘+, often opens the Preferences or Settings menus of Mac apps.

Running and stopping your shortcut If you want to control the process of the shortcut itself, you have two keyboard shortcuts at your disposal: "Run" and "Stop". This allows you to use Command + R to quickly start your shortcut at any time, much like "Build & Run" for Xcode developers, and, while the shortcut is running, you can use Command + the period key to stop the shortcut.

Run and Stop are useful when you're building new shortcuts and trying to figure out what's happening, as you can quickly test what results you get, plus stop things mid-flow if it's not going as expected. You can't "Stop" during moments like choosing from a menu or list, however.

Finding actions When you're ready to add new actions to your shortcut, you can use the same Search keyboard shortcut from the main My Shortcuts view – pressing Command + F will let you find any action by name and filter down the list.

For users building their own shortcuts, this keyboard shortcut can be quite useful to take advantage of – popping into Search and typing a few letters for just the right action you want next helps speed up the process and avoid reaching up over & over when they keyboard is attached or your iPad is mounted.

I've even started to figure out which letters to type for which action, for when there's overlap in verbs used in the name of an action – for example, with "Set Variable", searching "Set" will return a lot of results, so maybe try "Variable" or whatever other noun might be in the action name.

Undo and Redo

Once you're adding actions and moving them around, you might come across situations when you want to reverse your last few steps (or move back forward through them) – thankfully, Apple adopted Undo and Redo keyboard shortcuts to go along with the physical controls in the shortcut editor.

Following industry standards here as well, Shortcuts uses Command + Z to "Undo", plus adds in the Shift key as a modifier so you can press Command + Shift + Z to "Redo" as well.

Shortcuts will move backwards and forwards through your previous steps, deleting or adding actions in the order you took. It should be noted, however, that this does not apply to text editing inside fields – you can't type something, exit the text field, and then undo/redo what you typed; Undo/Redo only applies to movements in the order and placement of actions.

Closing the shortcut editor The last keyboard shortcut for the editor appropriately closes the shortcut, letting you press Command + W to exit the edit view and return to My Shortcuts, right where you left off in the list.

This is another small but welcome convenience, so you don't have to reach up to the top right to hit "Done" before quickly leaving the shortcut. In combination with Search in My Shortcuts, you can quickly exit one shortcut and find another without raising your arms from an ergonomic position. Plus, this follows the macOS convention of ⌘+W to close the active window of the currently-used Mac app.

One hidden keyboard shortcut

Plus, there's one more subtle but helpful keyboard shortcut: using Return on an input alert.

For actions like Ask For Input where you are typing in a field and there is an "OK" button, you can press the Return key to enter the information, and it will continue onto the next step (pressing Return on iOS 12 does do a line break but in iOS 13 it's just a confirmation of the alert).

However, since confirming the information uses the Return key, you'll have to hold the Option/⌥ key in addition to Return in order to create line breaks inside that text field.

But this is just one more spot where keyboard users can speed up their Shortcuts-building experience and avoid extraneous reaches up to the screen.

Suggested keyboard shortcuts for Shortcuts

While Shortcuts has a handy list of keyboard shortcuts that make the experience smoother, there's many improvements that could be made to kick the iPad Pro experience up another level further.

Right now, there are only two keyboard shortcuts available from the My Shortcuts view – I'd like to see further navigation control using the keyboard. For example, using something like ⌘+1 and ⌘+2 to swap between My Shortcuts and the Gallery would be nice.

However, a massive change would be adding keyboard shortcut navigation to My Shortcuts and the Search results. It'd be fantastic to use the arrow keys to move a selection cursor—just like in Spotlight—and press Enter to run the shortcut or Shift + Enter to open the editor.

Not only would this make Search results better, but iPad users could run or open any shortcut without reaching up for the screen – a huge ergonomic win for a touch-based app that is used propped up at a steep angle.

Being able to run a shortcut without ever lifting your fingers from the keyboard would be powerful for iPad productivity, but it'd also be even more helpful to select & open a shortcut to the editor to look inside and make changes. Plus, once you're in the shortcut editor, I'd like improved navigation both in the actions pane but the list of currently-used actions themselves as well.

In the shortcut editor, users should be able to find, select, and add an action from the actions pane using the keyboard, plus be able to select an action, move it up and down to change the order, and even toggle parameters or enter/exit text fields, all without lifting their hands from the keyboard.

My thoughts went to something like ⌘+↓ to start moving through actions from the top of the list, ⌘+↑ from the bottom, and adding Shift to grab the selected action and ⌘+⇧+↑/↓ to move it would be one option, plus using Tab to move into an action's parameters, maybe ⌘+Enter to swap any toggles, and further selections using arrow keys.

Full keyboard control of Shortcuts would be a massive win for shortcuts creators, many of whom start to build up libraries of hundreds of shortcuts, each with hundreds of actions – all created by hand. While the touch-based paradigm of Shortcuts is undeniably a simplification compared to traditional programming and extremely approachable, there's no reason iPad Pro users who want to be as efficient as possible shouldn't be able to use everything on screen without lifting their arms from the keyboard thousands of times.

Ergonomics are a major consideration for iPad users would don't otherwise have many built-in choices for screen height or display angles, and Apple could go a long way in setting an example for Pro apps on iPad Pro.

Physical keys on a touch device

While the iPad is a touchscreen tablet, it shines when it works great in all setups – taking advantage of keyboard shortcuts when using something like the Smart Folio Keyboard is definitely part of the "Pro" experience.

Apple's pro apps for iPadOS should follow suite, expanding on the options found in Shortcuts today and going further to make the experience truly great at all times. Adopting or setting industry standards is a great start, and in the meantime Shortcuts users with iPad can expect an experience similar to using a Mac.

As meta as this piece is, keyboard shortcuts for your shortcuts in the Shortcuts app are definitely worth learning to make the most of this new creation experience on iPad.

What you need to know

• Spotify is finally adding support for Split View and Slide Over for its iPad app.
• It has held off on adding the feature for years, but now that it's relenting, it is most welcomed for iPad users.
• The update is part of version 8.5.14.816.

After years of holding out and playing coy on the issue, Spotify is finally adding Split View and Slide Over modes to its iPad app. These features have been around for years on the iPad, yet Spotify held off on adding it for some reason or another, but now that it is here, it is most welcomed.

The feature was first spotted by a Reddit user and then Spotify confirmed the new features in a statement to The Verge.

iPad users will now be able to use Spotify in the side-by-side Split View or dragging it in through the Slide Over mode. It'll make listening to music on Spotify through the iPad infinitely easier.

The Spotify comes with version 8.5.14.816. You can update the app through the App Store.

The NHL and SAP are teaming up to give coaches access, via the iPad, to over 60 different real-time individual and team stats. The iPads will be on the benches so coaches can use them during the game. It's the latest, and one of the coolest, bits of software to come out of Apple and SAP's now years-long partnership.

From the NHL:

Also:

The SAP/NHL Coaching Insights App for iPad is set to debut sometime after the league takes its All-Star break.

I know genetic engineering is how a lot of people see (and fear) the future of athletics. But, thanks to technology like the iPad, the SDK, and ARKit, we're also on the verge of data-driven revolution.

It'll be amazing to see where this all goes next.

Microsoft To-Do is making it easier to view all of your tasks at a glance not only on Windows but also for iPad users. Through updates on both platforms, Microsoft has added the ability to pin multiple lists as Live Tiles along with an expanded three-column layout on iPad.

On Windows, in addition to being able to pin any list or smart list to the Start menu, To-Do will now confirm whether you're sure you want to delete a to-do while inking. Microsoft has also bolstered accessibility for expanding and collapsing groups in smart lists. Here's a full look at the release notes:

• Not satisfied with just seeing one list on your Live Tile? We have good news for you—you can now pin any list or smart list to the Windows start menu.
• Have you tried out our ink gestures yet? If so, you might have noticed that we didn't ask twice if you wanted to delete a to-do when you scratched it out. Now we'll ask if you're sure, if you're really, really sure.
• Do you have too many overdue tasks that you just don't want to deal with today? We've improved our accessibility so that collapsing and expanding the different groups in the smart lists are now accessible.
• We briefly took away the ability to move a task into any list while in search. We're gifting that ability back to you.
• We were doing funny things with your list order when you tried to reorder multiple tasks. We've fixed that bug now.

Over on iPad, the list of changes is a whole lot smaller, but they take advantage of the tablet's extra screen real estate to make dealing with your tasks a lot less onerous. Here's a look at what's new:

• New: We've just made productivity a whole lot easier on the iPad—we now support a three pane layout! Huh? We hear you say, what does that mean? It means that you can see your lists, your tasks, and the steps for a particular task all at the same time. You will no longer need to dismiss the sidebar in order to get back to ticking off your tasks.
• Fixed: We had an accessibility issue where VoiceOver wouldn't let you edit a note. We've fixed that one now.

Both updates are up for grabs now on the Microsoft Store and Apple's App Store.

• See at Microsoft
• See at App Store

The most common way to use the DJI Osmo Pocket is with a smartphone connected at its side to get access to all its features. However, some folks enjoy using a larger display when filming, and so might be wanting to use their Osmo Pocket with an iPad. The good news is, it's entirely possible.

• Amazon: Apple USB-C to USB adapter ($19)
• Amazon: Apple Lightning cable ($18)
• Amazon: DJI Osmo Pocket ($349)
• DJI: Osmo Pocket Wireless Module ($59)

How to use an iPad with the DJI Osmo Pocket

1. Make sure you have downloaded the DJI Mimo app from the App Store on your iPad.
2. Hold the power button down to turn on the Osmo Pocket.
3. Connect the USB-C to USB adapter to the charging port on the base of the Osmo Pocket.
4. Connect the Lightning cable to the USB-C to USB adapter.
5. Connect the other end of the Lightning cable to your iPad.
6. Tap the camera icon in the top left corner of the DJI Mimo app to begin.

You should now see the camera interface, all the available settings, and features and most of all, what the DJI Osmo Pocket is seeing.

One pretty big caveat, for now, is that the Mimo application isn't optimized for the iPad. It's fully functional, but you'll have to deal with using it either phone-sized or without proper scaling and letterboxes either side of it.

If you're using the 2018 iPad Pro, you can substitute the adapter above for a USB-C to USB-C cable if you wish, or use a USB-A to USB-C cable instead of the Lightning cable with Apple's adapter.

A wireless alternative

There is also an alternative method if you'd prefer to avoid using cables. It's much more expensive than the steps detailed above, but DJI has an official Wireless Module now available for the Osmo Pocket.

As well as acting as a sturdy base for remote use and charging of the Osmo Pocket, the Wireless Module provides a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection to connect to your phone or tablet; something you can't have without it.

Our top equipment picks

If you're looking to make the Osmo Pocket work with your iPad, this is the equipment we recommend.

There are plenty of USB-C adapters out there but not all may work. This one from Apple works perfectly with the Osmo Pocket.

No matter how good the video from your smartphone is, the Osmo Pocket with its gimbal and wide range of shooting modes will produce professional looking footage.

In most cases the you'll need just the charging cable that came with your iPad, but you might prefer to get an extra to tuck in your gear bag for the Osmo Pocket.

Apple Lightning cable ($11 at Amazon)

If you use an iPhone or iPad you can never have too many Lightning cables around!

DJI Osmo Pocket Wireless Module ($59 at DJI)

Provides a sturdy base and wireless connection to your phone or tablet for remote shooting.

Adobe is bringing Photoshop to iPad. Not baby Photoshop. Not Photoshop Jr. Not Photoshop: The brush tool experience. 'Real' Photoshop. But the difference between 'real' and 'full' is still important to understand.

Adobe

The future being, for now, 2019.

• It shares the same code base as its desktop counterpart, so there's no compromises on power and performance or editing results.
• Creative work you do in Photoshop on the desktop you can also do on your iPad, with the exact same PSD files with the edits right where you left off. We will release a smaller set of features on the >- >- iPad first so we can ship the 1.0 version to you quickly, and gradually add the rest over time.
• When you open it, you'll find a toolbar with the core iconic tools and powerful layer system for advanced control. You'll also find selections and masking, filters, adjustments, and much more.
• But we're completely rethinking the user experience for a modern touch device. You'll find it familiar, but also adapted in smart ways for the device.
• We've designed Photoshop on iPad with natural touch gestures in mind to speed up workflows.

Dami Lee shared a week's worth of hands-on time at The Verge:

I've been using traditional Photoshop forever. It's muscle memory for me on the Mac. Here's hoping it translates well enough to iPad that, while I'll still have to learn the new experience, I'll have the best flow to date for moving between devices. Especially when the tablet device has something as cabals as an A12(X) Bionic processor and as beautiful as Apple's current big screen, DCI-P3 LCD tech.

That's always the beautiful dream at least.

Adobe is planning to launch the full version of Photoshop, it's photo editing app, for the iPad. The app will be cross-platform, allowing customers to get a similar experience on mobile devices, laptops, and desktops.

According to Bloomberg, the new version of Photoshop will let you start edits on one device and continue them on another. The app will reportedly make its debut in October at Adobe's annual MAX conference, with a launch planned for 2019:

Additionally, a new version of Adobe's Illustrator app is said to be in the works, though a much longer way off than the update to Photoshop and details are still scarce. However, if Adobe is bringing the full Photoshop experience to the iPad, it's hard to imagine that they wouldn't do the same to the rest of the Creative Cloud suite, including Illustrator.

Adobe previously launched brand new versions of Lightroom CC for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Windows, which offer feature parity across mobile and desktop platforms. Those apps sync their libraries across devices, and, with recent updates, also sync editing presets, giving you a consistent editing experience no matter what platform you use.

Adobe's quasi-announcement of Photoshop for iPad comes one the heels of the release of Serif's Affinity Designer for iPad, which brings all of the tools that designers are familiar with in the Affinity Designer desktop app to the iPad. Serif previously released Affinity Photo for iPad as well, a full-featured photo editing application that matches up well against any mobile app, as well as some desktop apps. We can't say for certain if these apps have played into Adobe's decision to more aggressively target the mobile market with full-featured apps, but it's great to finally see some competition in pro-oriented apps on the iPad.

These days, I edit more video on my iPhone or iPad than I ever did in my years as a film student. Between making reviews on iOS, testing the iPhone's cameras, and numerous roller derby how-tos, it sometimes feels like I live in my videography apps.

After making my iPad review, I had a number of questions (and more than a few sarcastic remarks) about the video editing process: How easy was it to put together, really? Why torture yourself with iOS's limited feature-scope when you have a Mac at your disposal? How many hours did this take you?

I had a nice chat with my pal Stephen Hackett on our podcast Query about some of the finer details if you're curious about those specific questions, but I wanted to talk in this article about video editing on the iPhone and iPad in general: I'll explain why I prefer it to working in Final Cut (gasp!) for my needs, but also why it still has a long way to go to be a great tool for everyone.

The pros of editing video on iPhone or iPad

When I edit on my iPhone or iPad, I use a few core programs to get the job done.

• iMovie: Apple's video editing software has been my go-to for snipping together video long before Clips or Instagram came to light, and while it has (many, many) flaws and limitations, it's still a solid app for cutting video and audio together quickly.
• LumaFusion: I can't say enough good things about this third-party video editing app's feature-set. Though its UI leaves a lot to be desired and it occasionally runs into app-stopping bugs, you can create incredibly advanced projects with its tools (which include color and image correction, keyframes, custom title cards, linked clips, and a whole lot more).
• VideoGrade: Though I wish it could interlink with LumaFusion and iMovie, VideoGrade is still invaluable for more advanced color correction of clips (or portions of them).
• Typorama: I mostly just use this to create Youtube video thumbnails, but it's also useful for still interstitials.
• Videoshop: I use this solely for making Portrait-mode Instagram stories, as it's one of the only apps that will easily let you combine portrait video without partially cropping it.

Apps I've tried but haven't found a place for in my workflow include Clips and Adobe Spark (fun, but far too simplistic and hard to control), Pinnacle Pro (its UI is similar to LumaFusion, but without as many tools), and ten million other quick-hit video apps that are largely designed for making Instagram snippets.

But by and large, when I turn to make a quick-hit video, I'm going for iMovie or LumaFusion. Why?

This is the biggest reason I edit natively on my iPhone or iPad — I shoot on it, too. Unlike iMore's editor-at-large Rene Ritchie, I don't have a bunch of fancy DSLRs at my disposal: When I shoot, I do so primarily with my iPhone.

I do have a nice Canon DSLR, but more often than not I've put it aside for my iPhone — its small size, lengthy battery life, 128GB hard drive, 4K camera, and online connection make it the ideal shooting device for most of my events.

And here's the thing: If you're shooting 4K on your iPhone or iPad, it's dead-simple to start editing that video after you've taken it. There's no rendering time or uploading necessary — I've taken roller derby clips and thrown them into iMovie or a gif-making app like GifToaster on the spot to showcase highlights on Twitter. With a Mac and a DSLR, that's simply not possible without a much larger rig and dedicated internet connection.

On the flipside, filming with an iPhone and transferring that footage to your Mac is slow-going — especially if you're filming in HEVC and haven't updated your Mac to support working with the new H.265 codec. Final Cut doesn't recognize your iPhone as an external drive (you can't connect to your smartphone and use its clips without first downloading them to your computer), which means that if you want to edit a fair amount of 4K video, expect to download it all to your Mac first.

But do you even want that footage on your Mac? My iPad Pro (a bit sadly) smokes my MacBook Pro when it comes to dealing with 4K footage. Granted, I can't do as much with it in iMovie or LumaFusion as I could with Final Cut Pro, but that comes with the trade-off of never having to wait. My apps don't stall, drop frames, or stutter — they churn through 4K 60FPS footage with ease. And once I'm ready to export, that process is traditionally faster than Final Cut on my Mac, too.

Non-linear editing programs took cutting and splicing footage out of the editor's hands and put them in control of a mouse and keyboard, with keys to swap between different kinds of tools. The iPad, in a way, is giving tactile fine-grained control back to the editor — though it still has a ways to go.

Even with the controls slightly frustrating (I'd love to be able to hold onto a clip for a moment to jump into a frame-by-frame view, for example), it's still an exhilarating feeling to be able to use my hands to scan through footage and slice with a finger swipe. Even if it's not actually the case, iMovie makes me feel like I have far more control over my projects on the iPhone and iPad.

While this is ironically also a problem I have with iMovie, I appreciate at how simple the app makes some of its more basic editing tools — specifically where picture is concerned. While it'd be nice to have keyframe-specific editing windows that allow for precise zoom positioning, I appreciate that all I need to do when resizing a video clip is to tap on the zoom button and pinch (or use my fingers to rotate a sideways clip).

Final Cut, while incredibly powerful, makes simple cropping and flipping of images far more tedious than required. This is in comparison, mind you: It might only save me 1-2 seconds per clip, but that adds up when you're trying to quickly cut together something to push to Twitter or Instagram.

I took my iPhone X, stabilizer rig, iPad, and a few battery packs to the Roller Derby World Cup in Manchester this winter, deliberately leaving my laptop at home. I filmed and edited clips and gifs with only my iPhone and iPad as computer company, along with some venue Wi-Fi and the occasional GigSky mobile plan.

And it was fantastic. Never again do I want to attend a multi-day tournament with a heavy bag — shooting with just the iPhone and editing with iPad was such a comfortable experience that I've sworn off trying to haul my laptop to something like this in the future.

Better still, the iPhone and iPad have the benefit of being able to share video or gifs to your platform of choice as soon as you've exported them. You don't have to wait to AirDrop your video from your Mac to your iPhone to upload it to Instagram; just open your app of choice and go.

Purely mobile video rigs aren't best in every situation, but for the jobs and hobbies where I spend my time — conferences, derby events, and the occasional work trip — they make the most sense for my needs.

The cons of editing video on iPhone or iPad

As with any platform, when you use it enough you'll run up against bugs and limitations. Video editing on iPhone and iPad is no different, and in the last few years I've come across a number of issues that make this experience less than perfect.

Let's put this right out there: iMovie is good at the basics, but terrible at sticking more advanced landings.

There are a fair number of more advanced tricks you can pull in Apple's mobile editing app, including detaching audio from video, adding picture-in-picture video, layering background music, and slowing/speeding/freezing clips. But for every clip you augment, you run the risk of crashing the app or otherwise finding yourself in a situation the developers may not have anticipated.

Here's one of the more egregious examples: If you're working on a timeline that has all audio detached from their video clips and you attempt to add in a clip anywhere but the end of the timeline, there's a good chance that your entire project will de-sync and those audio clips will lose their original anchor points. Yeah. I've only run up against this bug intermittently (2-3 times in the last three years), but every time I do, I've had to ditch the entire project and start from scratch. I wish it were repeatable so that I could properly file it to Apple's Radar system — I just need to remember to take lots of screenshots when it happens again.

There are lots of little weird issues like that. Freeze-frames losing their position by a frame or two in a slowed-down clip. Not being able to create a new project if your Photos library is over 5000 files or connected to iCloud Photo Library. (My 75,000-file library uses the Video tab as a work-around, but it's not great.) You can only add picture-in-picture video from the browser, rather than drop existing clips in the timeline atop the primary image. There's only one video channel and three audio channels.

All of these things can and likely will be fixed. But they've been and will continue to be pain-points until the pro apps team at Apple steps up and makes iMovie as great as it could be on the iPad platform.

Many editors (myself included) turn to LumaFusion when iMovie's bugs become too frustrating to handle or when its features are too limited, but even this app has its frustrations. It offers a ton of customization for your videos and multiple editing streams, but basic cuts and interactions are far less pleasant than they are in iMovie. It reminded me a lot of working with Premiere on the Mac —  functional enough, but the workflow occasionally makes you want to defenestrate your computer.

Stephen Hackett brought up this pain point during our conversation on Query, and I'm surprised I didn't think of it sooner. While Apple's file management system has gotten bette over the years, working with third-party video is still a giant mess, and requires you to import it locally to iCloud Drive or the Photos app if you want to use the footage.

I'm waiting (and likely will continue waiting) for a system that allows iOS to take advantage of external USB-connected drives and run projects off them, but time tells me that the company is likely less interested in physically connecting than coming up with a system to edit remote files. Honestly, I'd take that, too. Either way, having to import files one-by-one into Photos or iCloud Drive adds a pain point to the workflow, especially when it's not as clean as the import process for Final Cut on the Mac.

Here's the part of this article where I just overtly call for Final Cut on the iPad. Apple's tablet is incredibly powerful. It handles 4K video better than most of Apple's mid-range laptops and desktops. But the software provided is pedestrian at best; it's limited in a way that felt constrained in 2010, and looks like a joke in 2018 — especially when you compare it to Apple's other mainstream creative juggernaut, Garageband.

I hadn't touched the music creation app in a few years until my iPad review, and I was shocked by how much it had evolved and changed on iPad. It's a genuinely useful piece of software, and I found myself engrossed within minutes of tinkering around with it.

In contrast, iMovie has barely changed: It still has many of the same core features, and its last major feature update (4K video support in version 2.2) was over two years ago, in September 2015. There have been minor tweaks since then, but we've seen none of the more advanced features from its desktop counterpart make their way over to iOS — let alone any of Final Cut's features. Heck, you can still only speed up video at 2x. We've got phones that can shoot at 240FPS now; we deserve better speed ramping controls.

And that's a shame, because iMovie seems like the kind of app that could be a banner showcase for Apple alongside iWork and GarageBand. (Especially if it integrates some of the drawing and Pencil features in Keynote — drawing over video would make this an incredible educational tool, and it might open the app up to becoming a great option for animation, as well.)

We've seen some of Apple's more interesting video experimentation show up in the Clips app, but it's not designed as a successor to either iMovie or Final Cut — more of an experiment in social video.

At the end of the day, for iMovie to truly be a must-have app on iOS, it needs a major feature-set update, and badly. Its basics and LumaFusion's advanced tools are a band-aid in the meantime, but even the convenience that comes with editing on iPhone and iPad won't keep me here forever if the software slowly falls into obsolescence.

Bottom line

For all my complaints, video editing on iOS works for me and my needs. I love being able to shoot, edit, and share on the same device, and I've gotten good enough at the work-arounds that they (mostly) no longer bother me. But iMovie and the third-party landscape could be so much better. Apple has the A10X Fusion chip. Metal. The Pencil. iOS 11's multitasking interface and keyboard support.

The company has every piece it needs to build an incredible piece of software. Maybe Apple's rumored Marzipan framework is the solution; maybe there's a new app waiting in the wings.

Whatever the case, I hope we'll see a solid video editor come to the platform soon. There are a lot of features and workflows to love about editing on iPhone or iPad — and if we get the right app for the job, it might pull a lot more editors over to a mobile workflow.