iPad essentials

Good NotesRs 699Good Notes is an essential note taker app Along with taking notes it also allows you to highlight and make notes on PDFs export documents and even act as a makeshift whiteboard for presentations The app has various page formats to give you a true notebook feel You can either type or use an Apple pen to write though I prefer the Apple pen So if you need to take notes on your iPad or sign digital documents with a real signature this is the right app for you Well worth the onetime asking feeGarage BandFreeGarage Band is Applersquos free music making software and just because itrsquos free doesnrsquot mean it is bad In fact Garage Band is incredibly powerful allowing multitrack recording midi input virtual instruments and a whole lot of sound samples that you can use to craft your own music The virtual instruments include Guitar Bass Keyboard Drums and strings The application also lets you export files to your Mac in case you want to continue working on your music on a computer The unfortunate thing about Garage Band is that it is completely tied to the Apple ecosystem so you canrsquot access and edit your files if you donrsquot have an Apple device Though you can always export it as an audio filePaprika Recipe Manager 3Rs 449If you like cooking you must get Paprika It is the best recipe manager out there You can download recipes from web pages just by entering the link in the app Users can also add their own recipes Then these can be used to plan your meals and generate grocery lists that combine all your ingredients and sort them according to where you would find them The app also has a pantry function that can store information on what ingredients you have on hand and when they expire Paprika can also intelligently scale your apps and convert between measurements on the fly The app saves all your data offline so you donrsquot need the internet but it can also sync your data with iCloud so it will never get lostCanvaFreeMaking flyers birthday cards and even business cards are simplified with Canva It is based on the Canva website and it offers the same option and presets on the iPad Canva has various templates for social media posts web banners cards flyers and menus that anyone can use to design something that works for them Most of the things are drag and drop so you donrsquot need to know how to design anything Canva while free does have a premium service that you can pay for The premium service is a monthly fee that gives the users access to additional clipart templates photos and fonts that can make your design stand out even moreLumaFusionRs 2699LumaFusion takes the iPad and turns it into a powerhouse editing machine even more so if you have the iPads with the M1 chip Regardless of which iPad you have LumaFusion is a beautifully intuitive and powerful video editing tool It gives you access to professionalgrade colour correcting options multiple layers of audio and video to work with and it supports multiple video formats You can also add FX to make your videos look really cool If you are into making videos this application is a no brainer It is however expensive though much cheaper than a video editing suite on a computerVLC for mobileFreeVLC or Video Lan Player is one of the best video playing apps you can have across platforms It is superb on PC just as it is good on Android and the iPad The iPad version lets users upload videos to their iPad and watch it on the go VLC recognises and plays a wide range of video and audio formats This saves a lot of time as you donrsquot have to mess around converting the file to an Apple compatible format You also donrsquot have to use iTunes to upload the file instead you can upload files to the application directly using a web browser You can even stream video to the app using a web link FTP UPnP or DLNA media servers All of this for freeGrammarlyFreeThe English language has a lot of rules when it comes to writing and chances are most of us arenrsquot familiar with them However Grammarly is well versed in the spelling and all the rules of the English language and it acts as a copy editor to everything you write This includes your emails chat and documents The app can even suggest things to make your text more readable and it can even help you adjust the tone of your text While the free version of the software does all basic spell check and grammatical errors The program does have a monthly subscription service that will help you with proper punctuation and wordiness Once subscribed the premium service is available across devicesProcreateRs 899If you love drawing or even doodling Procreate is the tool for you It is a fully loaded art software that has a crazy number of brushes supports layers and has a huge amount of customisation options There is a bit of a learning curve but the application is very popular so there are lots of tutorials to help guide you The application is perfect for anyone who wants to try their hand at drawing but doesnrsquot want to invest a huge amount in software or hardware The one downside is you need the Apple pen to truly unlock the full potential of this application The app is constantly updated and once you have purchased it you donrsquot have to buy it again to get an updatePixelmatorRs 499Pixelmator is one of the best photo editors on the iPad It gives you the experience of using a powerful photo editor without the clutter You can correct and adjust the colour of your image draw on top of it and even erase parts of it you donrsquot like Pixelmator supports the Magic keyboard trackpad or even a mouse for editing You can also import your Photoshop files with layers directly to the software and work on the go If you arenrsquot that advanced Pixelmator also has a bunch of templates that make editing easy and fast For a relatively small onetime fee the app offers photo editing painting and graphic design allinone program