Got an iPad for Christmas? Here are the first 7 apps you should download
Christmas is a great time to buy or receive an iPad. With a single device it is possible to play games, create beautiful works of art, edit photos and learn new languages. But where do you start?
Whether you have the popular iPad 10.9 (2022), the incredibly powerful iPad Pro 12.9 (2022) or one of the best iPads, you have thousands of apps to choose from that you can search in the App Store.
Fortunately, we can help. We've put together a list of seven great apps you need to get from day one, so let's get your shiny new iPad up and running – so you can start exploring, creating and having fun.
1. Clapboard
There are so many articles published every day that you can't possibly keep track of everything that might be of interest to you. Curation is therefore a must – and that's where Flipboard comes in. This renowned app has been around since 2010 and dives deep into the stories that matter to you, then presents them in a stunningly beautiful way.
The Flipboard app was created for and by enthusiasts, with content curated on thousands of topics from world-renowned publishers, local outlets, and the community. It puts you at the heart of the app, allowing you to personalize content based on what specifically matters to you, including technology, sports and health.
It's more than just a news app, though; you can also collect stories you like into your own Flipboard Magazine, which allows you to share your ideas with other people and make it a kind of social media-news-reader hybrid.
More than a decade after its launch, it's still one of the best iPad apps, and yes, that's possible follow Ny Breaking on Flipboard. What are you waiting for?
Download Flipboard for free
2. Star walk 2
If you love staring at the night sky but are never quite sure what you're looking at, then Star Walk 2 is the app for you. This stargazing app acts as a virtual guide, helping you navigate the night sky and track your every move in real time.
It's packed with functionality, including an interactive night sky map showing the location of thousands of stars, constellations and other celestial objects. You can also set alerts for important celestial events, such as the arrival of comets.
The best feature, however, is the augmented reality sky view; this superimposes stars and constellations over your actual view, allowing you to determine that the really bright star there, just above your roof, is actually Venus and not a star.
In-app purchases let you remove ads and further expand the catalog, but the free version will be enough for most people.
Download Star Walk 2 Ads+ for free
3. Reproduction
Procreate is one of the best apps available on the iPad, helping artists create breathtaking creations. Combined with an Apple Pencil, you'll find an app that provides everything you need to create beautiful art.
With hundreds of handcrafted brushes and a range of artistic tools, there's really not much you can't create with this app; everything from expressive sketches to rich paintings to beautiful illustrations is possible, depending on your skill level.
The advanced layer system allows artists to build up their creations, assigning brushstrokes to specific layers, which can then be adjusted or deleted without affecting the rest of the work. This system is also perfect for isolating specific areas of the image for finer work.
Download Procreate for $12.99 (US) / £12.99 (UK) / €19.99 (AU)
4. Adobe fresco
Sticking with the digital art theme, we also recommend the free Adobe Fresco app for iPad. Fresco goes beyond an image editing app and offers all the brushes needed to work perfectly with a stylus like the Apple Pencil.
The brushes are split into live brushes, pixel brushes, and vector brushes. Each type of brush is perfectly designed for specific types of artists. Live brushes are great for those who want a watercolor or oil look, with smear and wipe tools to mimic real life; pixel brushes mimic media such as charcoal, pastel; vector brushes create sharp lines for designs that can be scaled to any size.
The fact that Adobe Fresco is free should make this one of the first go-to apps for any aspiring iPad artist.
Download Adobe Fresco for free
5. Pixelmator
Pixelmator is a full-featured layer-based image editor. Think of Photoshop, but on the iPad (although Photoshop itself is of course also available on the iPad). This beautifully designed app allows users to perform a whole host of edits to their images, including adding text, shapes and color adjustments, and touching up photos.
This app is fast and innovative, making the whole process of working with images on iPads fun and easy. The workflow is also non-destructive, meaning you can perform a whole range of edits without having to 'destroy' the original image you're working with.
Pixelmator supports RAW file formats, so if you're an avid photographer looking for an app to give your photos a wow factor, you've got everything you need here. I especially like the adjustment presets, which make color adjustments a breeze.
For those who also have an Apple phone, there is also Pixelmator for iOS.
Download Pixelmator for $9.99 (US) / £9.99 (UK) / €14.99 (AU)
6. Duolingo
Christmas and New Year are a great time to learn a new language and the world famous Duolingo has over 40 to choose from. Plus, it's easy to use and allows students to practice speaking, reading, listening and writing through bite-sized lessons. Oh, and it's free too!
Duolingo offers an interactive way of learning, focusing on game-like lessons. Fun characters and a variety of rewards and achievements will keep you motivated throughout your journey.
For those interested in learning other things, Duolingo now offers classes for learning math and music. The fact that such a comprehensive educational app is available for free is incredible. Give it a whirl and see where it takes you.
Download Duolingo for free
7. Notability
Keeping notes organized can be difficult, but maybe it doesn't have to be that way. With Notability you can bring note-taking to life. So whether you're in school or college, or just need to make a lot of memories, this free and powerful app could be just what you need.
Notability does a fantastic job of making the entire process of taking notes on an iPad as natural as possible. It does this by offering a range of paper templates with customizable spacing and backgrounds, as well as multimedia tools such as pencils, highlighters and text.
But Notability is so powerful that it's more than just a note-taking app. The Math Conversion technology cleans up calculations for you, and the search functionality lets you find anything in your notes, even if it's handwritten.
It's free to use, but you can unlock additional functionality through in-app purchases. And it's so good that we consider it one of the best note-taking apps for iPad Pro.
Download Notability for free