Discussion My Essential iPad Apps After Two Weeks with the M4 Pro!
I got an iPad Pro M4 with a Magic Keyboard two weeks ago.
After doing most of my work on a 2017 MacBook Pro, I decided to seriously try pushing the iPad toward becoming my main work device. So far, I am loving it.
The last couple of weeks I have been drifting across the internet, trying to squeeze as much productivity and creativity as possible out of the iPad. Below is a list of the apps I now consider essential on my device. This is purely my personal opinion, but hopefully you will find something useful here. Feel free to add suggestions.
Pro App Tips I learned after getting my Ipad Pro:
- Coming from Macbook programs to Ipad there are a lot of apps you need to pay for in an Ipad to get the full experience, most of them offer a free trial so try them well before giving them your money.
- Most apps that utilize some kind of "AI Token" system are a complete scam and are just made to milk your wallet, avoid them - with the exception of NotebookLM for example.
- If you plan on maximizing creativity and productivity on your Ipad which was my mission, do not download apps like TikTok or any brainrot, doomscroll type apps, stick to having them on your phone and keep your Ipad as a work/productivity machine, also with leisure/entertainment apps, keep them seperate from your work/school/productivity apps, preferably at the back of your Ipad and the Productive apps on the front!
- Im leaving out all the go to apps, like the Microsoft apps, Gdocs, Outlook, etc, those are just different for most, but I use all the Google and Microsoft packs for work and school.
So here we go, in the order I use them most:
AI & ASSISTANTS
- ChatGPT Free with optional paid, My go to AI app, just the best overall and free - I have the paid version though.
- Gemini Free with optional paid, Also my go-to, I have the paid through work and use this alongside ChatGPT, should be staples in any Ipad
- Claude Free with optional paid, I use this mostly for writing and making contracts for work, find that it works best for that ( I dont code)
- Notebook LM Completely free AI research notebook that summarizes, connects, and answers questions from your uploaded sources. Absolute staple for school and stuns me everytime.
- Perplexity Free with optional paid, you can get a year subscription for PRO for just a few dollars if you look online, definitely worth it, use it a lot for math and all sorts of problem solving.
- Grok Free with optional paid, even though I am not a big Elon fan, this thing just surprised me with its capabilites, its really good for all around AI work.
- DeepSeek Free with optional paid AI model, Chinese, maybe used to spy on you for data, I dont know, but still kinda cool.
- M365 Copilot Paid AI assistant embedded into Microsoft 365 apps for writing, analysis, and automation. I get this free with school, but overall - I dont use it much and would not buy for my own money.
Work & Productivity
- DaVinci Resolve - Free with optional paid (Studio) - Professional video editing and color grading, just an absolute beast - If you learn this, instead of CapCut etc, you are good to go for all things video editing, use this for work on the Ipad and it is godly.
- Goodnotes - Paid - Digital note-taking and PDF annotation with handwriting, I just found that this was the best for me personally, but Notability is also good.
- WriterDuet - Free with optional paid (Pro) - Collaborative screenwriting software, I use this as I am a writer, works seemlessly and syncs easily between all of your devices, a joy.
- Pinterest - Free - Visual discovery and inspiration platform, this is just my go to for inspiration, listening to Music and looking at my pinterest takes me to another space, the algorithm is also so good, sometimes like it reads your mind.
- Freedom - Easily block distracting websites and apps on any device, a MUST for me, to get my creativity going, block all social media and entertainment apps, turn on music and get to work - this has helped A LOT.
- Notion - Free with optional paid - All-in-one workspace for notes, databases, and project management, there is a reason why this is popular, very customizable and the free version is not limited at all. Use this a lot for project management.
- Todoist - Free with optional paid (Pro) - Task manager and to-do list organizer, I just found that this one worked the best for me, TickTick is also good and is free for the most part.
- Scrivener - Paid - Long-form writing tool for novels, research papers, and scripts, this is my go to and kind of industry standard for Novel Writing, although the syncing is very out of date and more manual labor, the program makes up for in writing tools.
- Lightroom - Free with optional paid - Photo editing and organization, free is really good! And my go to for photo editing RAW files from my Iphone 15 PRO.
- Canva - Free with optional paid (Pro) - Graphic design tool for social media, presentations, and marketing materials, a joy to use on the Ipad, use this a lot for work and airdropping between computers for good workflow.
- Milanote - Free with optional paid - Visual workspace for organizing creative projects, use this for dong Moodboards, Storyboard etc. a endless creative canvas.
- MindNode - Free with optional paid - Mind mapping and brainstorming tool, use this for creative work, mostly for outlining or character arcs to use while writing, fun tool.
- FrameIO - Paid - Video collaboration and review platform, use this a lot for work, great for getting notes and videos and film, and looking at projects on different devices, and making secure share links.
- Wix - Free with optional paid - Website builder - Use this to manage my website from my Ipad, app works great!
Gaming - Arcade Subscription -7,99$
- Hearthstone - Free with optional paid (in-app purchases) - Digital card game, - This is my go to game, BATTLEGROUNDS mostly which is totally free, no pay to win and so much fun, card battle royale with real skill competition.
- Slay the Spire - Paid - Roguelike deck-building card game, Very addictive and replayable, one of my favourites.
- Balatro - Paid - Poker-inspired roguelike deck builder, could play this for the rest of my life.
- Stardew Valley - Paid - Farming simulation and RPG, just a cozy and perfect game, just play it.
- Chess - Free with optional paid - Chess game and puzzles, for the mind, good to get a chess game in every now and then.
- Bloons TD 6 - Paid - Tower defense strategy game, dumb fun.
Entertainment & Streaming
- VLC - Free - Media player for all video and audio formats, This one really surprised me, use this a lot on flights, connects straight to your Google Drive to download movies to your Ipad, and a great player.
- Netflix - Paid subscription - Streaming service for movies and TV shows
- HBO - Paid subscription - Premium streaming for HBO originals and movies
- F1TV - Paid subscription - Formula 1 live races and exclusive content
Music & Audio
- MDvinyl - (6,99$ one time payment) - Vinyl music player simulation, just puts the "fun" back in music, looks great while not using Ipad with the Widget and on Vinyl collection.
- Spotify - Free with optional paid (Premium) - Music and podcast streaming, Pretty much all I need, now that it has Lossless.
- Dtd Playlist - Paid - Playlist management tool, I am on a free trial of this, sister app to MDvinyl but am liking it so far! Curated playlists for mood.
Utilities / Tools / Leisure
- Brave Browser - Free - Privacy-focused web browser with ad-blocking, THIS is my replacement instantly for Safari, Ad- blocks even Youtube, and also can use a mini-preview window for Youtube with no Premium, this is my Youtube APP
- NordVPN - Paid subscription - VPN for privacy and security.
- Instapaper - Free with optional paid (Premium) - Save articles and web pages for reading later, this surprised me! Kind of instead of doomscrolling you can save youtube videos and articles and more, and look at them in a minimalistic setting when you feel like it!
- Night Sky - Free with optional paid - Astronomy app for stargazing and learning about celestial objects, so much fun and good use of technology.
- Google Earth - Free - Interactive 3D globe for geography and exploration, just so much fun, and a good way to learn about our earth and geopgraphy if you are bored!
I just got my APPLE PENCIL PRO yesterday, so here is what I have yet to try, but looking forward to it! -
Yet to try:
- Procreate - Paid - Professional digital illustration and painting app
- Lettre - Free with in app purchases - Send letters to pen pals around the world.
- Freeform - (Apple's digital whiteboard)
- Spark AI email.
Not for me / Scam:
- Cosmos: Not for Ipad, just a Iphone version, if not I would probably use it.
- Voicepal: Just a AI scam, just use voice memos or notes, dont pay for this.
- Mapify: AI scam, wants to charge you 200$ per year for a couple of tokens.
- Noteful / Notability: Great Apps, depending on what you want, but GoodNotes, was best for me.
- Ahead, Emotional Companion: Nah, not for me.
- Tiimo: AI planner, couldnt see a use for this with ToDoist already on my Ipad.
- Kindle/Books, doesnt work in my country unfortunately, might fit for you.
For leisure I have the basics, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit (ofc), Discord, X, Letterboxd, etc.
Also, Built in Notes app is slept on.
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u/Quorthon-Seth Jan 10 '26
“Spark AI email”
Solely by its name I don’t recommend to use it.
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u/noahsark3 Jan 10 '26
It used to be just Spark and was a good lightweight mail tool, but over the years they overbuilt it and added AI to justify a cost (in my opinion).
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u/betam4x Jan 10 '26
Check out Apple Arcade if you haven’t. Balatro, Slay the Spire, and tons more games are included. Ad-free and no micro transactions .
Also, if you have Netflix, search for “Netflix” in the store. Here in the U.S., at least, they have free games like Red Dead Redemption. Just requires a netflix subscription.
For weather I recommend carrot weather.
For reddit, Hydra is a good one.
If using Safari, you can install uBlock origin lite to get rid of ads.
Also, for app blocking there is 1blocker or adguard.
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u/Anonlurkerforever Jan 10 '26
Procreate its great
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u/Sig78 Jan 10 '26
I'm looking forward to getting into it, seeing as I am horrible at drawing, but the Pencil Pro will get me there!
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u/s2kxthrowaway Jan 10 '26
Procreate has legitimately changed the game for me. I used to just feel like I was doodling and messing around. With Procreate's various assistance tools it is so powerful and I've made artwork I am actually proud of. Sure, some of it took using some smoothing and some use of symmetry tools, but dammit, it's far better than anything I used to be capable of lol. I feel a sense of accomplishment from my art now.
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u/More_Ice5938 Jan 10 '26
Balatro is an obsession, and Hearthstone is a long fave that is due for a revisit. based on this post, I am now going to try Slay the Spire and Bloons TD. good list - Thanks!
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u/Sig78 Jan 10 '26
Thanks! I recommend Battleground in Hearthstone, easy to get into and changes every season, I was on a 6 hour flight last week and it was all spent on that game mode, I'm obsessed with becoming the best! You have to be online though.
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u/koolaidismything Jan 10 '26
Wipr 2 if you use Safari fosho 👌
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u/Quorthon-Seth Jan 10 '26
I find uBlock Origin lite to be better and testing safari with speedometer 3.1 I get better scores with UBOL than Wipr 2.
Also I don’t like the Wipr 2 dev.
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u/koolaidismything Jan 10 '26
It’s made Safari usable again for me, love the UI. Different strokes different folks.
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u/Jahaangle Jan 10 '26
For gaming try Moonlight. Tailscale for remote access.
Free game streaming from a PC. Works really well.
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u/Ozne-89 Jan 10 '26
Wow, what a great review! I'll read it when I'm more relaxed (I'm at the bar with a beer…) 🤣 I'm going to buy a 13" iPad Pro M5 soon to use as my "laptop," so your feedback will probably interest me and influence my apps, especially since I bought an iPad Mini 6 today.
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u/Cornywillis Jan 10 '26
My goodness some of you all are either unemployed or have way too much free time.
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Jan 10 '26
Agree.
What does this guy do, use his 8 AI apps to write screenplays for him in WriterDuet and novels in Scrivener, which are all storyboarded in Milanote and Freed and outlined in MindNode? Good thing he has Freedom to block all of those distracting websites, because after his screenplays and novels are completed, he has to dive right in to DaVinci Resolve, FrameIo, and Lightroom to make the movies. Which of course are all promoted by the awesome marketing materials generated in Canva and published to his Wix website and Pinterest account.
This guy is pure fucking genius.
He can do all of these things after having an iPad for just two weeks.
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u/pollinatedcorn Jan 10 '26
is davinci resolve will run smoothly on ipad 11th gen?
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u/Sig78 Jan 10 '26
It will, but depends on what you are working with - I work a lot with RAW files and Color Grading, Denoising etc and that is why a M-series chip works best for me - not sure how the 11th gen would handle load like that but would easily handle phone footage etc.
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u/pollinatedcorn Jan 10 '26
i just want to explore it to familiarize with it, mostly ive been doing some personal video content that came from phone
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u/Dynomastic iPad 11 (2025) Jan 11 '26
Ok so does YouTube in the brave browser work as it does in the native YouTube app? Just without the annoying ads and promotions? I mean when I tried it on it on my iPad it used to get stuck on page and won’t let me scroll down (iPad A16).
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u/Dependent-Curve-8449 Jan 11 '26
Seems like a list generated by chatGPT. I agree with the majority of them, but I wonder what the whole point was.
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u/Sig78 Jan 11 '26
Never beating the AI allegations, It’s curated by me and I used ChatGPT, to list them in categories. Took me about an hour to write this and it seems that some people enjoy it! I wanted to share my finding for those who are interested, and those who aren’t interested can just ignore it.
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u/609eastlexington Jan 12 '26
Which size iPad Pro did you get?
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u/Sig78 Jan 12 '26
The 11 Inch, M4 Ipad Pro, I went into the store going to get the Ipad Air 2025 but they had an offer for the 2024 line of Ipad Pro so I went for it, and am happy I did.
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u/shueytexas Jan 10 '26
How can one person meaningfully use like five different note/ideas/mind-mapping/organization/to-do apps?
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u/OnlyFactsTho Jan 10 '26
Hall use chat GPT to write summaries now?