I’ve been so happy this year with my MacBook Pro and my iPhone X that I haven’t really missed having an iPad. But as soon as I got my new iPad last week all that changed and I wondered how I ever lived without it. Here are my top ten favorite apps for the iPad.
10. Netflix
I think Netflix and Amazon Prime Movies are great. I get quality entertainment on demand and with no commercials. Who needs cable or broadcast TV? Netflix and Amazon Prime Movies have awesome interfaces, unlike every major cable channel supplier I’ve tried. Cable is dead. Long live online video!
9. YouTube
YouTube recently became a favorite place to hang out and learn. I’m finding tons of lectures and seminars on a range of topics from software development to health to cosmology. There’s literally millions of hours of presentations on virtually any topic you can think of, plus every album ever produced, concerts, events, and so much more on YouTube. And the YouTube app is great, keeping up with my many interests and suggesting videos on a range of topics that interest me. If only Netflix could tune in to my taste as well, sigh.
8. Calendar
The calendar app that comes with iOS is simple, interfaces with my Mac and Google calendar, and lets me coordinate my schedule with my wife. It’s nothing fancy but it does the job and lets me schedule events.
7. Chrome
Google’s Chrome is my browser of choice. It’s fast and simple to use. Safari is fine but I prefer Chrome, although I end up using both browsers when running under macOS. On Windows, I have a strong aversion to Internet Explorer and tend to use Chrome and Firefox.
6. Music
Having 300-400 CDs is actually quite unmanageable so I was super excited to put most of my music collection in iTunes. I have about 11 days worth of music or 19 GB. Even so, I get bored listening to the same music so I listen to music online a lot. I love Pandora and Tune-In Radio. I’ve also found every album ever recorded on YouTube so that’s often where I’ve been going to listen to some of my favorite classic albums as well as tons of concerts that were never made into albums.
5. Dropbox
Dropbox is definitely the coolest thing since sliced bread and it has transformed how I use computers. I’m no longer a slave to a particular OS. In fact, Dropbox let me make the switch from Windows to macOS seamlessly and without hardly noticing. All of my data files are instantly accessible from the other platform. I might even be able to live without a PC or Mac if Dropbox gave me a bit more functionality over managing files in iOS.
4. Duet Display
I’ve been having a great time with my 12 inch MacBook Pro and iPhone X. I couldn’t remember why I always went for the big screen laptops. And then I got back into coding. Trying to work in six windows at the same time can be challenging on a 12 in screen. Fortunately. There’s Duet Display that turns my iPad into a second monitor so I have the extra screen space I want when coding.
3. Editorial
Text editing is one of those things I find myself doing a lot and having a good text editor is essential for a writer. I have tons of “distraction-free” writing apps including IA Writer and Writing Kit but my favorite is Editorial for its great features, rock-solid performance, markdown support, and workflows.
2. Notability
I bought this app when it first came out for $.99 and it was money well spent. This app is sold as a note taking aide and its great for that but I use it for several other key tasks. It holds my online library of hundreds of books on a range of subjects. I also use Notability to save, review, and store the hundreds of articles and papers on the range of subjects I’m researching at any given time. Sending any webpage to Notability turns it into a pdf file I can annotate and store for later access.
1. Frax
Frax is my favorite app and the number one reason I was burning to have an iPad. You may have noticed I didn’t list any games in my top ten iPad, iPhone, and macOS apps. I rarely play games. I do, however, explore fractal landscapes, sometimes for many hours every week. Frax opens the door to the animated world of fractals. It’s totally amazing and mesmerizing. I don’t quite know how to explain it but I’ve learned a ton about everything traveling through fractals. There’s a free version to check out at the App Store.
My first iPad was the iPad III and I was a bit reluctant to get it. That lasted for about ten seconds and I found myself constantly using it, even more than my laptop. After about six years I finally retired it and I just got myself an 11-inch iPad Pro. What’s so great about the iPad? The apps! I have many useful apps that I can’t run anywhere but iOS. These are my top ten apps but I have dozens more that I use all the time.
How about you? What’s your favorite iPad apps?
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