80 best free iPad apps 2013 Updated The best free apps for the new iPad, original iPad and iPad 2 By Craig Grannell June 27th Comments Page 1 of 2Best free iPad apps: 1-40 80 best free iPad apps 2013 These are the best free apps for your iPad Related stories How to control your home with your iPhone or iPad 70 best free iPad games 2013 App discovery services on the chopping block as Apple tightens rules On comparing iPad apps with iPhone equivalents, one thing rapidly becomes clear: apps for Apples tablet are pricier. Many of the best free iPhone apps cost 59p or more in their iPad incarnations, and the quality level of whats still free is often ropey. But among the dross lie rare gems – iPad apps that are so good you cant believe theyre still free. Of those we unearthed, here is our pick of the best free iPad apps. Note that apps marked universal will run on your iPad and iPhone, optimising themselves accordingly. iPad 4 review iPad mini review For a mix of free and paid apps, check out our amazing Best iPad apps chart. 1. AccuWeather for iPad Annoyingly, some free iPad weather apps refuse to believe that the UK has any weather (or that the country exists), so AccuWeather gets props for merely working. Happily, AccuWeather also proves to be a decent – if quirky – weather app. The interface is odd (but fun) and theres a lifestyle page that determines how your current local conditions might affect over 20 activities, including dog-walking and stargazing. Accuweather 2. Facebook (universal) The social networking giant has gone back-and-forth with its mobile apps, finally settling on this smart, native implementation. Much like the slightly simpler iPhone equivalent, Facebook on iPad is such that you wont want to use the comparatively clunky website again for seeing which of your friends really shouldnt have internet access after midnight. Facebook 3. Air Video Free (universal) Despite naysayers whining about the iPad screens 4:3 aspect ratio, its a decent device for watching video, although it lacks storage for housing large video collections. Air Video enables you to stream video (converting it on-the-fly, if necessary) from your Mac or PC. The main limitation of the free version is that it only shows a few items (randomly selected) from each folder or playlist. Air video 4. Beatwave (universal) Beatwave is a simplified Tenori-On-style synth which enables you to rapidly build pleasing melodies by prodding a grid. Multiple layers and various instruments provide scope for complex compositions, and you can save sessions or, handily, store and share compositions via email. You can also buy more instruments via in-app purchases. Beatwave 5. Bloomberg for iPad It used to boast an eye-searing white-and-orange-on-black colour scheme that was a little like being repeatedly punched in the eyes, but now Bloomberg has grown up, discovered a palette (a subtler, serious things on black, for the most part), and has subsequently become a much more usable business news and stocks app. Bloomberg for iPad 6. Comics (universal) On the iPhone, Comics is innovative, but zooming each panel and constantly rotating your device gets old fast. By contrast, the iPads screen is big enough to display an entire page without the need to zoom or scroll. And with dozens of free comics available via the bundled store, comic book fans should lap this app up. Comics 7. Dictionary - Dictionary & Thesaurus - For iPad We approached Dictionary with scepticism, since most free dictionary apps are sluggish interfaces to websites. Thats certainly what this looks like, but it works offline, providing speedy access to over two million words and definitions. The apps search is also reassuringly fast. Dictionary 8. Dropbox (universal) Dropbox is a great service for syncing documents across multiple devices. The iPad client works like the iPhone one (hardly surprising, since this is a universal app), enabling you to preview many file types and store those marked as favourites locally. DropBox 9. Evernote (universal) Like Dropbox, Evernote (a free online service for saving ideas – text documents, images and web clips – that you can then access from multiple devices) works the same way on the iPad as it does on the iPhone. It benefits from the iPads larger screen, which enables you to see and navigate your stored snippets more easily. Evernote 10. YouTube (universal) When the YouTube app presumably became a victim of the ongoing and increasingly tedious Apple/Google spat, there were concerns Google wouldnt respond. Those turned out to be unfounded, because heres yet another bespoke, nicely designed Google-created app for iOS. The interface is specifically tuned for the iPad, and AirPlay enables you to fire videos at an Apple TV. YouTube 11. The Guardian Eyewitness A showcase for engaging photography, The Guardian Eyewitness provides a daily, visual reflection of global events. You get access to the most recent 100 photos, which can be viewed full-screen or with a caption and pro tip. You can also save photos to your iPad or share them via email. Guardian Eyewitness 12. iBooks (universal) Going head-to-head with Kindle, iBooks is a decent ebook reader, backed by the iBookstore. As youd expect from Apple, the interface is polished and usable, with handy cross-device bookmark syncing, highlighting, and various display options. Its also a capable PDF reader, for your digital magazine collection. iBooks 13. IM+ (universal) Although the iPad enables a certain amount of basic multi-tasking, anyone who constantly juggles a number of instant messaging services will soon be tired of leaping between apps. IM+ is a good solution, enabling you to run a number of IM services in a single app, and theres also a built-in web browser for checking out links. IM+ 14. Kindle (universal) Amazons Kindle iPad app for reading myriad books available at the Kindle Store is a little workmanlike, and doesnt match the coherence of iBooks (you buy titles in Safari and sync purchases via Kindle). However, Kindles fine for reading, and you get options to optimise your experience (including the ability to kill the naff page-turn animation and amend the page background to a pleasant sepia tone). Kindle 15. Movies by Flixter (universal) One for film buffs, Movies figures out where you are and tells you whats showing in your local cinemas – or you can pick a film and itll tell you where and when its on. The app is functionally identical on iPad and iPhone, but again the extra screen space improves the experience. Movies by Flixter 16. PaperDesk Lite for iPad Effectively a souped-up digital notepad, PaperDesk Lite for iPad enables you to combine typed words, scribbles and audio recordings in user-defined notebooks. Be mindful, though, that this free version restricts you to three notebooks, each of which can only have three pages, and there are no export options. Paperdesk 17. PCalc Lite (universal) PCalc Lites existence means the lack of a built-in iPad calculator doesnt bother us (in fact, wed love to replace the iPhone Calculator app with PCalc Lite as well). This app is usable and feature-rich – and if you end up wanting more, in-app purchases enable you to bolt on extras from the full PCalc. PCalc 18. Reuters News Pro for iPad Spurious anti-competition complaints meant the BBC News app took a while to come to the UK; in the meantime, Reuters offered the next best free news app for iPad with its Reuters News Pro for iPad. Its a little US-centric, but can be skewed towards UK coverage via the Settings app, and its worth downloading for a more international take on news coverage than BBC News provides. Reuters News Pro for iPad 19. Cooliris (universal) Long ago, Cooliris lived within browsers, converting online galleries into 3D walls of thumbnails you could zoom along. On the iPad, the concept seems more at home. Its of course a gimmick, but its a great-looking and tactile one, and more fun than using the Photos app to rummage through your snaps. Cooliris 20. Wikipanion for iPad The Wikipedia website works fine in Safari for iPad, but dedicated apps make navigating the site simpler and faster. We went back and forth between Simplepedia and Wikipanion, eventually plumping for the latter, largely due to its efficient two-pane landscape view with excellent bookmarking and history access. Wikipanion for iPad 21. eBay for iPad Use eBay for iPad and youll never touch eBay in a web browser again. Its fast and efficient, beautifully showcasing important details and images in its main results view. Gallery images can often be displayed almost at a full-screen size, which is particularly useful on an iPad with a Retina display. Speedy sorting options are also available. eBay 22. Soundrop (universal) Soundrop is a minimal generative sound toy that offers an endless stream of balls, which make noises when they collide with and bounce off user-drawn lines. The overall result is surprisingly fun and hypnotic. For more advanced features – save, multiple instruments and gravity adjustment – theres an in-app pro purchase option. Soundrop 23. Granimator Wallpaper apps litter the App Store, but are mostly dull, offering photos of brick walls or bored animals. Granimator is a bonkers art tool, enabling you to choose a background and spray all manner of shapes around. Compositions can be fine-tuned by dragging objects, and then shared to Flickr, Twitter or your devices Photos app. Granimator 24. Google Earth (universal) Its not the smoothest app in the world, and it lacks some elements from the desktop, but Google Earth is nonetheless a joy on the iPad. Touch gestures are an intuitive means of swooping around the planet, and the optional layers enable you to display as much or as little ancillary information as you wish. Google Earth 25. Explore Flickr (universal) Explore Flickr provides an engaging way to discover new photography. On launch, your iPad screen fills with a grid of thumbnails, drawn from Flickrs top daily images. Tap one to view (and, if rights permit, download to your device), or just leave the app lazily updating (every now and again, a thumbnail spins to reveal a new image) while your iPad charges in its dock. Explore flickr 26. Rj Voyager One for budding iPad DJs, Rj Voyager enables you to choose from a selection of bundled tracks, turn parts on and off and edit parameters in real-time via an intuitive, futuristic interface. Play through headphones or a decent sound system and the result is infectious. Rj voyager 27. BBC News (universal) Although the BBC News website works nicely on the iPad, BBC News is still worth downloading. Rather than trying to provide all of the news, it instead concentrates on the latest stories, with inline video. Categories can be rearranged, stories can be shared and the apps layout adjusts to portrait and landscape orientations. BBC News 28. Epicurious (universal) Tens of thousands of recipes at your fingertips (as long as you have a web connection) ensure Epicurious is worth a download for the culinary-inclined. The app even composes a shopping list for recipes; its just a pity it doesnt include measurements for those of us who use that new-fangled metric system. Epicurious 29. WordPress (universal) This official WordPress app has a reputation for being a bit clunky, but its fine for authoring the odd blog post on the go, along with making quick edits to existing content and managing comments. It also offers both text-based and visual approaches to crafting posts, so youre not stuck with HTML. Wordpress 30. Speedtest X HD (universal) Truth be told, were always a touch suspicious of apps that claim to test your connection speed, but Speedtest X HD seems to do a decent job. Its also handy to have installed for when your broadband goes all flaky and you need to record the figures for a subsequent moan at your ISP. Speedtest X HD 31. Adobe Photoshop Express (universal) With people regularly moaning about bloat in Adobes desktop applications, its great to see the giant create something as focused and usable as Adobe Photoshop Express. Its toolset is strictly for basic edits (crop, straighten, rotate, flip, levels and lighting adjustments), and applying a few effects, but the app is fast, stable and extremely useable. Top marks. Photoshop express 32. App Shopper (universal) Prices on the App Store go up and down like a yo-yo, and Apples own wish-list mechanics leave a lot to be desired. Youre better off using App Shopper, which lists bargain apps and also enables you to compile a wish-list and be notified when an item drops in price. App Shopper 33. Find my iPhone (universal) Find my iPhone would perhaps be better named Find my Apple stuff, because its not just for figuring out where a missing iPhone is—it can also track iPads, iPods and Macs. The app is simple, elegant and, generally speaking, provides an accurate location for devices. It also enables you to remote-lock or wipe a device. Find my iPhone 34. Flipboard (universal) Initially, Flipboard looked like a gimmick, trying desperately to make online content resemble a magazine. But now it can integrate Flickr and other networks, beautifully laying out their articles, Flipboards muscled into the essential category – and its still free. Flipboard 35. Find My Friends (universal) While perhaps less practical than on the iPhone, Find My Friends on the iPad nonetheless works well, enabling you to track any pals that are happy with you digitally stalking them. The iPads large display improves the apps usability, simultaneously displaying your friend list and a map. Find my friends 36. IMDB (universal) IMDB might be a wee bit US-focused at times (much like the movie industry), but the app is a great way to browse more movie-related info than you could ever hope to consume in a single lifetime. Settings enable you to define which sites IMDB and Amazon info is taken from, and the show times finder works pretty well. imdb 37. Pocket (universal) Pocket and Instapaper have long battled it out for article scraper king, but Pocket trumps its rival in appealing to iPad-owning cheapskates. Instapaper requires a purchase for iPad goodness, but Pocket is free. Its also very fast, offers tagging, includes a great original article/plain-text toggle, and has a vaguely Flipboard-like visual grid-based index. Pocket 38. TED (universal) TED describes itself as riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world. The app pretty much does as youd expect – you get quick access to dozens of inspiring videos. However, it goes the extra mile in enabling you to save any talk for offline viewing, and also for providing hints on what to watch next if youve enjoyed a particular talk. TED 39. Twitter (universal) This app used to showcase some breathtaking iPad UI innovation, but in its quest for cross-platform consistency, Twitter has refashioned its tablet offering as a blown-up version of the iPhone app. The result is a far less exciting experience, but one thats nonetheless very usable, and which unlike third-party apps rolls in the services Interactions and Discover tabs. Twitter 40. Virtuoso Piano Free 2 HD Theres not a great deal to piano app Virtuoso Piano Free 2 HD, but its not bad for a freebie. You get a dual-keyboard set-up, with optional key labels, and you can shift octaves and notes by prodding arrows. A really nice touch is the duette [sic] button, which creates a second, mirror image, keyboard, so that two people can play at once. Virtuoso piano free 2 hd
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 11:05:47 +0000
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