So, you just bought an iPad 2 huh? Well – that’s cool. I’m not at all jealous with my first generation model. Nope, not at all. I have a lot of friends who have recently asked me what apps they should get on their new iPad and so I thought I’d just post here what some of my favorite apps are. In fact, not just my favorites, but the Top 10 Must Have iPad Apps. I’m going to assume that you have the essentials (Twitter and any other social networking apps that you need), so these are just the others I really enjoy. Just one word of caution – iPad apps cost more than iPhone apps. But – it’s just as easy to purchase them. So read reviews, and don’t rush into your purchases. That was my problem when I first got my iPad – I just sat down and bought app after app before I realized how much they were all adding up to.
Without further adieu, here they are (in no particular order):
- Pages ($9.99): I do all of my work on my desktop with iWork’s Pages and really love the app. The iPad version is a little clunky for font formatting and any creative page layout, but I think it’s great for just sitting down and hammering out some thoughts. I like the ability to open up documents via Dropbox and work on them in Pages. So for me, it’s kind of a no-brainer. I also bought Numbers, but actually have never used it, and I haven’t tried out the iPad version of Keynote either.
- iA Writer ($0.99): I LOVE this app. It’s a very simple, and beautiful, word processing app. I’ve found that it really makes writing a lot of fun on the iPad, whether I needed to hammer out a few blog posts, or wanted a more minimalist app for stream-of-consciousness writing. It’s beautiful, well-designed, and syncs with my Dropbox so everything I write in this app is easily accessible when I get home, and I don’t have to plug in my iPad to iTunes to get the documents.
- GoodReader ($4.99): I’ve used this app probably more than any other. It’s hands down the best app for viewing PDFs or any other documents on your iPad. Before going to Presbytery meetings (or any meeting), I just quickly download all the files I’m going to want to reference during the meeting, and then they are there instantly ready for me during the meeting. It’s also the app that I use when I preach with my iPad using a PDF manuscript. You need this app.
- Dropbox (Free): I rely heavily on Dropbox so it’s necessary for me to keep it on my iPad. N0w I have access to all my work documents and anything else that I’ve enabled via my laptop at home. A great app fun to use on the iPad.
- Kindle (Free): I buy most of my e-books through Amazon, so this is a great app. I love the color and display options.
- Evernote (Free): Only in the past month have I started to really use Evernote. It’s a great app in general, and the iPad version is no exception. I recently used it to access my notes while giving some presentations and it worked perfectly for that.
- 1Password ($14.99): Hopefully if you’re a Mac user you’re using 1Password on your computer. If not…that’s just ridiculous (sorry). Amazing app for storing all sorts of important information, primarily online passwords, but I also use it to keep track of my credit cards and banking information. Very secure, and great to have all of that information easily accessible via the iPad app.
- Windowshop (Free): Nothing amazing about this app – except it provides a fun way to “windowshop” Amazon.com.
- Angry Birds ($4.99): I’m addicted to Angry Birds. I have it on my iPad, iPhone and laptop. Such a great game – and the graphics are great on the iPad.
- Cut the Rope ($1.99): Another amazing app that I have recently been enjoying. It’s a lot of fun on the iPad and the graphics are great.
- Reeder ($4.99): BONUS APP. I love to use this app to read blog posts and articles from Google Reader. A really beautifully designed app, and it works really, really well.
So, those are my Top 10 Must Have iPad Apps (plus a bonus app!). What do you think are must have iPad apps?