IF YOU were lucky enough to unwrap a brand-new Apple iPad on Christmas, you should probably get to working downloading these gems from the App Store.
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| Apple iPad is lightning fast, enjoyable and surprisingly productive – thanks to these essential apps |
NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com recently branded the Apple iPad Air 2 as the best tablet of 2015, and if you were lucky enough to unwrap one this morning – here are our essential app downloads.
The Apple App Store is brimming with a stellar selection of games, productivity software and elegant social media apps for your new device.
Whether you have the smaller iPad Mini, 9.7inch iPad Air 2 or the productivity-focused laptop-size iPad Pro – these downloads will help you make the most of the beautiful Apple hardware.
#1 – Facebook (Free)
Statistically, you're probably already on Facebook.
The US social network has a jaw-dropping 1.55 billion monthly active users around the globe – and a beautiful iPad client.
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| Apple iPad Facebook app takes full advantage of the larger screen real estate |
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| The US social network has a jaw-dropping 1.55 billion monthly active users |
Facebook takes full advantage of the larger iPad screen real estate – allowing the interface space to breath, like it does on the web.
The Californian social network is increasingly becoming a main source of news and the iOS app loads webpages natively, as well as playing videos in full-screen.
In landscape, the Facebook app is even better – bringing up a side-panel of what is trending on the social network, recent friends and more.
Unfortunately Facebook hasn't been updated to take full advantage of the iPad Pro, so you'll have to make do with a slightly blown-up iPad Air display for now.
#2 – Monument Valley (£2.99)
This staggeringly beautiful iOS game is also infuriatingly addictive.
Players have to guide the Princess Ida around a series of optical illusions and impossible mazes in three dimensions.
Granted, the game is a little short – and can be teeth-grindingly difficult at times. But is hands-down one of the best puzzle games available for the iPad.
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| Players have to guide the miniature princess around increasingly-complicated mazes |
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| The game is a little short, but is a must-have for any iPad owner |
As a result the iOS game was awarded an Apple Design Award as well as being named the Best iPad Game of the Year.
Additional levels can be purchased via in-app purchases, too. In case you manage to blast through the initial 10 puzzles during your Christmas holidays.
#3 – Pixelmator (£3.99)
Your new iPad is not only capable of playing beautiful games, it's also a powerful productivity tool. And Pixelmator is one of the best examples.
This inventive touchscreen photo editor lets you tap and drag your holiday snaps to picture-perfection.
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| Layers, one-tap preset effects and minute adjustments are all included in the stylish app |
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| Adobe Photoshop, PNG and JPEG files are all supported in the iPad app |
The nifty iPad app includes a slew of options and tools, from one-tap colour correction and preset filters, to warp tools, levels, curves, easy-to-use Clone tool and more than 100 different brushes.
Photographs up to 50MP can be tweaked, pinched and edited in this impressive tablet app.
You can import from your iCloud Photo Library, or any JPEG or PNG image from your cloud storage app of choice. The app can even import and export Photoshop images – with layers intact.
And if you're lucky enough to have an iPad Pro, the app has been updated to support the Apple Pencil, so your on-screen brushes replicate the pressure you apply to the display.
#4 – Tweetbot 4 (£3.99)
Tweetbot 4 is easily the best Twitter client available on the Apple iPad.
If you use Twitter to keep abreast of the latest breaking news, reactions to your favourite television shows and films or keep up-to-date with celebrities – this is a beautiful client.
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| Tweetbot 4 supports analytics to keep track of your most popular tweets, latest followers, replies |
The clean and stylish Twitter client works great in portrait and landscape mode, bringing a dual-column view in the latter which allows Twitter users to be more productive.
Tweetbot 4 also includes in-built analytics to keep track of your most popular tweets, your latest followers and replies.
Granted, the app does not have access to Twitter's latest feature – Moments. Although, this could be added in the future.
Thankfully Tweetbot does support the new split-screen functionality introduced with iOS 9, so you can dual-screen or just slide-in a small Twitter panel to quickly check your timeline.
#5 – Fantastical 2 (£3.99)
Fantastical 2 is the best calendar replacement for iPhone – and iPad.
If your calendar events and reminders run your life, then this is an essential purchase.
This slick productivity app combines your iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, Google calendar and reminders into a single, beautiful interface.
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| Fantastical 2 supports natural language input for your events and reminders |
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| You can drag and swipe to swap between the available calendar views |
With a ticker-tape week view, traditional calendar month view or a rolling list which combines your upcoming events and reminders – there are endless customisation options.
And best of all – Fantastical 2 supports natural language input for your events and reminders, so you only have to type "lunch with Dave tomorrow at 1" or "remind me to take out the bins when I get home" and the app does the rest.
It's reliable and eerily accurate. And there is a powerful Notification Widget, which brings a full calendar to your Notification drop-down.
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