5 Essential Apps That Will Improve Your iPad Experience in 2026

The iPad is the perfect device between the power of the Mac and the always-on-the-go experience of the iPhone. Being an iPad user since this tablet’s debut has allowed me to watch it evolve from a “bigger iPhone” to a multitasking device that is also my favorite for watching my favorite TV shows, writing down my thoughts, and exploring my creativity. From the iPad 2 to the iPad Pro M4, I had a range of iPad models, including Air and mini options.

Over the years, I’ve also tried hundreds of different apps. While I think my most used apps on iPad are usually Netflix, YouTube, Apple Music, and ExpressVPN—especially when I’m in different countries and need to access region-specific content—these apps listed below contain a mix of taking advantage of the iPad’s large screen, its touch capabilities, and even the great combination of pairing this tablet with a Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro. Bonus if, like me, you also own an iPad Pro with an M4 or M5 chip, because these tablets have the best display of Apple’s consumer products and make everything you do appear on the screen.

Goodnotes is the app I never took full advantage of in college, but it was my go-to whenever I needed to open a PDF, annotate something, or even sign a document. I didn’t know what a powerful app it was for taking notes, organizing my thoughts, and studying languages. With this application, you can create several notebooks and divide them between subjects, ideas or as you wish. Currently I use Goodnotes the most to study Italian and French, as I have specific tabs for my courses. I can add photos, PDFs, add handwritten notes, and even use tools that greatly improve the appearance of my notebook.

Although I purchased Goodnotes 5 many years ago, Goodnotes now focuses on a subscription plan, which includes AI, so you can brainstorm, create a mind map and diagram on an infinite canvas, record and transcribe audio meetings in real time, and even create documents that contribute ideas with external information, while allowing you to collaborate with your teammates. Although I use GoodNotes as my personal app, the AI ​​part wasn’t a worthwhile upgrade. I highly recommend this app to anyone studying at college, taking multiple meetings, or just wanting well-organized notebooks. The best part is the great integration with Apple Pencil, as that’s the only way I can use this app with a 13-inch iPad.

Apple acquired Pixelmator software and its team a few years ago. Long before that, I was already using this company’s software around the iPad Air 2 release and Apple’s focus on machine learning, which we all now see the company calling AI. At the time, the app was called Pixelmator Photo and was eventually renamed Photomator. What made this app so amazing at the time was its ability to quickly sharpen any photos I took, and it also offered a powerful eraser tool that, while it didn’t drastically change an image, could remove certain objects, people, or other things that looked abnormal. The best part: I could do all of this on my iPad screen.

In early 2026, we finally found out that Apple will not phase out the Pixelmator software, but will continue to update the Photomator app. However, the company also surprised users by launching a brand new iPad version of Pixelmator Pro as part of the Apple Creator Studio bundle, which offers nine apps for a single subscription.

While I think Pixelmator Pro is the better option for those who want a Mac-like experience, especially for photo editing, I think Photomator is a more interesting tool because you can buy it once and focus on improving your photos with its easy-to-use features.

If you have a long day at work, want to relax a little, or really need to focus, Portal might be the best option for you. While the iPad app can’t replace your desktop background like it can on Mac, it takes advantage of the iPad Pro’s beautiful OLED display with breathtaking high-resolution images and Spatial Audio support.

Basically, you can choose between several cinematic and vivid landscapes to immerse yourself in. The idea behind this app is to connect users with nature, which helps them boost their creativity, relieve anxiety, etc. One of the best features introduced in 2025 is Circadian Flow, which syncs portals with your time zone, helping you experience different natural scenes and sounds depending on the time of day. Usually if I’m working on Mac I just use Portal, but if I’m cooking, trying to relax, or even getting ready for bed, Portal is a good way for me to relax.

Even if you use your iPad for work instead of a Mac, you can still enjoy the app by putting on your AirPods and simply listening to the sounds of nature while you work, study, or organize your thoughts. The app has a 7-day free trial and offers both a subscription and a lifetime pass. Subscription is $12.99/month or $69.99/year; the lifetime pass costs $299.99.

I’m far from being good at drawing. However, my very expensive iPad Pro inspires me to explore everything I can do with it, including sketching and sketching. Paper is the best app for doing this. After all, it offers tools for sketching, pasting, painting and sketching. Usually I like to add photos or other images and draw on them, so that I can delete the photo later and see if I did it right.

The app also lets you add multiple photos onto a single page, so you can create moodboards, storyboards, find inspiration, or simply organize your ideas. Users can create different journals depending on what they want, so you can save one notebook for a moodboard, another for small drawings, another for work, etc.

Although the software is free, subscribing to its Pro level unlocks unlimited journals, custom templates, canvas clips, new brush adjustments, iCloud syncing, and other advanced tools. Of course, the app works best with an Apple Pencil, as you can take advantage of that accessory’s pressure sensor on the iPad’s screen. On top of that, the iPad’s large screen helps you organize your thoughts better, as you can zoom in to improve a very specific part of your drawing, or have a more outside look, as if you were actually enjoying a physical laptop.

Whether you’re a writer, aspire to be one, or just enjoy sharing your thoughts from time to time, Ulysses might be one of the most essential iPad apps. It’s also available for iPhone and Mac, but there’s something unique about using Apple’s Magic Keyboard connected to an iPad Pro when you’re working on your next essay, novel, or story.

Ulysses offers a distraction-free, markup-based editor that focuses on what matters most: your creative process. With this, you don’t need to worry about how beautiful your text is, because the most important thing is to present your ideas. Ulysses allows you to organize your text through projects, which you can divide between different files. For example, I usually write my reports on Ulysses, so I have a file of drafts and another of published articles. It also allows me to add links so I can save my stories or mention other things I’ve written.

The app also flags incorrect capitalization, punctuation, semantics, redundancy, and style. Users can create eBooks, DOCX, PDF and HTML files to export in different formats. Finally, it is also possible to publish from Ulysses to WordPress, Ghost, Substack and other platforms. The app is free to download but requires a subscription for users to fully enjoy the most minimalist and best writing app available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Having covered Apple for over a decade and owning multiple iPad models since I was a teenager, I’ve used hundreds of apps on the multiple tablets I’ve used. In selecting the apps for this list, we considered many other solutions that were useful for a while but lacked that spark. These apps also represent a mix of popular apps from big companies and independent developers, resulting in a highly rated selection of iPad apps.