Updated: Top 40 best iPad apps – paid apps
The iPad already has loads of great apps available for it.
Some are universal, optimising themselves accordingly for your iPad or iPhone.
Some are 'upgrades' of iPhone apps, reworked for iPad. And some are entirely new apps, designed specifically for Apple's table.
We worked our way through the App Store and furiously tested a huge (digital) pile of apps, before coming up with our 40 best paid-for iPad apps.
1. 1Password for iPad (£5.99)
Online security is increasingly important, and it's recommended you use 'random', complicated passwords for logins. The thing is, they're tough to remember, which is why 1Password is a handy app to install. It enables you to store website names and passwords for automatic login.
Unlike the Mac version, 1Password for iPad doesn't integrate with Safari, instead using a built-in browser, but it's a no-brainer for safeguarding details you don't want anyone else to have access to.
2. Air Display (£5.99, universal)
If your iPad's sitting unused in your office while you work on your Mac or Windows PC, Air Display enables you to turn your tablet into a second display.
It's likely using VNC, so updates aren't fast enough for video, but the app's fine for palettes, inspectors, IM apps and browser windows, and although you can move your mouse cursor to the iPad, you can also control your computer's windows via the touchscreen.
3. Air Sharing HD (£5.99)
Apple seems to think email and iTunes are the best ways to get documents on and off your iPad. If you want something better, Air Sharing HD enables you to wirelessly copy across files via Finder or Windows Explorer, or to grab attachments from email accounts. Items within the app can be managed, viewed, opened in another app, emailed, or printed via a shared printer on your network.
4. Air Video (£1.79, universal)
Air Video Free grabbed a slot in our best free iPad apps feature, but the paid-for Air Video release is even better. Lacking restrictions, it enables you to browse full playlists and folders from computers on your network running the free Air Video Server, enabling you to stream video.
The app uses live conversion when necessary and works with AirPlay if you have an Apple TV.
5. FlipTime XL (£1.19)
In our opinion, FlipTime for iPhone is the best clock app ever designed. The iPad version is pretty much identical, aping old-school flight info boards and including alarms and a 'flickable' calendar. Luckily, this means it's still utterly brilliant.
6. FTP On The Go PRO (£5.99, universal)
FTP On The Go PRO is used to view web and office files on a server, and to resize and upload images from your photo library. There's also a built-in editor and browser, making the app almost resemble a 'lite' iPad version of Panic's Coda.
7. GoodReader for iPad (£2.99)
If you want a good PDF reader for iPad, it makes sense to buy one called GoodReader! Luckily, the app lives up to its name. You can connect to various services (or dump documents into the app via iTunes file sharing), and the app is effective for reading PDFs (and also other text files, such as Office and iWork documents). The app now also enables annotations.
8. Instapaper (£2.99, universal)
If you often find yourself thinking "I'll read that later", but you never do, you need Instapaper. It enables you, with the help of a bookmarklet, to fling web content to the service, which then syncs with the iPad app. This provides you with a focused, high-quality reading experience on a device that's great for reading. A number of iPad and iPhone apps also offer 'send to Instapaper' support.
9. Korg iElectribe (£5.99)
If you're lucky, you might be able to pick up an Electribe-R on eBay for £100. By contrast, Korg iElectribe costs six quid and yet it's essentially the same piece of kit that's revered by dance musicians. While it's great fun for mucking about with, the app also has serious potential for live performance and recording duties.
10. LogMeIn Ignition (£17.99, universal)
Yet another universal app that suddenly makes sense on the iPad's larger screen, LogMeIn Ignition enables you to access and control computers remotely. Set-up is simple and the app is usable, assuming you've a reasonably fast internet connection.
The iPad version also helpfully includes Command+Tab and Command+' shortcuts for Mac users, assuming you have the slightly cryptic 'Alt=Command, Windows=Alt' setting selected in LogMeIn Ignition's 'Remote Control' preferences.
11. Numbers (£5.99)
The best of the three iWork apps for iPad, Numbers feels right at home on Apple's tablet. The intelligent keyboard is a joy to use when entering data, and you can create forms that make adding data to tables a cinch. If your needs are modest, this app can rival Bento for data management, and it's capable of exporting to Numbers for Mac, Excel and PDF.
12. OmniGraffle (£29.99)
OmniGraffle feels right at home on the iPad, using the touchscreen as a canvas. The diagramming tool - which you can use to create flowcharts, sketch out ideas, and even plan an office floorplan - is intuitive and straightforward, enabling you to make full use of multi-touch gestures to draw, drag and style shapes.
13. Pages (£5.99)
Another iWork app converted to the iPad, Pages is a successful word processor, offering some interesting multi-touch gestures for editing content. In combination with a keyboard dock or Bluetooth keyboard, it's possible to do real work on the iPad using Pages, even if the app lacks some features from the desktop version.
14. Photogene for iPad (£1.79)
Photogene is similar to the iPhone version in being a simple tool for making quick image edits: cropping, resizing, straightening, levels adjustment and sharing. Usefully, the app includes session restore and the ability to revert any section's edits, ensuring you can experiment without fear.
15. Pianist Pro (£2.99)
This upgrade of MooCowMusic's iPhone app is a useful tool for musicians. On the iPad, the piano keys on Pianist Pro are large enough to actually play a real song. There's a selection of sampled piano, organ and synth sounds included, along with an arpeggiator, a basic drum machine and recording functionality, making this a suitable app for laying down quick demos.
16. SketchBook Pro (£2.99)
We're big fans of SketchBook on the iPhone, and this high-def version, SketchBook Pro, makes it even easier to sketch out an artistic image. The tools are amazingly advanced, mirroring what you might see in Photoshop, Painter or in a real artist's shop. (Image credit: Michael Heald, fullyillustrated.com)
17. Soulver (£3.49)
It's hard to categorise Soulver - the app is a mixture of calculator, spreadsheet and the back of an envelope. It enables you to make calculations in plain English, using a multi-line display. The large, friendly keyboard includes useful features such as percentages and user-definable variables, and Soulver for iPad therefore comes recommended as an alternative, superior take on a calculator.
18. Things (£11.99)
Things is a task manager for iPhone and Mac, well-regarded due to its innovative, efficient means of filing items, which helps you focus. New to-dos are collected in your inbox, and you define what you want to achieve today, soon (via the 'Next' category), soonish (via 'Scheduled') or at some point in the distant future ('Someday'). On the iPad, Things boasts an intuitive interface, making using the app almost effortless.
19. Twittelator for iPad (£2.99)
Twittelator for iPad is a Twitter client which makes full use of the iPad's screen space. On the left is your feed; on the right is everything else: messages, mentions, searches and drafts. This means you don't leave your feed to do other stuff. There are also loads of options for power users, but the default set-up's fine for anyone who doesn't like to tinker.
20. Weather Station Pro (£1.19)
It's not the most feature-packed weather app, but Weather Station Pro is one of the best-looking ones. It provides current conditions for user-defined locations; for one selected location, you also get a five-day forecast, sunrise and sunset times, and local time information, making the app suitable for use as a clock when your iPad's docked.
21. Comic Zeal Comic Reader (£4.99, universal)
Comics remains our favourite comics app for iPad, but Comic Zeal is great if you've comics in CBR, CBZ, RAR, ZIP or PDF formats, lurking on your hard drive. It deals well with large images, and the interface has useful customisation options.
22. Weather Pro for iPad (£2.99)
Without doubt the best weather app for Europeans, and still a good buy elsewhere, Weather Pro provides a great interface for at-a-glance forecasts for the week ahead. You can store as many favourite locations as you wish, and cloud and rainfall radars are included.
23. miniSynth PRO (£5.99)
miniSynth PRO is another app that shows the iPad isn't just for content consumption. This full-featured synth offers plenty of sliders and settings for retro-oriented keyboard players. The arpeggiator is particularly impressive, and the ability to save presets and output audio for the likes of GarageBand and Logic makes this app well worth the outlay.
24. The World Factbook for iPad (£1.19)
The CIA World Factbook, with information on over 250 countries, comes to the iPad. The content is updated regularly, but works offline, and the interface provides fast access to succinct, informative facts about chosen countries. Built-in comparison charts are also available, appearing in context as pop-ups.
25. Reeder for iPad (£2.99)
Not just the best iPad RSS reader, Reeder is the best RSS reader for any platform. Forget the gimmicky 'zoom to peek' gesture for checking out a feed's latest articles—where Reeder truly shines is in its sheer usability. So much care has gone into making navigation simple and effortless, and aesthetic decisions taken by the developer have resulted in clear, readable content throughout.
26. My Writing Spot for iPad (£2.99)
With Apple's Pages available, you might question the reasoning in buying another word processor. However, My Writing Spot takes things back to basics, concentrating purely on writing, not presentation; it offers auto-save, automatic word count, and a choice of font style, and keeps everything simple and focussed.
27. Flowpaper (£0.59, universal)
A painting tool of sorts, Flowpaper supplies you with a handful of complex, sweeping, flowing brushes that you can use to make abstract paintings. The results can be shared and often make good home screen backgrounds, although whoever added an undo button but no redo needs a slap.
28. OmniFocus for iPad (£23.99)
It's been a long time coming, but Omni Group's task manager has hit the iPad, and in style. As you'd expect, OmniFocus for iPad happily syncs with OmniFocus for other platforms, but it also works nicely as a standalone product. The interface is workmanlike but highly usable, enabling you to efficiently detail, edit and review tasks and schedules; a standout feature is the new 'forecast' view that bundles overdue items and provides an overview of the week ahead.
29. Photo fx Ultra (£2.99)
The iPad's fairly large screen makes it ideal for adding effects to your photos. Photo fx Ultra offers a wide range of digital optical filters, enabling you to enhance your images and add effects. Its layers feature is weak, but for applying one or two filters, straightening and cropping, this app does the job ably.
30. FlickStackr (£1.19, universal)
FlickStackr deals with two major concerns of regular Flickr users: browsing and managing photos. On the former task, FlickStackr makes it a cinch to browse Flickr as a whole, or view slideshows of your contacts' images. For uploading, there's a user-friendly interface for grabbing images on your iPad, adding tags and sending your selection to Flickr.
31. GarageBand for iPad (£2.99)
Apple's music studio comes to iPad in a cut-down but still surprisingly feature-packed form. For guitarists, GarageBand for iPad boasts plenty of amps and effects; for newcomers, there are smart instruments aplenty. Only for electronic musicians is GarageBand a little weak, but for three quid it's a decent investment, and the ability to export to the Mac version boosts its value.
32. Korg iMS-20 (£9.49)
Another recreation of a classic Korg synth that costs a fraction of the real thing, Korg iMS-20 includes a sequencer, drum machine, mixer and effects, along with touch-based Kaoss pads. With support for the Camera Connection Kit, this is a first-rate software synth for professional musicians.
33. Brushes - iPad edition (£4.99)
Steve Sprang's Brushes app became famous on the iPhone when it was used to create covers for the New Yorker. On the iPad edition of Brushes, the larger screen makes for a better experience, and while it doesn't offer the depth of some of its rivals, Brushes remains a highly usable and responsive painting app.
34. AmpliTube for iPad (£11.99)
If GarageBand doesn't satisfy your iOS needs as a guitarist, AmpliTube is the app you should check out next. There are presets to choose from, but braver guitarists can mess with myriad settings; and if you find the content you get with the app restrictive, further effects and features (including an eight-track recorder) are available via IAP.
35. iA Writer (£0.59)
Writing app iA Writer has a real penchant for minimalism, with its grey-on-grey visuals, take-it-or-leave-it set-up and 'focus mode', which enables you to concentrate more heavily on only a few lines of text in your current document. For 59p, iA Writer is a bargain and highly recommended, even if you already have a couple of writing apps installed.
36. iMovie (£2.99, universal)
Apple's iMovie was a big deal on the iPhone, but the iPad version of iMovie takes things some way further. The interface is similar to the impressive iMovie for Mac, and while there are limitations (notably regarding audio and footage import), it's a great app to own if you want to knock rushes into shape before fine-tuning an edit later on your computer.
37. Inkpad (£2.99)
From the team behind Brushes, Inkpad is a vector-based drawing app, with tools and an interface that resemble a stripped-down Adobe Illustrator. Although a little lacking in tools that enable precision art to be created, export to SVG means Inkpad can at least be used for sketches and ideas that can then be continued on your Mac or PC.
38. TuneIn Radio Pro (£0.59, universal)
This first-rate internet radio player removes any reason for you to buy a digital radio - just pay 59p for TuneIn Radio Pro and output audio to an AirPlay device or to an amp (using one of those old-fashioned wire things). With multitasking support and plenty of options (including recording), you won't find a better radio app for your iPad.
39. Penultimate for iPad (£1.19)
There's a laudable sense of focus in Penultimate, which has fine-tuned its handwriting app without shoving in unnecessary features. To that end, you get a robust writing tool (with palm recognition), alternate paper types and PDF export.
40. The Elements: A Visual Exploration (£7.99)
Still one of the few digital books that fully takes advantage of a touchscreen interface, The Elements: A Visual Exploration gives you serious insight into the periodic table. Behind the gloss are plenty of facts, and the only negative is the app's huge size (1.71 GB), which might put off anyone with a 16GB iPad.
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