We bring you the best iPad applications so that you can unleash both your Apple tablet and your Apple Pencil. With these Apple Pencil apps, you can draw, sketch, take notes, sign documents and much more.
Apple Pencil transforms the iPad Mini and iPad Pro from a touchscreen tablets to a computer with a precise pointing device. Add an Apple pencil to your iPad Mini or iPad Pro and you’ll see that it spreads its wings. Tasks like editing photos, taking notes in the classroom, drawing and graphic design become more intuitive, faster and easier. Check out our list of the best Apple Pencil apps for iPad Mini and iPad Pro.
After the launch of the new iPad Mini, the possibility of using the Apple Pencil came to an affordable tablet for the first time. Until then, the stylus was only compatible with the range of iPad Pro.
Whichever iPad model you have, you’ll want to make sure you get the most out of the Apple Pencil. The ‘Notes’ and ‘Pages’ apps are a good start, but you’ll see that with the applications on this list you can do much more.
14 Apps for iPad Mini with Apple Pencil support
Already bought your new iPad Mini 5, a good cover and tempered glass to protect it? Also, buy accessories for your new Apple tablet? If so, now it’s time to download some good and free apps and games on your iPad Mini. And, also, don’t forget to download some Apple Pencil compatible apps on your iPad Mini. In this article, we compile the best Apple Pencil apps for iPad Mini 5 and other iPad devices.
Apple Notes
Before jumping into the abyss of fantastic third-party apps, don’t forget all that Apple Notes can do. The integrated Notes app comes with Apple Pencil support. Create a new note, then start writing with the Apple Pencil. You can doodle, draw or do anything else you want. Touch the Pencil icon at the bottom to display the toolbar. From here, you can switch to a pen or marker and choose the desired color. Tap the Lasso tool icon to create a section.
With it, simply draw a part of the note and you will be able to lift it and move it. The best reason to use Apple Notes as an app to quickly take notes on the iPad is its integration with iOS. Touch the lock screen with your Apple Pencil and you will immediately open the Notes app with an empty note or the last note you accessed (you can specify it in the settings).
Autodesk Sketchbook
This is another of the best Apple Pencil apps for iPad Mini and iPad Pro users. The Autodesk Sketchbook application is a tool that every professional artist should have on their iPad Mini and Pro, especially because it includes a wide variety of features that will allow you to scan handmade drawings on paper with your tablet’s camera.
Then, you can take advantage of the app’s functions to edit, improve and refine the drawing. You will have at your disposal more than 190 customizable brushes with which you can paint and change the color, opacity, and thickness …
If what you are looking for is an app that allows you to use geometric shapes, Autodesk Sketchbook is also for you, since with it you can use tools such as the ruler, use radial symmetry or add shapes of all kinds.
Notability Apple Pencil app
Notability is designed to be an app for multi-purpose notes, particularly for students. When you open a note, you can choose to write with your Apple Pencil or type with the keyboard (and easily switch between them). Also, you can record the sound in the background. This makes Notability the best tool for taking lesson notes. You can change the background to show the graph paper and write down everything you need thanks to the infinite scrolling feature. Notability also marks page breaks, which makes it easy to export notes as PDF or print them later.
DocuSign – Upload & Sign Docs
This is another of the best Apple Pencil apps for iPad Mini and iPad Pro users. Tasks such as printing, signing, scanning and sending emails can take a lot of time. Luckily, there are applications like DocuSign in the App Store that will allow you to do this and much more in a heartbeat.
You will notice the comfort that this app brings in that you will no longer need to print a document, sign it, scan it and send it by email. No need to get up from your table. Simply open the PDF document and sign it using your Apple Pencil.
In addition, the fact of not having to print a page makes this application also a much greener option. The app also makes it very easy to recover documents that you have previously opened.
Paper
Paper was one of the first design apps for iPad on the market and is still one of the best free options around. If you just want to doodle, or need a blank page for brainstorming, download Paper. You will have access to half a dozen brushes ranging from one pencil to another: a fountain tip even makes its appearance. If you opt for Paper Pro, you get access to the diagram tools that convert your scribbles into perfect lines and shapes. This can be useful for storyboards or when creating mind maps.
Linea Sketch
Linea Sketch is located somewhere between the paper and the most professional drawing apps like Procreate. It gives you the simplicity of doodling what you want, with powerful tools like unlimited levels, transformation tools, automatic rulers, grids and more. Like any other design application, Linea takes a canvas-based approach. Unlike Notability, you won’t find an endless scrolling page here. However, it is possible to create more canvases and organize them into projects. The grid tool offers you backgrounds to take notes, draw and design user interfaces.
Linea Sketch’s genius lies in its simple design. The tools are arranged on two panels on both sides of the screen, allowing you to ignore the functions you don’t need. But this is a double-edged sword, since many of the interesting features of Linea are hidden behind the buttons. Once you are familiar with the app, you should create a blank page and try all the tools at least once.
GoodNotes 5
This is another of the best Apple Pencil apps for iPad Mini and iPad Pro users. GoodNotes 5 is the modernized version of the original iPad app. The premise of the first app was simple: it replicated a physical writing environment on the iPad. If you enjoyed writing on a yellow notepad, you can essentially get the same feeling on your iPad. But this also meant that GoodNotes had limited functionality. For example, it didn’t have the infinite vertical scrolling we’re used to in apps like Notes and Notability.
Instead, you had to turn the pages over every time. GoodNotes 5 takes care of these hassles. Continuous vertical scrolling makes it much easier to take notes. And this version improves on all aspects that make GoodNotes a robust note-taking app. Now you can nest all the folders you want and easily organize them.
Pixelmator
Pixelmator is known as an intuitive and simple image editor. While you can use Pixelmator to quickly edit photos, it does much more. It is somewhere between Snapseed and Photoshop. You can create an empty canvas, add and arrange photos, create forms, add text and more. Everyone lives on their own independent level. Apple Pencil adds another level of creativity. Using the selection tool, you can pinpoint parts of images that you want to change. You can also write over freehand images or draw any shape you want. Pixelmator comes with a variety of brushes, from calligraphy to pastels.
Procreate
This is another of the best Apple Pencil apps for iPad Mini and iPad Pro users. Procreate is the latest app for Apple Pencil. If you can dream it and you have the skills, you can probably do it using Procreate on iPad. In the absence of Photoshop, Procreate is rightly considered a replacement for the Adobe suite. Procreate is more suitable for drawing and painting. It is not really designed for graphic design and vector work. For this, you should take a look at apps like Affinity Designer.
Adobe Illustrator Draw
If you are a designer and mainly use Illustrator, you should consider making Illustrator Draw part of your workflow. Illustrator Draw is a mobile version of the app. As the name suggests, it is designed for vector drawings. The app doesn’t do much else. But it can be a good place to start designing projects that then transfer to your Mac. If you are using Procreate or another raster app to draw and want to convert them to vector, you can import the image into Illustrator Draw, draw it on to create a vector drawing and export it to Illustrator on the desktop.
Download Adobe Illustrator Draw
Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is the only vector design app with full functionality on the iPad. It brings almost all the functionality from the Mac app to the iPad, and it does so intuitively. At first glance, you may get the impression that a lot is happening while the app covers three sides of the screen with toolbars. But don’t be overwhelmed; touch each button and you’ll see the detailed options appear. To facilitate the work, Affinity has created three different modes: Vector, Pixel, and Export.
Vector mode is for drawing, while Pixel mode is similar to using a raster app like Photoshop. If you use the Designer app for graphic design or user interfaces, how to Export makes it easy to export individual tasks. The app is fast and smooth. Start creating points and paths and you’re on your way to creating an illustration. The features you expect from a good vector drawing app (pen tool, node tool, fill tool, live forms) are all here and have been made more intuitive for a touchscreen.
Download Affinity Designer
Pigment
This is another of the best Apple Pencil apps for iPad Mini and iPad Pro users. Staining has been known to reduce stress and anxiety. The simple act of taking time out of your busy life and focusing on coloring can be meditative. And you don’t need to buy a coloring book for adults or colored pencils to get started. All you need is an app to color the iPad. The Pigment app has a collection of over 4,000 coloring pages. You will surely find something that strikes your imagination, from simple nature drawings to complex mandalas with which you can really spend your time. The pigment has two coloring modes.
If you want, you can touch the shape and only the color in it. No matter how much you try, the color will not bleed out of the selection. If you want a more realistic design experience, don’t touch the shape before you start coloring.
Evernote
There is no doubt that Evernote is one of our favorite apps and it sure also becomes one of your favorites when you start using it. It will allow you to have all your notes in one application.
But the way to take full advantage of Evernote’s possibilities is to do it with an iPad and using an Apple Pencil. We did not find a better way to take notes or create sketches than with this app.
This is due, in part, to the possibility of accessing your files from a wide variety of different devices. By simply creating an account, you can check your documents from your iPad, iPhone or Mac.
PDF Expert
The PDF Expert app makes it very easy for you to create sketches on PDF documents, as well as add notes, highlight paragraphs or approve or reject changes in the design. In short, if you usually work with PDFs, this is your best option.
In fact, this area is another with which you will have a totally different experience if you use your Apple Pencil. You will notice a significant change when using a stylus compared to if you only use your finger to perform all these actions.
It is true that you can add comments using the built-in iOS function, but you will see that this program makes it much easier. In addition, this is also our preferred app to sign documents.
Become a professional with Apple’s pencils apps for iPad Mini and iPad Pro
As we have seen, Apple Pencil is truly an extraordinary tool when combined with apps designed for this. Get some of the best Apple Pencil apps and find out what you can create. Do you want to do more work? Check out the best professional iPad apps.