I think anyone who works in a creative environment, especially one that involves collaboration with others, will jump on and use Freeform.
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10 Things You Can Do With the Freeform App in iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2
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I agree that AD is fairly complex for this purpose. Though it isn’t a vector tool, Keynote is a good tool for UX/UI design and prototyping.
Freeform is really shaping up to be a solid useful productivity took.
Without Windows support there won’t be much collaboration going on at most workplaces. Even Mac support would not help.
Best you could do is screen sharing in MS Teams.
Maybe as a Tinder pre-date collaboration tool. Planning out the night on it.
How are you certain that there's not some dependency in that iOS update to make the app work correctly? Perhaps the ridicule is itself ridiculous.
They can just wait until they feel comfortable with the update.
Maybe there is a dependency -- maybe only devices having this iOS update are "eligible".
It should be an easy download in the future. If there is a dependency on this version of iOS, then requiring the update before getting the app is entirely appropriate.
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and Concepts. I like just using the infinite canvas to just imagine and think.
And can you add documents such as Pages and then click through to open and edit them? Then I could have a mind map with embedded or linked docs for managing a writing project.
We, at least now, don't know if the underpinnings depend on some functionality in ios 16.2. It's easy to hurl criticisms.
Sounds cool and I'm all for another doodling app. But for getting useful work done, outside of Tim Cook and a few writers, who prefers to do anything useful on an iPad when a real machine is nearby? It doesn't matter how many multitasking, windowing, file features, how many magic and non-magic keyboards they add to iPads. iPads are a distant distant option for being productive with work that isn't mostly writing.
The article missed one of its best features. It has Omnigraffle-like features with connection lines that include different line routing and arrow options. Arrows stick to the edges around built-in shapes or imported SVG files. Words can be added on shapes to create flow charts.
I could see using Freeform in a Zoom meeting for some collaborative diagramming.
I could see using Freeform in a Zoom meeting for some collaborative diagramming.
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It wasn’t really designed for that, but could probably make it work in a pinch. The biggest issue is it can only save PDF directly. SVG is only supported in copy/paste. You can copy vectors out of Freeform then paste them in Sketch or similar tool. I feel it is only a matter of time for Sketch to get an iPad port though.
It feels like Apple wants it to be a core part of the OS. It isn’t a normal app. Maybe Apple is planning to integrate it everywhere.
Depends. Some things are fully real-time, other things don’t update until editing stopped. There is no manual sync. If it is open on your Mac and iPad, all changes happen on both as they occur. It is the best collaboration experience I’ve seen out of Apple so far. It’s great even if you are just collaborating with yourself through two devices.
This is true, but if you then want to move the stickies and have the written text stay on them, you first have to group the stickies and the written text before you can do that.
It’s cumbersome - especially because I have yet to find a way to group things using the pencil and not my fingers.
Freeform is already ready as…Numbers
Freeform is a redundant application from Apple.
To use Freeform you need the latest beta of IOS, iPadOS and Ventura.
For some of us, due to its availability on only newer Macs, Ventura is unplayable, and neither can Freeform, as it appears to be part of Apple's Core applications.
This makes collaborating on your own document very difficult, let alone with other users.
Unnecessary:
It is a waste of energy and resources to develop this application because:
.Most of it is already in the iWork suite
.The few added features can be better implemented in the iWork suite.
.Many new APIs, made available by Apple, are not used.
.Functionality from Notes is not used.
Because I can't run Ventura I will do the comparison with 2 iPads and my Monterey macOS
I divide the comparison into a number of categories
Startup:
Format Similar to Notes
no tags possible
no sub possible
Options:
1: sticky Notes
No option to start left at the top
No scalable text
Limited number of colors
Editing options less than in Notes and iWork added description not visible with icon or flag.
Only text can be copied to other app, not the sticky note itself, not even as PNG
.multiple selected objects will not become one object in other apps, including iWork or Notes
Don't snap to the selected canvas
2. Shapes
1. No difference with the iWork suite
2. No ability to save custom shapes
3. Some borders around objects are incomplete
3. Text
1. More limited than iWork
2. Attributes are lost when copying to iWork
4. Drawing
1. Largely Similar to iWork
2. No option to make straight square like in Notes
5. Unlimited canvas
1. Also present in Numbers
6. Media
1. Insert files
1. A Lookup is created. Document not being added?
2. Where are the freeform files, how open are they?
2. Scan: Similar to Notes, including text recognition
3. Camera: Similar to Notes and iWork
4. Video: only 4:3 and no 16:9, in iWork yes
7. Choose background
1. Only two options
2. Easy to create in iWork using a template
8. Web version: no web version yet
1. iWork has a stable and well-functioning collaboration mode that has just been improved.
And it works on windows machines, using the iCloud version.
Positive:
1.PDF support
Inserting a PDF document works well. It is shown with Preview.
An option that's easy to add to iWork
Inserting a link: Works faster than in iWork
Easy to add to iWork
Comments:
Insert web video:
Option works much better in iWork, embedded playback
In Freeform it's a link
iWork and especially Numbers is much more extensive, more flexible and with some minor adjustments an excellent alternative.
Freeform is a redundant application from Apple.
To use Freeform you need the latest beta of IOS, iPadOS and Ventura.
For some of us, due to its availability on only newer Macs, Ventura is unplayable, and neither can Freeform, as it appears to be part of Apple's Core applications.
This makes collaborating on your own document very difficult, let alone with other users.
Unnecessary:
It is a waste of energy and resources to develop this application because:
.Most of it is already in the iWork suite
.The few added features can be better implemented in the iWork suite.
.Many new APIs, made available by Apple, are not used.
.Functionality from Notes is not used.
Because I can't run Ventura I will do the comparison with 2 iPads and my Monterey macOS
I divide the comparison into a number of categories
Startup:
Format Similar to Notes
no tags possible
no sub possible
Options:
1: sticky Notes
No option to start left at the top
No scalable text
Limited number of colors
Editing options less than in Notes and iWork added description not visible with icon or flag.
Only text can be copied to other app, not the sticky note itself, not even as PNG
.multiple selected objects will not become one object in other apps, including iWork or Notes
Don't snap to the selected canvas
2. Shapes
1. No difference with the iWork suite
2. No ability to save custom shapes
3. Some borders around objects are incomplete
3. Text
1. More limited than iWork
2. Attributes are lost when copying to iWork
4. Drawing
1. Largely Similar to iWork
2. No option to make straight square like in Notes
5. Unlimited canvas
1. Also present in Numbers
6. Media
1. Insert files
1. A Lookup is created. Document not being added?
2. Where are the freeform files, how open are they?
2. Scan: Similar to Notes, including text recognition
3. Camera: Similar to Notes and iWork
4. Video: only 4:3 and no 16:9, in iWork yes
7. Choose background
1. Only two options
2. Easy to create in iWork using a template
8. Web version: no web version yet
1. iWork has a stable and well-functioning collaboration mode that has just been improved.
And it works on windows machines, using the iCloud version.
Positive:
1.PDF support
Inserting a PDF document works well. It is shown with Preview.
An option that's easy to add to iWork
Inserting a link: Works faster than in iWork
Easy to add to iWork
Comments:
Insert web video:
Option works much better in iWork, embedded playback
In Freeform it's a link
iWork and especially Numbers is much more extensive, more flexible and with some minor adjustments an excellent alternative.
There are other collaborative whiteboard services out there. Miro is popular. I like this being included with the OS.
So what you’re saying is, “This is a waste of time because I can‘t run it on my Mac.”
Which then led to a review where you hunted around for stuff you didn’t like, and ended in a conclusion that you should use iWork because you can run that – on your Mac.
I guess that means you have a choice not to use it. It doesn’t make it redundant, otherwise we’d all use only Office 365. It’s all about choices that suit you.
I love Freeform. First time I've installed public betas of iPadOS and macOS, which I did specifically to try out Freeform.
To those wondering why Freeform is tied to an OS update, I speculate that it may have required some under the hood tweaks to how iCloud works. A podcast called metamuse from the makers of another great infinite canvas app - Muse - discussed the challenges of combining a fast & fluid inking experience (120 fps) and reliable sync across devices (let alone realtime collaboration). It's non trivial.
Most infinite canvas apps seem to either use a cloud-first model (like Microsoft Whiteboard), where inking and moving objects just doesn't feel quite as fluid as it should OR are native apps (like Concepts), but do not allow realtime collaboration or cross-device syncing.
Of course iWork apps and Notes already have some of this "best of both". My assumption is that Freeform takes this "native, but syncs fast" to another level.
To those wondering why Freeform is tied to an OS update, I speculate that it may have required some under the hood tweaks to how iCloud works. A podcast called metamuse from the makers of another great infinite canvas app - Muse - discussed the challenges of combining a fast & fluid inking experience (120 fps) and reliable sync across devices (let alone realtime collaboration). It's non trivial.
Most infinite canvas apps seem to either use a cloud-first model (like Microsoft Whiteboard), where inking and moving objects just doesn't feel quite as fluid as it should OR are native apps (like Concepts), but do not allow realtime collaboration or cross-device syncing.
Of course iWork apps and Notes already have some of this "best of both". My assumption is that Freeform takes this "native, but syncs fast" to another level.
>You can draw with a finger on the iPhone, or on the iPad, with an Apple Pencil
It's a shame I can't draw on my MacBook with the Wacom drawing tablet. Apple just disabled it and want me to but 10 times more expensive iPad for that purpose 🙄
I'll stick with Microsoft OneNote for now. It's cross-platform and doesn't have these ridiculous limitations.
It's a shame I can't draw on my MacBook with the Wacom drawing tablet. Apple just disabled it and want me to but 10 times more expensive iPad for that purpose 🙄
I'll stick with Microsoft OneNote for now. It's cross-platform and doesn't have these ridiculous limitations.