Apple Updates Keynote, Numbers, and Pages Apps With New Free and Paid Features

[MacRumors]

Apple today updated its Keynote, Numbers, and Pages apps with many new features across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but some of the additions are limited to users that are subscribed to the new Apple Creator Studio bundle that launched today.

Apple Creator Studio is a subscription bundle that provides access to the Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage apps on Mac and/or iPad, with U.S. pricing set at $12.99 per month or $129 per year.

A subscription to Apple Creator Studio also unlocks "intelligent features" and "premium content" in apps like Pixelmator Pro, Numbers, Pages, Keynote, and later Freeform.

On the iPhone and iPad, existing Keynote, Numbers, and Pages users will see updates to the apps in the App Store that contain both the free new features for everyone and paid new features for Apple Creator Studio subscribers.

On the Mac, the existing Keynote, Numbers, and Pages apps were updated (to version 14.5), but only to inform users that those existing apps will no longer be receiving new features of any kind. To receive new features, including free ones, you must install the new, separate Apple Creator Studio editions (version 15.1) of the apps.

Apple also updated the Keynote app on watchOS and visionOS.

Here is what is new in the Keynote app for all users:

• Experience a new, more fluid way to work on your presentations with Liquid Glass
• Access the full set of advanced options and controls right from the new menu bar in iPadOS 26
• Make text and other objects pop with extra brightness and vibrant color using HDR on supported displays
• Add personality to your work with new editable shapes

Here is what is new in the Keynote app for Apple Creator Studio subscribers:

• Make your work stand out with an exclusive new collection of professionally-designed themes
• Explore high-quality photos, graphics, and illustrations for your presentation in the all-new Content Hub
• Find inspiration faster with collections of new Apple-curated content in the Content Hub
• Create stunning images and graphics right in your document, apply quick edits, or adjust the style using AI
• Increase the clarity and detail of existing images and graphics using Super Resolution
• Use Auto Crop to generate suggestions for how to frame your image
• Transform a text outline into a first draft of slides for a new or existing presentation (beta)
• Automatically generate presenter notes based on context from your presentation (beta)
• Quickly clean up your slide’s layout, spacing, alignment, and typography (beta)
• Collaborate on larger files shared via iCloud–now up to 4GB

Here is what is new in the Numbers app for all users:

• Experience a new, more fluid way to work on your spreadsheets with Liquid Glass
• Access the full set of advanced options and controls right from the new menu bar in iPadOS 26
• Add personality to your work with new editable shapes

Here is what is new in the Numbers app for Apple Creator Studio subscribers:

• Make your work stand out with an exclusive new collection of professionally-designed templates
• Explore high-quality photos, graphics, and illustrations for your document in the all-new Content Hub
• Find inspiration faster with collections of new Apple-curated content in the Content Hub
• Create stunning images and graphics right in your document, apply quick edits, or adjust the style using AI
• Increase the clarity and detail of existing images and graphics using Super Resolution
• Use Auto Crop to generate suggestions for how to frame your image
• Use Magic Fill to suggest data or generate formulas based on pattern recognition
• Collaborate on larger files shared via iCloud–now up to 4GB

Here is what is new in the Pages app for all users:

• Experience a new, more fluid way to work on your documents with Liquid Glass
• Access the full set of advanced options and controls right from the new menu bar in iPadOS 26
• Add personality to your work with new editable shapes

Here is what is new in the Pages app for Apple Creator Studio subscribers:

• Make your work stand out with an exclusive new collection of professionally-designed templates
• Explore high-quality photos, graphics, and illustrations for your document in the all-new Content Hub
• Find inspiration faster with collections of new Apple-curated content in the Content Hub
• Create stunning images and graphics right in your document, apply quick edits, or adjust the style using AI
• Increase the clarity and detail of existing images and graphics using Super Resolution
• Use Auto Crop to generate suggestions for how to frame your image
• Collaborate on larger files shared via iCloud–now up to 4GB

Article Link: Apple Updates Keynote, Numbers, and Pages Apps With New Free and Paid Features

 

[HouseLannister]

iWork is now feeling like Fantastical. They took a perfectly good product and made a bad pricing model that only works for a certain kind of customer. When people complain, they tell you everything you used to have for free is still there. But the one-price-fits-all freemium experience is bad.

 

[Rafagon]

How much is it to just get the new app icons?

 

[B4U]

How much is it to just get the new app icons?

Free.
Just right click and go to get info, then we can change the icons there ourselves. 🤣

 

[n-evo]

Don’t understand what’s happening here. On my iPhone the old apps get updated to the new versions. On macOS I’m left with two versions.

 

[podycust]

How much is it to just get the new app icons?

Free tho I think I saw be paid to have to look at those horrible logos

So the've instead of updating the current apps/ listings create new ones but updated the old ones to show a message to install the new ones

 

[Nik]

"• Experience a new, more fluid way to work on your presentations with Liquid Glass"

If they were to offer the REMOVAL of liquid glass as a paid feature they may have a winner here. /s

 

[techyOS]

“the content hub” really couldn’t think of a better name?

 

[chucker23n1]

iWork is now feeling like Fantastical. They took a perfectly good product and made a bad pricing model that only works for a certain kind of customer.

Fantastical took a product that wasn't making them much money any more and fixed that so they could have a sustainable business.

 

[Nik]

“the content hub” really couldn’t think of a better name?

What about content island?

 

[DanteHicks79]

Considering how vitriolic the response to Liquid Glass has been, promoting it as a "feature" in the update notes is a choice.

Also, the UI design of any software should never be considered a feature. It should melt into the background and shouldn't be called out.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Oh wow. Not too many new features for non-subscribers. I guess it’s better than Microsoft 365 where they don’t let you save/edit your documents at all without paying or using the web version

 

[Joe Rossignol]

Don’t understand what’s happening here. On my iPhone the old apps get updated to the new versions. On macOS I’m left with two versions.

Correct. The existing iWork apps on Mac were updated to version 14.5 merely to direct users to install the new Apple Creator Studio versions (15.1) to continue to receive new features, including free ones for non-subscribers.

It's a bit of a mess, in my opinion, but earnings must go up!

 

[Godspeed8230]

I miss one time paid apps.

 

[xxFoxtail]

Don’t understand what’s happening here. On my iPhone the old apps get updated to the new versions. On macOS I’m left with two versions.

I’m not near my Mac at the moment, but they didn’t update the iWork apps like they did on the iPhone/ipad? Did they release completely new and separate subscription versions?

Edit: Saw Joe's response. I don’t like that! 😳

 

[Line_Noise]

If you don't want the "premium" AI crap, remember you can right click and customise the toolbars in macOS.

 

[KALLT]

Correct. The existing iWork apps on Mac were updated to version 14.5 merely to direct users to install the new Apple Creator Studio versions (15.1) to continue to receive new features, including free ones.

It's a bit of a mess, in my opinion, but earnings must go up!

The product pages in the App Store do say that the 14.5 updates include bug fixes and performance improvements. I don't want to believe I just wasted downloading and installing almost 2 GB worth of data just to tell me that a new version is available.

 

[Plutonius]

The "free" option seems more like it is trying to get people to update to iOS 26 and liquid glass.

 

[indychris]

I would take this much more seriously if Apple had a history of strong support behind Pages, Keynote and Numbers (which still looks to be flipping us off in the icon!). The fact is, when Apple moved from Apple Works to Pages, there were features that it took them YEARS to return. Even still, there are quirks with formatting that pop up in the mac version of pages frequently. I am little convinced of any added value here.

 

[iPay]

so they go freemium before downgrading unpaid options, Netflix style. Do they have too much customers?

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

Fantastical took a product that wasn't making them much money any more and fixed that so they could have a sustainable business.

Apple took a product that wasn't making them much money anymore (because they gave it away to Mac accounts for free) and got greedy so changed it so they could milk more money out of you.

 

[dg1974]

so, on Macos, to receive future "free" updates we all have to uninstall Keynote/Numbers/Pages and install this version, otherwise we will have two different version of the same apps, one without future updates and one with updates?
really smart!

 

[DrRadon]

Gave it a quick look on iPad.
Don’t like that they removed the solid top. Just like all that comes with Liquid Glass it makes stuff less user friendly.
Not a fan of all the ai features seemingly being locked. My understanding always was that I pay high priced Apple hardware to continue use of my software with new updates. Also very strange that things like templates that are not ai are now paywalled.

I suppose if you want to start a new video production studio and don’t own Final Cut and motion this is an absolute steal. For me as someone who only casually uses it and owns it it’s really annoying that there’s advertisements for the subscription everywhere…

 

[Cameront9]

I guess this means iWork is End-of-Lifed on Sonoma. I found the new versions in the App store but they require Mac OS 15.6.

Edit: this BROKE collaboration with spreadsheets I had already shared! A message pops up and says you have to use a newer Mac. WTF is this ********?!

Ok, so it seems like collaboration still works--as long as I don't open the app in the new version of Numbers for iOS--which completely replaced the old version so there's no way around that. Once I close the document on iOS then collaboration on the Mac works again.

 

[MacOH21]

The App Store now list two different versions of these products. Not confusing at all:

• Pages and Pages 14.5
• Numbers and Numbers 14.5
• Keynote and Keynote 14.5