You should read the article instead of looking at pictures. It's quite different.
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iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura 13.1 Betas Introduce Freeform App
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Are you? They never charge for any built in apps, they’re always free - never hidden behind a paywall unless it’s a service. I’m not sure why you’re surprised.
Actually I have looked at far more detailed articles and videos after the app was announced. And it seems it's based on the notes app. You can draw on the notes app, collaborate, post pictures, etc. It seems that they enhanced it and made it more flexible. But nobody has been able to tell me if it's entirely different otherwise.
It's really just a question, not knocking it at all. And my question was not whether it's the notes app -- of course it's not -- but whether it's BASED on the notes app or if it's FUNDAMENTALLY different.
Given this is an app - not sure if this is a case of feature bloat tied to the OS. You don't have to use it and if you don't - it wont use any system resources. If you look at this app and what Apple has been doing with its Mail app, and iWork and other apps - Apple seems to want to creep into the small and mid-size business space.
Thanks! This will be an amazing addition to my workflow. Now to resist the temptation to install the developer builds on everything...
I guess I expected it to be a stand-alone app. Not directly baked into the OS.
is this an M1 only app?, got 16.1 no free form on older 11 iPad Pro
With the macOS Ventura 13.1, iOS 16.2, and iPadOS 16.2 betas provided to developers today, Apple has introduced the first version of the Freeform app that was first introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Freeform is a digital canvas app that is designed to let iPhone, iPad, and Mac users work together collaboratively in realtime. Multiple people can contribute images, notes, scribbles, documents, web links, PDFs, and more, with content added visible to everyone.
Apple's Freeform app is designed to work with the Apple Pencil on iPad, and it can be used with FaceTime for visual feedback between Freeform participants.
Article Link: iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura 13.1 Betas Introduce Freeform App
Not sure you’ll see it on 16.1 when the article states 16.2 being the first release.
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I tried it and IMO new feature is not as good as the third party apps... yet
But I'll likely switch to it, as I generally prefer stock apps whenever possible
One big difference is that you can mark up inline images directly, which you cannot do in Notes.
You can also zoom in and out of a board, elements will snap in alignment, etc.
I can see the comparison to Notes, but it is definitely different as it fundamentally a spatial/graphical app vs. Notes which is fundamentally textual. They both add some features of the other (Freeform has sticky notes, Notes added graphical features), but they seem clearly fundamentally different.
Hopefully Apple continues developing and improving Freeform like they eventually did with Notes.
I've seen that Freeform will be delivered as an app in MacOS just like Notes or Reminders. Being only available on Ventura could be weird, as the other Apple native apps are always available on older versions of MacOS like Monterey or Big Sur. What do you think?
Not weird because they had to start somewhere. Notes etc weren't always in macOS.