Mobile Phones iPhone & iOS The 9 Best Apps For Apple Pencil Use that pencil in ways you never imagined by Andy Wolber Freelance Contributor Andy Wolber is a former Lifewire writer who has been writing about technology for 15+ years. His focus is G Suite, iOS, and nonprofit sector apps. our editorial process Twitter LinkedIn Andy Wolber Updated on December 12, 2019 iPhone & iOS Switching from Android Tweet Share Email Plenty of creative apps work with the Apple Pencil, but you don’t have to be an artist, musician, or designer to use them. Here are some of the best apps for Apple Pencil many people might enjoy and use. 01 of 09 Capture and Arrange Ideas In Cardflow: Index & Flash Cards Cardflow puts digital index cards and ink on your iPad. What We Like Scribbling on index cards without any risk of ink smudges or stains. What We Don't Like Cards always appear with landscape orientation. You can’t rotate them. Cardflow gives you index cards on your iPad. Tap twice to add a new card, then write or draw whatever you like; tap the flip card icon to write on the back, or arrange the cards on a board in whatever layout you need. Upgrade to Cardflow+ for $9.99 to add access to colors, a shape recognizer (which can turn an awkward oval into a perfect circle, for example), and advanced card grouping options, among other features. Cardflow works well for brainstorming ideas, mind-mapping, storyboarding, and study notes. Download Cardflow 02 of 09 Draw Letters With iFontMaker Create a custom, hand-drawn font with iFontMaker on your iPad. What We Like Draw each letter line as you wish it to look. What We Don't Like You’ll need to create hundreds of characters with care if you want a complete, well-designed font. If you’ve ever wanted to create a font with your own handwriting, take a look at iFontMaker for $7.99. Draw the shape of each letter with your Apple Pencil, then adjust each corner, line, or curve. Repeat the process for every letter of the alphabet, every number, and punctuation symbols to create your own font on your iPad. When done, export your font to use it on your iPad, computer, or even on a website. Download iFontMaker 03 of 09 Felt: Create Greeting And Birthday Cards from your iPad Personalize and send greeting cards with your writing in the Felt app. What We Like No need to lick an envelope or stamp when you want to send a personalized card. What We Don't Like Only available sizes are 4-inch by 4.5-inch rectangle. Choose from hundreds of greeting cards, then customize your card with a handwritten message or drawing. All cards are 4-inches wide by 4.5-inches tall. If you like, you can add additional pages, on which you can write and/or add photos. Add an address and pay to have the card sent; cards start at $3, with upgrades available to add more pages or gifts, such as flowers, framed prints, or funds. Or, subscribe to send 3 cards each month for $5. Download Felt 04 of 09 Record While You Write With AudioNote 2 Take notes and record audio as you write. What We Like Recorded audio to accompany handwritten notes. What We Don't Like The app sometimes quits unexpectedly. Write notes while you record audio. Separately, each of those things makes perfect sense, and with AudioNote 2 you can use the Apple Pencil to write or draw to document a meeting or lecture. The audio recorder also lets you play a recording later to hear what was said. In AudioNote 2, your notes and the recording are linked. Tap on a word or drawing, and the app will play the sounds recorded at the time you made your notes. Use the free version with ads, or pay $9.99 per year for an AudioNote 2 Pro subscription, which removes ads, improves audio recording quality, and lets you add time-of-day timestamps to your notes. Download AudioNote 2 05 of 09 Play Blek, A Gesture Puzzle Game Draw a pattern that repeats and touches colored dots in Blek. What We Like An abstract, engaging, motion/pattern puzzle game. What We Don't Like Getting stuck on levels that later seem quite simple. Each level of Blek ($2.99) provides you with a puzzle: Draw a line that touches every target on the screen. You can’t simply create one long line through things; instead, you’ll draw a line that moves and repeats whatever pattern you create. Your line also has to avoid the black circles, and it can’t go off the top or bottom of the screen. While you can play with nothing more than your finger and your wits, Blek also works exceptionally well with the Apple Pencil. Download Blek 06 of 09 Draw In Any iWork App Tap with the Apple Pencil to add a drawing in Pages, Numbers, or Keynote. What We Like Draw within the Pages, Numbers, or Keynote apps without switching to another app. What We Don't Like As of August 2018, smart annotations that link a drawn note to text is available only in Pages. As an iPad owner, you can use Apple’s word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation apps (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, respectively) for free. In March 2018, Apple added support for the Apple Pencil to these apps, enabling you to grab your Apple Pencil and add drawings in each of these apps. In Pages, you can insert annotations, too, meaning you can write comments or add a note next to the text. Your handwritten notes remain with the text as you edit your document. Learn More About iWork Apps 07 of 09 Sketch Together With Inko - Group Edition Several people can draw together with Inko, a collaborative whiteboard. What We Like A collaborative whiteboard you can use to draw together, anywhere. What We Don't Like The price seems a little restrictive for personal use. Inko lets several people draw together at once. Connected to Wi-Fi, up to 12 people can collaboratively draw; without Wi-Fi, up to 8 can work together. With 12 colors and 3 different line types, Inko makes it easy to create images that look like conference room whiteboard scribbling. You can draw as much as you like by yourself, but to collaborate with others, Inko requires payment. A one-time payment of $19.99 allows you unlimited access to drawing with other people who have similarly paid. Or, a “hero plan” subscription ($14.99 per month; $99.99 per year) lets you host a board and draw together with people who haven’t purchased or subscribed. A free Apple TV app displays your board as you draw. There is also a free edition of Inko - Whiteboard. The features are somewhat scaled back, but if the Group Edition is more than you need, the free version might be a useful option. Download Inko Group Edition 08 of 09 Make Drawings Move In Animatic By Inkboard Quickly create hand-drawn video or GIF animations with Animatic. What We Like With a few quick sketches, you can create your own short animation. What We Don't Like A limited number of colors available to use. Remember flipbooks? Those books with an illustration that changes just a bit on each page, so that when you flip the pages quickly, the images appear to move? Animatic lets you draw that style of animation. Draw your first frame, then the app shows a ghost-like image so you can decide how much of a difference you want to draw between images. A $9.99 per year Pro subscription gives you more control over how long each frame displays and a better quality export. Download Animatic by Inkboard 09 of 09 Create An Illustration With Affinity Designer Tap the question mark in the lower right corner in Affinity Designer to identify icons. What We Like A one-time purchase for a powerful iPad illustration app; no subscription required. What We Don't Like It'll take some time learning how to use every tool packed into Affinity Designer. For people who are serious about using an iPad for illustration, Affinity Designer ($19.99) delivers an app with both vector and raster tools. Raster tools offer familiar pens, pencils, chalks, markers, inks, oils, acrylics, and more; vector tools let you create images with lines, shapes, and colors that you can scale to any size. With both sets of tools, you have access to every professional-level editing tool you might expect. Download Affinity Designer