The Pages app was designed to work with unique iPad features. Insert images into your documents and move them around by dragging them with your fingertip. Pages makes formatting straightforward with built-in templates, styles, and other standard formatting tools. Another Pages benefit is the ability to save your document in multiple formats, including as a Pages document, Microsoft Word document, and PDF file. Plus, you’ll have access to iCloud, Apple’s cloud storage service, where you can save documents and access them from other devices. A generous 15 GB of space is free with Google Drive. Keep in mind, however, that your Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, Jamboard, Gmail, and Google Photos files are all competing for your free storage allotment. If you’re getting low on storage, you have the option to upgrade to bigger storage plans with a paid subscription. Docs doesn’t connect with other cloud storage services, however. Google Docs is easy to use and versatile, especially if you work and collaborate within the Google ecosystem of productivity apps (for example, Sheets and Slides). The Word app version offers core features and compatibility for document creation and editing. You don’t get all of the functionality found in the desktop software, but Word for iPad offers many features and handles well. There’s an option to subscribe to the Microsoft 365 service for a fee, which will unlock additional features for all Office mobile apps. iA Writer doesn’t have a free trial for its iOS version; the product costs a one-time fee of $29.99 on the App Store. Docs To Go offers extensive formatting options and features, including bulleted lists, styles, undo and redo, find and replace, and word count. This app also uses InTact Technology to retain existing formatting. Docs To Go Standard is free to download and use and is ad-supported. There’s a $16.99 Docs to Go Premium version that offers additional functionality without ads. WPS Office is free to download and use, but its VIP premium version ($3.99 monthly or $29.99 yearly) adds additional security features and functionality. Notes Writer is completely free to download and use. Werdsmith is free to download and use, but to unlock various features and become a member of the Werdsmith community, you’ll need a paid subscription, starting at $4.99 a month and going up to $99 per year. Download and use a fully functioning version of Ulysses for a trial period. Then, you’ll need a paid subscription starting at $5.99 monthly. Scrivener has multiple formatting, viewing, structuring, and organizing options, but all this functionality isn’t cheap. You’ll need to pay a one-time $19.99 price for Scrivener.
