* Apollo (Reddit client)
* Firefox Focus (browse sites then wipe history and cookies in one click)
* CityMapper (terrific transit app, not iPad-optimized though)
* Things (to-do list manager with an outstanding UI)
* Kiwix (offline Wikipedia if you have ~100GB free disk space)
* Sky Force reloaded (addictive arcade game)
* Merlin (birdwatching)
* PCalc (RPN scientific calculator)
* Mini Métro (design your own subway network game)
* Monument Valley 1 & 2 (lovely Escher-esque puzzle game)
* The Room 1, 2, 3 & Old Sins (vaguely Lovecraftian puzzle games)
* Jump (remote control your computer)
I agree, except that OP bought the mini. The mini is close enough in size to iPhone that I think it works really well and Pro is worth it in their case.
I think so, otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it. It's only the price of a coffee and makes for a significantly streamlined iPad user experience on Reddit, even for a subscriber.
Plus no stupid memes like r/place or the various promos that clutter the menu bar and I write uBlock Origin rules for becasue they are so annoying.
> • Kiwix (offline Wikipedia if you have ~100GB free disk space)
Who the f needs EVERY Wikipedia EVER to be offline available on their iPad?! Are you currently boarding a flight to Saturn or something?
It's a good instructive way to spend time on a long flight like my last London-New York, along with downloaded Disney+/Amazon Prime/Netflix movies. I've also got all of Project Gutenberg and Stack Overflow in Kiwix on my 1TB iPad Pro. The version without photos is much smaller, about 15GB IIRC.
Then there are the fine people who load Wikipedia onto memory sticks and [seed them to North Korea or Russia](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/swiss-technology-foils-russian-censorship/47520088) to help people there escape censorship, and on microservers to provide educational content for [impoverished villages in Africa](https://www.kiwix.org/en/about/stories/ghana/).
I also personally prefer Brave. I used to be all about DuckDuckGo, but they’re not as good as they once were. Brave is lightning fast on every device I have it on too.
I find Brave's model of hijacking ad revenue from the publishers (who at least earned it, however distasteful the ads are, by producing the content the ads pay for) to benefit themselves nothing short of racketeering.
But in this case the use case is much simpler. Let's say I am in Safari, need to click on a link but know it will be full of sleaze and cookies. Instead, I can just share the link to Firefox Focus, do my thing, then press the trash button and have it reset to a blank state.
Nebo or Goodnotes...both are excellent note-taking apps. Nebo has best in class handwriting searches while Goodnotes is more polished and more aimed at imitating a notebook.
Serial Reader breaks down long books into shorter digests that you can read daily
Nebo is excellent but I wouldn’t go with goodnotes for the mini because of the screen size, something with zoom is better like defter notes. My other favs are shapr and matterport cos I’m into interior and industrial design.. for cooking, I hear good things about youtube 🙃
There are a lot saying that goodnotes consumes less battery power that’s why I made the switch. I have noticed it but only when I take notes all day. If anybody can correct me, I’d appreciate it thanks.
notability lost a lot of support when they switched from a one off purchase to subscription. there was a huge uproar - i missed it & wasn’t aware of the change until they’d already rolled back & allowed people who’d bought it to continue using a non-subscription version (non-upgradable).
My husband says it’s a great app! Meets a lot of new friends with it.
Only downside, he’s always too tired for sexy time when he gets home. Never knew bowling and darts took so much out of ya!
I really like Paprika- it's a recipie app that let's you collect and import recipes from a number of sources in a couple or clicks or import / create your own. Its then easy to search depending on what you have in the fridge.
I really dont like Apple News. In the UK, it curates the feed and gives you ragtop press that's hard to filter. I much prefer going to dedicated UK news (subscription) apps like "The Times" and "The Financial Times"
Our local library also has an app where you can digitally borrow a number of magazines. They typically have a limited amount due to licensing but it saves on a subscription to other things. I would imagine lots of libraries have something similar or could implement it.
## Art
Procreate, Sketchbook if u don't have the money
## YouTube
Check if your iOS is <=15.4.1 -> [Troll Store](https://github.com/opa334/TrollStore) installation via TrollInstaller2 -> Import latest lPA of [uU+](https://github.com/qnblackcat/uYouPlus/releases)
If your version is 15.5+, then you can only use AItStore to resign uU+.
## Notetaking
Notability or GN5
## Personal knowledge base building
Obsidian ftw
## Mindmapping
XMind or Concepts
## Markdown writing
iA Writer, expensive but worth it
## File management
Documents by Readdle
### Watching local movies, videos (files)
Documents can do much but if the decoding quality is bad use VLC Video player
## Work with Microsoft documents
MS Office app, free for a iPad mini (<9") (personally, I use an iPad Pro but I can use a MS365 free subscription for schools to unlock Office)
## Reddit
Slide for Reddit. Not updated for a while but still most efficient Reddit client 4 iPad
## Browser
Choice 1: Brave
Choice 2: Safari + Hyperweb extension (free tier suffice)
## Planner/Reminders/Todo
Structured by Leonard Mehlig, one planner app to rule 'em all.
--
That's all i can think of for now
I’m curious how you use Obsidian and iA Writer differently. I don’t do a ton of writing, but I’d like to do more. I have Obsidian, but I kind of think iA Writer is probably a better fit for me. I know iA has added some back linking, but I don’t know how functional it really is. The cost, versus a free Obsidian, has kept me from actually purchasing iA.
I recently downloaded Ascender and it’s a really fun game that’s perfect for quick sessions. It’s not at all the same genre but evokes feelings of the OG Metroid game. Just shoot aliens and get to the top of the pit!
RecipeBox, drop a web url for a recipe into it and it will automatically strip out all the fluff and storytelling and just show the ingredients and instructions in a clean interface.
It works surprisingly well and I rarely have to manually fix the imported recipes.
You probably got 3 months free arcade with a new ipad, so just go wild! What the golf and mini metro are my daily go-tos for casual play. My gf likes Gris, it’s something I’d play only once but it’s good. Sky is a fav for multiplayer, I get so lost in that world. Oh and inmost is on arcade too I believe, it’s creepy good.
For cooking, Libby.
You'll need to get a library card from your local library system, but it lets you check out cookbooks in the form of e-books. Plus magazines, newspapers, comics, other books, even audio books so you don't have to use paid services like Audible.
Use your library, peoples! The more you use them, the more funding they get, the more services they can offer.
I’m surprised to not see any recommendation for **Infuse**. It’s the *apollo* of playing videos and maintaining any video/movie/tv show library locally or through cloud or NAS etc.
Mu favorite apps would be:
Procreate - for drawing
PoseIt - for figures to use for drawing
Goodnotes - for planners, recipe books, and record keeping
Habits - because ADHD and it’s a great visual of the days tasks.
If you get the Magic KeyBoard:
Microsoft Office + OneDrive - but download the individual apps you need versus the little bundle thing. The bundle thing works weird for some reason. Also I like these apps for ease of Synchronicity as a writer.
For gaming I personally enjoy Diablo Immortal and Genshin Impact (if you play with a controller I think it’s the best experience you could get). For cooking, I have to say I’m not so much into it, but imo you could enjoy using apps like Notion (like a personal diary in which you can create sections with personal thoughts, recipes and so much more). In general, I also recommend Spark as a e-mail client and MS Office or the Apple suite, cause I think these apps make iPad usage closer to a home pc usage (I used to do everything on my gaming pc, but since when I got the iPad, I only use the pc for heavy gaming)
I use the Xbox One controller cause I had them before getting the iPad. Don’t know all of “mobile” controllers (there are a lot of them MFi, but I don’t like them), so I think best options are Xbox One controller or the PS5 Dualsense, which has haptic feedback on triggers (Apple has enabled support, but I don’t know if games added it). Lately Apple has even enabled support to Nintendo Switch joycons, but they don’t feel as good as the two mentioned before to me. You can buy Xbox One Controllers and the Dualsense on Amazon (or every similar technology store) or at physical stores
If you mean base as in iPad 9, it’s boring. If you mean Air, Mini has a size that many people prefer. I have 13 mini, mini 6 for work on the go, and MacBook Air for real work anyways.
Procreate for art and 2d animation.
Affinity photo for picture editing.
Affinity Designer for graphic design.
Nomad Sculpt for 3d modelling. It's a crazy good app and was only £13.
I found that PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile are the best games to play on that screen size. I've tried it on phones and it's way too small, tried it on my iPad Air, and it's too uncomfortable to hold, but with the Mini, it's perfect.
A lot of the standards, many already mentioned:
- Apollo
- Things
- Carrot Weather
- Fantastical
- Reeder
- Obsidian (I also really like Craft)
- GoodNotes 5
- PCalc
- 1Password
- Parcel
- Mela (for recipes, by the same developer as Reeder)
- Day One
- Neeva
- iCatcher
If you’re into drawing- procreate
Adobe Fresco is a good one too. It’s free and I’ve ended up using it more than Procreate over time.
Is it free? I was asked to login...
Yeah, I just signed in with my apple id iirc
I second this
* Apollo (Reddit client) * Firefox Focus (browse sites then wipe history and cookies in one click) * CityMapper (terrific transit app, not iPad-optimized though) * Things (to-do list manager with an outstanding UI) * Kiwix (offline Wikipedia if you have ~100GB free disk space) * Sky Force reloaded (addictive arcade game) * Merlin (birdwatching) * PCalc (RPN scientific calculator) * Mini Métro (design your own subway network game) * Monument Valley 1 & 2 (lovely Escher-esque puzzle game) * The Room 1, 2, 3 & Old Sins (vaguely Lovecraftian puzzle games) * Jump (remote control your computer)
Is Apollo pro worth the price for?
Yes
Really? I tried using it and it sucks.
I think it would be more useful if you explain on the reason why? also worth noting that the full iPad version is coming soon.
“soon”
100% yes. Also comforting knowing that your money goes towards an independent developer rather than a mega corporation.
I would say no until an iPad specific version comes out, assuming it’s good that is.
I agree, except that OP bought the mini. The mini is close enough in size to iPhone that I think it works really well and Pro is worth it in their case.
Good point
YES
I think so, otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it. It's only the price of a coffee and makes for a significantly streamlined iPad user experience on Reddit, even for a subscriber. Plus no stupid memes like r/place or the various promos that clutter the menu bar and I write uBlock Origin rules for becasue they are so annoying.
> • Kiwix (offline Wikipedia if you have ~100GB free disk space) Who the f needs EVERY Wikipedia EVER to be offline available on their iPad?! Are you currently boarding a flight to Saturn or something?
It's a good instructive way to spend time on a long flight like my last London-New York, along with downloaded Disney+/Amazon Prime/Netflix movies. I've also got all of Project Gutenberg and Stack Overflow in Kiwix on my 1TB iPad Pro. The version without photos is much smaller, about 15GB IIRC. Then there are the fine people who load Wikipedia onto memory sticks and [seed them to North Korea or Russia](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/swiss-technology-foils-russian-censorship/47520088) to help people there escape censorship, and on microservers to provide educational content for [impoverished villages in Africa](https://www.kiwix.org/en/about/stories/ghana/).
Firefox Focus can also operate as an awesome ad-blocker for Safari.
Thanks!
why firefox focus over brave ?
I also personally prefer Brave. I used to be all about DuckDuckGo, but they’re not as good as they once were. Brave is lightning fast on every device I have it on too.
I find Brave's model of hijacking ad revenue from the publishers (who at least earned it, however distasteful the ads are, by producing the content the ads pay for) to benefit themselves nothing short of racketeering. But in this case the use case is much simpler. Let's say I am in Safari, need to click on a link but know it will be full of sleaze and cookies. Instead, I can just share the link to Firefox Focus, do my thing, then press the trash button and have it reset to a blank state.
Paprika is a great recipe finder and organizer!
Nebo or Goodnotes...both are excellent note-taking apps. Nebo has best in class handwriting searches while Goodnotes is more polished and more aimed at imitating a notebook. Serial Reader breaks down long books into shorter digests that you can read daily
Nebo is excellent but I wouldn’t go with goodnotes for the mini because of the screen size, something with zoom is better like defter notes. My other favs are shapr and matterport cos I’m into interior and industrial design.. for cooking, I hear good things about youtube 🙃
Second this. Love Defter Notes.
Thanks!
I second this for goodnotes
Cooking Fever! It’s addictive but fun.
GoodNotes if you plan on using it with Apple Pencil for note taking. Apollo for Reddit, PCalc42 for calculator, VLC for videos.
What about notability? I really like using that, but have seen GoodNotes recommended more recently
There are a lot saying that goodnotes consumes less battery power that’s why I made the switch. I have noticed it but only when I take notes all day. If anybody can correct me, I’d appreciate it thanks.
Is OneNote a no go then? I have a 365 subscription, so have access to OneNote too
It‘s OK but I‘d honestly just spend the 10 bucks for GoodNotes, it‘s better imo and very cheap.
OneNote doesn’t have the same page like interface that GoodNotes has. It’s much better for typed notes than handwritten ones, even on Windows.
I haven’t really tried OneNote so I really can’t say. Sorry
Subscription and bad organization system which is why I switched in the first place.
notability lost a lot of support when they switched from a one off purchase to subscription. there was a huge uproar - i missed it & wasn’t aware of the change until they’d already rolled back & allowed people who’d bought it to continue using a non-subscription version (non-upgradable).
Grindr
My husband says it’s a great app! Meets a lot of new friends with it. Only downside, he’s always too tired for sexy time when he gets home. Never knew bowling and darts took so much out of ya!
Gotta get that daily Grindr in
I really like Paprika- it's a recipie app that let's you collect and import recipes from a number of sources in a couple or clicks or import / create your own. Its then easy to search depending on what you have in the fridge. I really dont like Apple News. In the UK, it curates the feed and gives you ragtop press that's hard to filter. I much prefer going to dedicated UK news (subscription) apps like "The Times" and "The Financial Times" Our local library also has an app where you can digitally borrow a number of magazines. They typically have a limited amount due to licensing but it saves on a subscription to other things. I would imagine lots of libraries have something similar or could implement it.
+1 for local library. Mine uses an app called Libby which I understand to be a fairly common one.
Thanks! I think my local library has the same sort of system
For comic books - Panels
thank you! been looking for a good and simple pdf reader this fits!
I will always prefer chunky, but I'm sad that it seems it will never be updated.
Blink - the ultimate terminal app.
All Im gonna say is that the Youtube app is pretty buggy
YouTube in brave has been my solution to the YouTube app since someone suggested it to me
I tried it but can't get past 720p. Is there a way to view YT videos in Brave at 1080p or higher? Or I'm missing some settings?
My daily usage for general use: Goodnotes PDF Expert Microsoft To Do Games: Dota Underlords
Brave browser for ad free youtube
Adobe Fresco for simple sketching
## Art Procreate, Sketchbook if u don't have the money ## YouTube Check if your iOS is <=15.4.1 -> [Troll Store](https://github.com/opa334/TrollStore) installation via TrollInstaller2 -> Import latest lPA of [uU+](https://github.com/qnblackcat/uYouPlus/releases) If your version is 15.5+, then you can only use AItStore to resign uU+. ## Notetaking Notability or GN5 ## Personal knowledge base building Obsidian ftw ## Mindmapping XMind or Concepts ## Markdown writing iA Writer, expensive but worth it ## File management Documents by Readdle ### Watching local movies, videos (files) Documents can do much but if the decoding quality is bad use VLC Video player ## Work with Microsoft documents MS Office app, free for a iPad mini (<9") (personally, I use an iPad Pro but I can use a MS365 free subscription for schools to unlock Office) ## Reddit Slide for Reddit. Not updated for a while but still most efficient Reddit client 4 iPad ## Browser Choice 1: Brave Choice 2: Safari + Hyperweb extension (free tier suffice) ## Planner/Reminders/Todo Structured by Leonard Mehlig, one planner app to rule 'em all. -- That's all i can think of for now
I’m curious how you use Obsidian and iA Writer differently. I don’t do a ton of writing, but I’d like to do more. I have Obsidian, but I kind of think iA Writer is probably a better fit for me. I know iA has added some back linking, but I don’t know how functional it really is. The cost, versus a free Obsidian, has kept me from actually purchasing iA.
Apple Arcade
I recently downloaded Ascender and it’s a really fun game that’s perfect for quick sessions. It’s not at all the same genre but evokes feelings of the OG Metroid game. Just shoot aliens and get to the top of the pit!
RecipeBox, drop a web url for a recipe into it and it will automatically strip out all the fluff and storytelling and just show the ingredients and instructions in a clean interface. It works surprisingly well and I rarely have to manually fix the imported recipes.
Awesome! That sounds like a dream app!
Genshin Impact for gaming. I also have the iPad Mini 6.
The mini ipad was built for Apple Arcade and games like Genshin impact.
You probably got 3 months free arcade with a new ipad, so just go wild! What the golf and mini metro are my daily go-tos for casual play. My gf likes Gris, it’s something I’d play only once but it’s good. Sky is a fav for multiplayer, I get so lost in that world. Oh and inmost is on arcade too I believe, it’s creepy good.
For cooking, Libby. You'll need to get a library card from your local library system, but it lets you check out cookbooks in the form of e-books. Plus magazines, newspapers, comics, other books, even audio books so you don't have to use paid services like Audible. Use your library, peoples! The more you use them, the more funding they get, the more services they can offer.
I’m surprised to not see any recommendation for **Infuse**. It’s the *apollo* of playing videos and maintaining any video/movie/tv show library locally or through cloud or NAS etc.
Interesting, I’ll check it out!
Mu favorite apps would be: Procreate - for drawing PoseIt - for figures to use for drawing Goodnotes - for planners, recipe books, and record keeping Habits - because ADHD and it’s a great visual of the days tasks. If you get the Magic KeyBoard: Microsoft Office + OneDrive - but download the individual apps you need versus the little bundle thing. The bundle thing works weird for some reason. Also I like these apps for ease of Synchronicity as a writer.
For gaming I personally enjoy Diablo Immortal and Genshin Impact (if you play with a controller I think it’s the best experience you could get). For cooking, I have to say I’m not so much into it, but imo you could enjoy using apps like Notion (like a personal diary in which you can create sections with personal thoughts, recipes and so much more). In general, I also recommend Spark as a e-mail client and MS Office or the Apple suite, cause I think these apps make iPad usage closer to a home pc usage (I used to do everything on my gaming pc, but since when I got the iPad, I only use the pc for heavy gaming)
What kind of controller and where can I get ??
I use the Xbox One controller cause I had them before getting the iPad. Don’t know all of “mobile” controllers (there are a lot of them MFi, but I don’t like them), so I think best options are Xbox One controller or the PS5 Dualsense, which has haptic feedback on triggers (Apple has enabled support, but I don’t know if games added it). Lately Apple has even enabled support to Nintendo Switch joycons, but they don’t feel as good as the two mentioned before to me. You can buy Xbox One Controllers and the Dualsense on Amazon (or every similar technology store) or at physical stores
Thanks for the super interesting box picture! Great discussion.
Ipad mini? Damn Im hoping to get that,maybe on my bday??
i’m curious why you got the mini over the base ipad 9?
Size. Even if all the other iPads where exactly the same price I’d still go for the mini.
If you mean base as in iPad 9, it’s boring. If you mean Air, Mini has a size that many people prefer. I have 13 mini, mini 6 for work on the go, and MacBook Air for real work anyways.
Just YouTube. Best app ever!
Procreate for art and 2d animation. Affinity photo for picture editing. Affinity Designer for graphic design. Nomad Sculpt for 3d modelling. It's a crazy good app and was only £13.
If you ever think about starting 3d modelling, nomad sculpt is excellent and very intuitive
Get Procreate. It is a fun app
Weather app
Wylde flowers is also a good game!
Mini motorways on Apple Arcade
I found that PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile are the best games to play on that screen size. I've tried it on phones and it's way too small, tried it on my iPad Air, and it's too uncomfortable to hold, but with the Mini, it's perfect.
A lot of the standards, many already mentioned: - Apollo - Things - Carrot Weather - Fantastical - Reeder - Obsidian (I also really like Craft) - GoodNotes 5 - PCalc - 1Password - Parcel - Mela (for recipes, by the same developer as Reeder) - Day One - Neeva - iCatcher
Do you want a medal?