Best Mac Pencil Apps
The Apple Pencil is a life-changing device for artists, graphic designers, and anyone who loves to write or sketch. You can make the best use of this sophisticated stylus with several apps intended to create drawings, layered artwork, design, and handwritten notes. Perhaps the best reason to use Kiwi for Gmail is its G Suite integration. Thanks to the app, you now get to experience Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, as windowed desktop applications. Kiwi is available for Mac and Windows. Free with a premium ffering available - Download now. Procreate 4 has to be the best drawing app for pros out on the iPad. As such, it is also a paid one, but it makes such good use of the Apple Pencil, and is chock-full of features, that the asking price of $9.99 is completely justified. Procreate has to be the app that gets the closest to using the desktop version of Photoshop, drawing tools-wise. On the iPad, handwriting integration with Apple Pencil might take priority. When looking at the best note-taking app for the Mac, the factors that are important for me are: ability to organize in.
One thing we can all agree about is that Apple is an innovative company. In an effort to make their iPad Pro and New iPad (6th Generation) even better to use, they introduced the Apple Pencil. The Apple Pencil is a really impressive tool for digital art, design, and note-taking. Although the Apple Pencil can offer you a lot of flexibility and power when you are using your device, you need to have the right Apps. This is why we have researched and written this article to help you figure out what the best apps for Apple Pencil are.
How to Use Apple Pencil on iPad Pro or the New iPad (6th Generation)?
If you have the best apps for Apple Pencil but you still don’t know how to use it, you won’t get any benefit from your apps or your Apple Pencil. Using this tool is quite simple. To get started, follow the following simple instructions.
Pairing the Apple Pencil with Your Device
Before you pair the Pencil with the iPad Pro or 6th generation iPad, you won’t have the ability to use it. To pair it, you will need to remove its cap and use the Lightning connector to plug it into your device. A notification with a Pair button will appear. Tap the Pair button. There are a few things which can unpair your Apple Pencil. These are as follows:
- Restarting your device.
- If you turn on Airplane Mode.
- If you pair the pencil with a different device.
Don’t worry, if you happen to unpair the Apple pencil, you can pair it again later using the instructions above.
Using Your Apple Pencil
The best apps for Apple Pencil will allow you to draw, markup, and write using the pencil. To sketch or make a drawing using the Notes App, follow these simple steps:
Step #1: Open your Notes App.
Step #2: Tap the icon on the top-right corner. It looks like a pencil on paper.
Step #3: You should see an icon that looks like a pen (it’s the first one) at the bottom of your Notes App. If it is not there, Upgrade the Notes App. To make a sketch, tap the plus (+) icon and then Add Sketch.
Step #4: Sketch or draw. You can choose different colors to use and tools. An eraser is available for when you make mistakes.
Charging the Pencil
You can charge the pencil using the device Lightning connector. You can also use a combination of the Apple Pencil Charging Adapter and a USB Power Adapter. You can see the charge remaining in your pencil by checking your device Widgets view.
Replacing the Tip
If the tip gets damaged or worn out, you just need to unscrew it and screw in a new one. There is a spare tip in your Apple Pencil box and you can also purchase a new one.
Top 10 Apps for Apple Pencil 2018
Affinity Photo
Although this App works great with older iPad models, it becomes even better to use when paired with a device that supports Apple Pencil. The app is built to allow professional workflow. It has cross-platform file compatibility and performance. If you love designing and digital art, this is your app.
Procreate 4
When you add an App le Pencil to this already awesome App, you get to enjoy a great analog-like experience and fluidity. The App has already been considered to be a king of natural media apps on iPad. It will make all your sketches come to life.
Adobe Comp CC
This is a great iPad Pro application to help you make creating mock-up designs and wireframing easy. The application is easy, fluid, and fast to use. By simply having the application in your iPad pro, you will increase your productivity as a designer.
Adobe Photoshop Sketch
This app has natural media types which have been built into it. On top of these, it has the ability to push layered PSDs to your photoshop on both PC and Mac. The app allows you to add 3D plane grids and preset geometric shapes. All the tools in the app are pencil aware.
Pixelmator
Pixelmator offers drawing tools which are sensitive to your Pencil. It also grants you the ability to tweak colors by applying filters. You also get to use sliders for contrast, brightness, saturation, white balance, and RGB. With the Pencil in play, you can easily do object isolation and touchups.
Paper
This is a great note-taking app. The tool will allow you to use your Apple Pencil to diagram and draw. The tool will allow you to create Venn diagrams, org charts, graphs, duplicates shapes, and more.
Evernote
This is a very rich application. It gives you the ability to record audio while you also sketch ideas for someone, maybe, your client. Although its tools might look simple, they are very effective. The Apple Pencil allows you to create more expressive lines given that it is more pressure sensitive.
LiquidText
LiquidText allows you to annotate and read PDFs, PowerPoint, and Word documents. It supports active reading. What this means is that while you read you get to snip out and highlight sections for future reference. When you pair it with the Apple Pencil, it becomes faster to use. Simply dragging your pencil on it selects the text.
uMake
This app will allow you to create 3D designs. You can easily use your pencil to create 2D designs and then extrude them. You can also use the 3D space. This is an important tool that allows you to get the initial concept down.
Notability
This application will allow you to take notes using your Apple Pencil pretty quickly. You can easily customize the paper style. It allows you to draw figures in a spacious and separate window. It also allows you to add these figures to graphics. Since it supports split view mode, you will have the ability to use it alongside other apps.
Summary
Mac Pencil Brush
Using the Apple Pencil is as easy as we have outlined in the first section of this article. You won’t enjoy all the benefits that the Apple Pencil has to offer if you lack the right apps. We have also outlined the best apps for Apple Pencil. These apps will help you take notes and also, for art and design lovers, you will find apps to help you with your art and design. Put your Apple Pencil to maximum use by getting these apps.
The Apple Pencil is a life-changing device for artists, graphic designers, and anyone who loves to write or sketch. You can make the best use of this sophisticated stylus with several apps intended to create drawings, layered artwork, design, and handwritten notes. It replicates the experience of using paper but with the added benefits of easy editing, saving on the cloud, converting to different formats, etc. So, get your creativity flowing with these best Apple Pencil apps for iPad.
1. Autodesk SketchBook
From quick sketches to intricate artwork, here’s an ideal app for all your creative needs. It’s packed with drawing tools and a minimalist user interface. Give free rein to your ideas and take advantage of helpful features like perspective guides, a snapping toggle, vanishing point lock, and horizon line visibility.
It supports Scan Sketch for newer iPad models and the double-tap feature of the 2nd-gen Apple Pencil. Moreover, the fully-featured version of SketchBook is free to use without any annoying ads or purchases.
Price: Free
2. Adobe Illustrator Draw
This one’s an indispensable tool for vector artists. It boasts a plethora of customizable brushes to sketch, design, and style your art to perfection. Shape stencils speed up your process while resizable canvases let you get into extreme details.
You can even blend photos with your vector drawing layers to create unique artwork. Further, give others a glimpse into your process with the automatically generated time-lapse videos of your work.
Price: Free (CC Storage 20GB – $1.99)
3. Paper by WeTransfer
Here’s an immersive sketching app that features perfectly-tuned tools to sketch, collage, paint, draw, and explore your imagination in whatever way suits you. The intuitive gestures will aid your creative flow and help you focus, free from distractions.
And if you’re facing a block, there are tons of creative prompts, how-tos, tips, and tricks, etc. to inspire you. Furthermore, it’s incredibly easy to use, without the hassle of complex layers. Just add multiple images to a single page and cut, stick, and move them around to create masterpieces.
Price: Free (In-app Purchases start from $1.99)
4. Adobe Photoshop Sketch
Adobe is a leader in the creative software space, and Photoshop Sketch is a must-have for all the professional artists and creators out there. In addition to being a powerful photo editor, it offers 24 built-in brushes with customizable settings for size, color, opacity, and blending. Further, you can size up your canvas to an impressive 8k resolution.
You can even capture your digital drawing process in an automatically created time-lapse video. Enjoy all the power of the full-fledged desktop version of Photoshop on your iPad and create on-the-go.
Price: Free (CC Storage 20GB – $1.99)
5. Procreate
Unleash your creativity with hundreds of brushes, innovative artistic tools, an advanced layer system, and a blazing graphics engine that keeps up with your flow. It’s one of the best Apple Pencil apps to take your art studio with you wherever you go.
Some of the notable features include super HD canvases of up to 16k by 4k on an iPad Pro, intuitive Apple Pencil interface, 250 levels of undo and redo, over a hundred customizable brush settings, and a lot more.
Price: $9.99
6. Adobe Fresco: Draw & Paint
This Adobe app has been exclusively built to be used with the Apple Pencil on your iPad. It merges the power of your favorite Photoshop brushes with the refined precision of vector brushes and innovative Live Brushes. This takes your artistic expression to the next level!
Further, it enhances the essential tools for artists such as selection and masking to make the creation process easier and faster. And when you upgrade to the Premium version, you also get access to Photoshop for iPad with automatic cloud syncing to work across devices.
Price: Free (Premium Features – $9.99)
7. Astropad Standard
This innovative Apple Pencil app lets you use your iPad to paint directly into Photoshop or other creative apps on your Mac, such as Illustrator, Corel Painter, Lightroom, etc. Just connect wirelessly or with USB for complete creative freedom.
It provides a natural drawing experience with your Apple Pencil and delivers impeccable image quality with zero compression. It’s also blazing fast to keep up with your hand movements and enhance the ease of use.
Price: $29.99
8. Flow by Moleskine Studio
If you’re a fan of the renowned Moleskin notebooks, you’ll love this app that recreates that real paper experience on your iPad. It’s ideal for creating drawings, elaborate artwork, and beautifully detailed notes all in one place.
You can choose from dozens of paper types, colors, and tools to satisfy your creative urges. Further, you can also create your custom set of easy access tools, much like a virtual pencil case.
Price: Free (Monthly Membership – $1.99)
9. Sketch Club
This one is like a virtual sketchbook packed with tools to sketch, draw, doodle, paint, and edit photos. You can work with hundreds of Layers with configurable blending, naming, and color tagging for full customization.
Further, you can find inspiration to keep creating through the community of users. Enjoy new daily drawing challenges and participate in competitions and collaborations to connect with other artists.
Price: $2.99
10. Affinity Designer
This graphic design app has been built with input from some of the world’s leading designers and packs all the power of a desktop app. Enjoy an immersive experience that will stoke your creative fire and help you get things done quickly and efficiently.
Whether you’re working on intricate illustrations, brand design, UI/UX, print projects, concept art, or something else, this app has all the tools you need. It harnesses the full power and precision of your Apple Pencil and offers blazing fast performance.
Price: $19.99
11. Pixelmator
Whether you’re a mobile photographer, artist, or designer, this fully featured app can help you work some creative magic. It lets you experience with layers to create complex image compositions.
Moreover, it works seamlessly with Mac, too, so you can start creating on your iPad and then continue on your Mac if you need to. Its strength lies in how it effectively combines photo editing, painting, and graphic design into one interface.
Price: $4.99
12. Inspire Pro
Take advantage of incredibly smooth and realistic sketching, drawing, and painting experience to capture your ideas whenever inspiration strikes. This app boasts a proprietary painting engine that renders brush strokes with brilliant 64-bit color, laser-sharp sub-pixel precision, and super fast speed.
There are 150 brushes to choose from and 1000 levels of undo and redo. So, whether you are a professional artist or a beginner or somewhere in the middle, try Inspire Pro to up your illustration game.
Price: $9.99
Best Apple Pencil Apps for Taking Notes
13. Notability
Capture and organize all your ideas with various note-taking, journaling, and drawing tools in this leading note-taking app for Apple Pencil. It supports ink, highlighter, text, and audio.
You can create notebooks with an endless scroll and also import textbooks, documents, slides, and images to markup. It offers a precise and responsive handwriting experience for convenience anytime, anywhere.
Price: $8.99
14. PDF Expert
Leverage the power of your Apple Pencil to achieve all your PDF-related tasks with this PDF editor app. Annotate and highlight with an intuitive freehand experience while keeping the original content intact.

Customize every aspect of your documents, such as the single page view or infinite scroll. Further, it integrates with multiple cloud services like Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.
Price: Free (PDF Expert PRO – $6.99)
15. Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft may be one of Apple’s arch competitors, but it also offers this fantastic Apple Pencil app for your note-taking needs. It lets you capture anything quickly and efficiently to stay organized and informed.
You can use a variety of pen colors and custom settings to create beautiful drawings and handwritten notes. Organize everything the way you like and add some security with a password or TouchID.
Price: Free
Best Free Mac Apps
Summing Up
Mac Eyeliner Pencil
Which Apple Pencil apps fulfill your artistic needs? Share with us in the comments below. And consider getting a handy holder for your Apple Pencil so that you never lose sight of it when working.
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