iOS 8 is scheduled to be released to the public tomorrow, September 17th, 2014. With this release, Apple has made a gigantic leap by offering some incredible new APIs that let 3rd-party developers add remarkable functionality to their apps. Apple us a demo of what was possible at their WWDC ’14 keynote and as we get closer to the release tomorrow, we’re seeing some fascinating updates to these 3rd-party apps hit the App Store. We’ve been playing with some of these apps here at Beautiful Pixels and over the next 72 hours, we’ll tell you about the most notable apps doing exceptional stuff with iOS 8 features and why you should totally download them on your iOS device.
Let’s start with FiftyThree’s Paper. The insanely popular drawing app for iPad was today updated to version 2.0, something that the company claims is their “biggest update”. With this update, FiftyThree has introduced Mix — an open platform for creating & collaborating with other users. Anything you sketch in Paper can be shared on Mix, where other users can remix your work. Similarly, instead of a blank sheet of paper, you can now download what others have shared in the form of templates, outlines or ideas and start from there. Access to Mix is currently invite-only, so you’ll have to leave your email and wait patiently till you are let in.
This update also includes some amazing iOS 8 & Pencil specific features such as Surface Pressure — the ability to use the Pencil to control the width and strength of each stroke on screen & Improved Palm Rejection, so there are no unwanted lines on your sketch. There’s also an improved zoom loupe for you to use.
The update is now available to download on the App Store, but the above features will only work if you have iOS 8 running on your device. Paper is available Free on the App Store while the Pencil sells via Amazon for $59.95 for the graphite version & $74.95 for the Walnut version.