Looking for the best iPad apps to help you turn mindmapping and creating charts and diagrams into less of a headache? If you're giving a presentation or just in the beginning stages of starting a project, flowcharts and diagrams can be immensely useful when it comes to conveying and sharing ideas with others. And since most people benefit from visual cues, flowcharts can be a great way to help people make decisions. There are lots of App Store apps up for the task, but what flowchart apps for iPad are the best?
Price: Single $8.95/month or Team $20.00+/month – Free Trial. Unlike SmartDraw and Lucidchart, OmniGraffle is a desktop diagramming software for Mac. For those that prefer a native desktop flowchart app for Mac over web based apps, OmniGraffle is definitely one of the best diagramming apps for Mac out there.
Mindnode is an easy to use diagramming and flow chart app that smartly organizes and handles the layout aspect on its own. Mindnode lets you create several independent charts in one document, display and hide nodes as you need to, choose fonts and highlights to emphasize particular areas, and more. Mindnode also offers iCloud sync with their pro version which you can then sync to the Mac version. As for exporting your work, Mindnode supports PDF, OPML, PNG, and more.
If you want to worry more about getting ideas out of your head and less about diagram style and structure, you need Mindnode.
- $9.99 - Download Now
Grafio
Grafio is a diagram app that isn't as conventional as the rest but offers a lot of flexibility. Simply start freehand drawing a shape and Grafio automatically recognizes and creates it. You can then add text, photos, and even record audio to add to your project. Since Grafio supports layers, you can send objects back or bring them to the front among many other editing features. Once you're done you can share your ideas via Dropbox, Box, AirPrint, or put them on paper with AirPrint support.
For a diagram and flowchart app as versatile and flexible as your brain, get Grafio.
- $8.99 - Download Now
Idea Sketch
Idea Sketch is a unique diagramming app that will appeal to folks that value organization and finding content easily. It's easy to create new blocks and add text in idea sketch. One of the features that makes it so unique is the ability to convert all your charts and diagrams to text outlines in just seconds. As for projects, they're organized in neat stacks on the main menu of Idea Sketch. When it comes time to share something, Idea Sketch supports export to Dropbox, Skydrive, Box, the Photos app, and more. You can create one idea in Idea Sketch for free. If you'd like to create more, you can unlock the unlimited version for $3.99 via in-app purchase.
If you highly value organization and wouldn't mind instantly creating text outlines from your charts, check out Idea Sketch.
- Free - Download Now
Mindly
Mindly is mainly a great place to organize your own thoughts and if you do that best through diagrams and charts, it's an easier to use option than many others. Just create a new project and then start adding subsets. Tap on any of them to create as many more subsets as you'd like. You can attach notes and images to your projects, add links, and change color schemes as necessary. If you need to share your ideas, Mindly supports export to PDF, OPML, and plaintext. The free version only lets you manage a few projects at a time, an in-app purchase of $6.99 will remove that limit.
If your main necessity is tracking your own ideas for personal use, be sure to give Mindly a try.
- Free - Download Now
PureFlow
PureFlow is one of the most basic and traditional flowchart apps you are going to find on the App Store. There aren't any fancy features, just a blank canvas and the ability to create whatever kind of flowchart you need. Create your first element and branch out from there choosing different types of objects. Drag anchor arrows to extend your chart outwards, drag elements around, and more. When you're done you can share your ideas via the email, Facebook, Twitter, PDF, or save it as an image.
If basic flowcharting is what you want, it doesn't get any easier than PureFlow.
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- Free - Download Now
Your vote for best flowchart and diagramming app for iPad?
If you are a visual thinker and rely on a flowchart, diagram, and mindmapping app on your iPad, which one did you choose and why? And more importantly, what do you think makes it stand out from all other apps? Let me know in the comments!
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Let's say you have a whole bunch of information, and you need to convey it to a group of people. Maybe those people are in your office or classroom, in the boardroom of a company you're going to visit, or scattered throughout the world, connected by the internet. Presentation apps can handle the whole process. First, they let you put your material into a format that's right for sharing with others, usually—but not always—a slideshow. Then, they enable you to present the material, whether that's using a projector and screen onsite; or offsite with a portable projector; or online in real time; or even online but asynchronously, at the leisure of each audience member. A few of the very best apps even have tools for taking questions from the audience and tracking how many people online watched your presentation.
The term 'presentation app' used to be synonymous with Microsoft PowerPoint, a part of the Microsoft Office suite. While PowerPoint is still one of the strongest players in the field, many other apps have entered the space, bringing with them innovative ways for changing how we format and present information. This subclass of productivity apps, which used to be best known for inducing snoring during meetings, has grown tremendously to give presentation creators new ways of making their information more palatable, easily digestible, and sometimes downright entertaining.
The Best Slideshow Creation Apps
The slideshow format is the classic presentation option, and the best two apps in this category are Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote, which is a part of the former Apple iWork suite (the apps are now only available separately). Both are Editors' Choice apps.
PowerPoint has by far the most, well, everything. It has the most effects, transitions, supported formats, and so forth. You can use it as a desktop app or in a web browser. It supports real-time collaboration, though with some limitations, as I'll explain later. PowerPoint has a lot of features, even a few that help people who are bad at laying out slides do it better.
PowerPoint, for all its glory, has a few weaknesses, and price is a big one. Apple Keynote is an excellent alternative for Mac users, and one that costs a lot less. In fact, it comes preinstalled on new Macs purchased on or after October 1, 2013, meaning most users pay nothing extra for it. If you have an older Mac and do need to buy it, the price is a low one-time fee of $19.99—less than a fifth of the cost of PowerPoint's $109.99.
The Most Innovative Presentation App
PowerPoint and Keynote are slideshow apps, and some people find that format inherently limiting. They pigeonhole you, the argument goes, into thinking about the information you have to present in a linear way. In fact, many people can't imagine a presentation that isn't a linear slideshow. But that's not your only choice.
The best alternative for getting you thinking differently is Prezi, another Editors' Choice among presentation apps. It's by far the most innovative presentation tool. Prezi is a cloud-based service that completely ditches the idea of sequential slides. Instead, what you create with Prezi is a giant canvas of ideas and information. You present your work by zooming in and out on different areas of the canvas, as if directing a camera. The effect is surprisingly dynamic and engaging, and its price is reasonable, at $10 per month.
Prezi also doubles as a collaborative brainstorming space. One alternative use for this app is to have multiple people share their ideas in real time on the canvas. Whether the final results ever have to be shown to anyone else is entirely up to you.
Another app that throws slide decks to the wind is PowToon. Instead of slides, you create animated scenes so that the final product looks more like a video than a standard presentation. You don't have to have any high-tech animation skills to use it, though you do need deep pockets, as it is expensive, at $89 per month. There's a free version, but it's very limited.
The Best Free Presentation App
While PowerPoint has a limited free version and Keynote is often free for Mac owners, there's a free presentation app that I like perhaps even more: Google Slides. Google Slides, a third of the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides suite of office apps (which is in turn part of Google Drive), is free for anyone with a Google account. It's only available as a Web app, but it's stable and quick, nonetheless. One feature I especially like in Google Slides is the ability to generate a link where audience members can submit questions to a presenter in real-time. It adds a wonderful interactive component to your pitches.
Best Collaborative Presentation App
The aforementioned Google Slides is only available as a Web app, and, partly for that reason, it handles collaboration better than other presentation apps. Because your Google Slides presentations are always saved to Google Drive by default, they're always available to share. That's not the case with PowerPoint and Keynote, two apps that also support collaboration (Keynote's collaborative features are in beta as of this writing). With those apps, you have to make sure you take the extra step to save your presentation to a cloud storage space, such as Microsoft OneDrive or Apple iCloud Drive, for the collaborative features to work. It can get confusing if you've been saving the file locally with the desktop app and now have to make a copy to share.
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Collaboration in Google Slides works the same as it does in other G Suite apps. The familiar interface is there. When two or more people simultaneously edit a file, you'll see your collaborators' cursors on screen, color-coded to their name and picture (or initials) in the upper right corner. Prezi is also one of the best presentation apps for collaboration, largely because it mimics the G Suite implementation and design.
PowerPoint and Beyond
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Presentation apps are a critical piece of any office suite, and there's a good chance that most anyone who needs to convey information to a group of people—whether it's other employees, potential customers or clients, a university class, or any other group of people—will need to give the occasional presentation. Whether you love standing up and giving a live talk, or you'd prefer to let people consume your prerecorded wisdom via the internet, there's a tool for you. There's no denying that PowerPoint is the king of the hill, but that doesn't mean it's your only choice.
Check out the table above, read the capsule reviews below and click through to the full reviews to learn more about your choices for presentation apps. Do you have a strong opinion about one of the apps listed here (or one that we missed)? Let us know in the comments.
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Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 Review
MSRP: $109.99Pros: Most feature-rich of any presentation app. Supports collaboration. Abundance of visual aids. Excellent presenter tools.
Cons: Huge number of bells and whistles, which can encourage bad presentation skills.
Bottom Line: PowerPoint is a powerhouse among presentation apps. With real-time co-authoring, new design suggestions, and other tools for supporting slideshow creators, it remains the best in its class.
Read ReviewApple Keynote (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $19.99Pros: Beautiful, eye-catching, customizable presentation templates. Clear interface. Tight integration with MacOS. Good transition and animation effects.
Cons: MP4 not supported as export file type. Collaboration features still in beta.
Bottom Line: Keynote is a powerful app for building and delivering beautiful presentations. Gorgeous templates and tight integration with other Apple apps make it an Editors' Choice for Mac users.
Read ReviewPrezi Review
MSRP: $10.00Pros: Easy to use. Unique, dynamic, single-canvas presentation format. Creates lively, graphics-rich presentations. Suitable for use as a collaborative whiteboard.
Cons: Free-form interface makes it hard to create consistently sized and shaped text and graphics. Chat not included for collaboration.
Bottom Line: Unique and dynamic, Prezi is free-form presentation software that's terrific for informal and unstructured information. But if you're looking for a slide-based alternative to PowerPoint, this isn't it.
Read ReviewGoogle Slides Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Free slideshow creation tool. Solid collaboration features. Excellent audience question submission tool. Easy to learn to use.
Cons: No desktop app. Cannot export to video. No audio import. Limited transitions and effects.
Bottom Line: Google Slides is a reliable and free presentation app. It has strong collaboration capabilities, including the option to take audience questions as you present, but is missing a few features found in PowerPoint.
Read ReviewPowToon Review
MSRP: $89.00Pros: Enables nonexperts to easily make animated videos. A welcome alternative to slide decks. Good interface and tools for adding custom images and voice-overs.
Cons: Expensive. Limited collaboration features. Heavy reliance on templates may make videos formulaic. No snapping guidelines for aligning, centering. Must first export to embed and reupload any time the presentation changes.
Bottom Line: With PowToon, anyone can make video animations instead of drab slide decks to use for presentations, training, and more. You don't have to be an expert in video editing, but you do need deep pockets.
Read Review