Apple has updated its iWork productivity suite for iPad, introducing new features like the ability to add annotations directly to documents and presentations, create interactive books and Presenter Mode in Pages, which turns an iPhone or iPad into a teleprompter.
All three applications that make up the suite Pages, Numbers and Keynote now support the company's stylus, called Pencil, which was originally launched alongside the iPad Pro in 2015. This enables users to write directly on documents and presentations, making notes and adding captions where they please. Smart Annotations means any comments will be automatically anchored to the text they relate to, so you don't need to try and match up the comments to the content.
Another new feature in Pages for iPad and macOS is the ability to create interactive books from templates, with users able to create illustrations themselves or add them in from iWork's extensive library of images or their own on-device or cloud libraries. Previously, this feature was only available through iBooks Author on Mac.
Once created, these books can then be shared using an iCloud account in an iBooks-ready format.
The final significant addition is Presenter Mode in Keynote, which turns the iPhone or iPad into a teleprompter, adjusting the speed, text size, spacing and colour as they present their creations.
While these new iWork features are being marketed squarely at professionals and, particularly, those who work in Apple's traditional heartland of the creative industries, it's no accident they were announced alongside a new education-focused iPad last night.
Indeed, many of the functions that allow professionals to share their work with collaborators and colleagues are also suited to sharing between students and their peers or tutors.
iWork is available free on most Apple devices and the new features can be downloaded via the App Store and Mac App Store immediately.
Credit for all images: Apple
