One of the more underappreciated reasons to own an iPad is that it can change your relationship with your “real” computer. The folks at Astropad have been plugging away at this for a few years now. Just last week they upped their game with the release of their new Astropad Studio, which pairs a Mac app that you download directly from astropad.com with an iPad app available through the App Store. It turns your iPad into a a Wacom-style graphics tablet, but because you can configure your own buttons, it actually presents an alternative interface to your favorite software. Not only can you create your own custom shortcuts with combinations of Apple Pencil gestures and touch, but you can also configure just the menu items you like, turning off the ones that you don’t find useful. For an app like Photoshop, it basically lets you pare back the experience to just what matters to you. These videos do a good job explaining the product:
Astropad Studio is clearly aimed at professionals, which explains its price—surprisingly hefty for your average iOS app, but entirely reasonable (cheap, even) for pros: US$8 per month or US$65 per year. Yes, it’s only available via subscription (the company still sells their original app for a one-time fee of US$30), but the reality is that that’s the model that works for professional software these days. Learn more at astropad.com or in their blog post announcement.
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