iPad apps for college

When it comes to writing papers, sometimes full-blown word processors are too distracting and will draw you away from the actual goal of writing your paper. With iA Writer, the distractions are gone and you're in a perfect writing environment. With the mono-spaced font that looks great on the plain background, writing your paper has never been easier. It also comes with minimal features, so that the focus is on actually getting the words out. There's Dropbox and iCloud syncing support, so that your document will be there on your computer and other devices when you need to fix it up before turning it in. Any student should be able to make use of having iA Writer on their iPad.

For a college student, recording a lecture can be just as important as taking actual notes. Fortunately, Pear Note is out there to do the job. With Pear Note, students can record audio and have it be integrated with their typing. This means that whenever you look back on your notes, tapping anywhere in your notes will make the audio jump to that point, so you can hear the lecture and get anything you missed. Additionally, playing back the audio will allow you to see what you were typing as you go along. Pear Note on iPad can sync with Pear Note files from your Mac, if you have the desktop software. If this is the case, any slides that you have on the desktop will be able to be shown on the iPad version as well. Pear Note is a useful tool for any student that doesn't want to miss anything important.

Some students tend to take better notes in outline form. When that's the case, OmniOutliner 2 may be the best tool for them. OmniOutliner 2, like its predecessor, is a professional outlining tool that is extremely powerful and packs tons of features. Taking notes with it is easy and works as you'd expect, and students will be able to customize the layout and styling to their liking. Once an outline is done, students will have several choices of file export and ways to share the file with others. If outlining is your thing, then this app may be worth the cost for you.

Documents Unlimited Suite for iPad brings the entire MS Office suite right to your iPad. With this app, a student can create and edit Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. Though it may not have advanced features, it is one of the best apps in its category and the basics that students would need will be found it. The app also supports multiple file storing services and files can also be exported in multiple ways.

Pages for iPad is the ultimate mobile word processor. Honestly, it's as great as anything you might encounter on a Mac or PC. And, with the iPad's 9.7-inch screen, users can fully interact with text and images when working on a document in Pages for iPad. While some might consider the price tag to be a little too high to purchase while on a student budget, I can assure you: Pages for iPad is worth it.

There are moments when you want to quickly jot something down, whether in a lecture, seminar, or simply out on the street, and you simply don't have the time to interact with the iPad's virtual keyboard and create a document (in Pages, for example). Thankfully, there's a quicker, more natural way for iPad owners to take notes using the tablet. The solution is called Penultimate. Penultimate allows users to write notes in a virtual notebook using their fingers. A variety of different paper types along with different pen colors mean your notebook can be as visually stunning or as minimalistic as you like. Once you're done with a notebook, email it within the app to a friend, or to your own computer. Or, if you have the time, you can type up the notes you've made using a word processing app, such as Pages for iPad. Penultimate is surprisingly easy to use, and writing with the app is a simple, elegant task. Users have the obvious benefit of being able to "draw" as well as write within Penultimate, making it an essential purchase for anybody - even college students.

ToDo for iPad is undoubtedly the best task manager out there. With an intuitive design and great UI, ToDo makes getting things done a breeze. Did you remember to hand in that piece of coursework last week? Yes, you did - because ToDo for iPad reminded you. And, thanks to over the air sync with iCal, you'll never be out of touch with the tasks you have to accomplish, whether you're at your iPad or Mac. The app also features smart multitasking and live app badge updating. Furthermore, reminder alerts make sure you're never out of touch with appointments, social gatherings, seminars, lectures, and most importantly - deadlines. Essentially, ToDo for iPad is the app you need to get you through college in one piece.

If your college uses Blackboard, then you should definitely download the now universal BlackBoard Mobile Learn. The free app allows you to interact with your personal Blackboard account where you can check your grades, keep up with announcements, and even take mobile tests. Overall, it's well designed and easy to use.

We all know a good portion of the college experience is socially oriented, and with Twitter for iPad you'll always be in the loop. However, there is an academic side to Twitter. If you follow some interesting accounts and lecturers, your news feed will be better stocked with what you need to enrich your academic experience. Twitter for iPad is a free application so there's no need to waste valuable book money on the app.

Facebook is undoubtedly the social network of students. After having been founded by a Harvard undergraduate, Facebook spread to colleges and universities across America. Today, it is the number one social network, used to organize millions of social lives across the globe. The official Facebook app will keep you in touch with all of your college friends. Check on your profile, news feed, events, subscription feeds, messages, nearby, and more. Facebook is a huge part of college life, but it's also a great way to stay connected to the friends and family back home.

Apple's iBooks application grants users a e-book reader and access to an e-book marketplace. If you're an English major, you'll be interested to know that the iBooks Store features the Project Gutenberg catalogue - an immense collection of free e-books. Additionally, users can highlight text viewed in iBooks, which includes PDF files. It's also possible to search for a word's meaning and further occurrences of the word. Users can also bookmark passages in the text and make notes throughout. iBooks is definitely worth downloading. The application is free, so be sure to check it out in the App Store.

The app iAnnotate PDF takes PDF annotating to the next level. While iBooks offers an e-book and PDF highlight tool, iAnnotate grants users a variety of different colored highlighting tools, allowing you to fully dissect a text. If you often have to interact with PDFs at college, you can save paper and time by viewing and annotating them on your iPad.

The task manager iStudiez Pro is specifically catered towards college education. Using the app, it's possible to create timetables, assignments, and a variety of reminders that can help you pass the year. Furthermore, iStudiez Pro is a universal application, meaning it'll work on your iPhone and iPod touch as well as on your iPad.

What's a college student to do in their downtime? How about relaxing with a movie or television show? Let Netflix help you out with this one. With a paid subscription, students can get access to thousands of instant-stream titles right from their iPad. You can browse through the new arrivals, view titles by category, add titles to your instant queue, and then watch them right then and there.