Best iPad Apps For Hobbyists

If you love coin collecting, check out PCGS Photograde HD. This free app boasts over 1,780 high-resolution images in full color, presented by the Professional Coin Grading Service. Whether you're a newbie or a seasoned expert, PCGS Photograde HD will assist you in grading your coins. Included are 83 of the most popular coin series and over 21 grades. The photographs are incredibly clear with beautiful detail, because the pictures of coins are shown at 500 x 500 pixels. You'll be able to quickly and easily find what you're looking for because this app utilizes touch screen navigation, presenting you with hierarchical menus. Zoom in to see even the tiniest of details on your coin or coins. PCGS is even able to teach you how to buy or sell coins! At the awesome price of free, this app is a must have for the coin collector or anyone who is interested in becoming one.

Do you have a passion for writing and a desire to write a book? Look no further than Writer's Studio. This app will assist you in creating a book and will even export it to iBooks. The UI of Writer's Studio is user-friendly, and within is a multitude of features. Writing and getting your thoughts on digital paper is just the start. There are options to add artwork, graphics, music, voice recordings, and just about anything you can imagine to stories that you've created. Decide the layout on every single page, then share what you've done using this app. Literally anyone in the world who takes the time to read it will be able to do so because you can save it to iBooks, post it to YouTube, or even play it to an Apple TV via AirPlay. Writer's Studio is universal, and has so many options that it's sure to get your creative juices flowing!

Almost everyone loves to sketch, draw, or paint. You may call it a "universal hobby," because it spans all ages and cultures. It doesn't really matter if you consider yourself "good" at it or not, because it allows you to let your raw feelings out, just like when one writes. Procreate is made for the artist within, and it is absolutely amazing. It has a Silica painting engine, which shows each one of the app's 48 brushes' strokes in 64-bit precision. The UI is quite powerful, including multitouch functions that were made just for the iPad. Pick your own canvas sizes, make your very own Procreate brushes and adjust their sizes to fit your needs, blend to your heart's content, and choose from an eye-popping array of choices available. Once you're done you have the choice of exporting your artwork to iTunes, Photos, Twitter, Email, Dropbox, or Facebook. If you weren't feeling artistic before, you surely will after using this fantastic app.

Craftsy is the ultimate how-to app when it comes to hobbies. It's a free download that provides online classes in the form of videos, making it hard to fail at what could be one of your new favorite hobbies. If you have spare time on your hands and are looking for something interesting to do, look no further than Craftsy. Learn how to knit, sew, decorate cakes, make jewelry, quilt, become a better photographer, cook, be a great gardener, and much more. You are able to buy classes and download free workshops or even free mini-classes. This mega-app recently added even more free mini-classes, so you don't even have to spend any money. Once you pick what you'd like to learn, you can watch videos from a professional in the field of the category you've chosen. If you have questions or are having problems with your chosen hobby, Craftsy has that covered too. They have a large online community (there have been over 500,000 class enrollments to date!) in which you can ask questions, post pictures, and receive feedback from your instructor or other students in these mega-interactive classrooms! Everything about this app is clean, organized, and is sure to bring out the hobbyist in you. Craftsy is a universal app, and did we mention that it's free?!

Many of us used to scrapbook when we were younger...or when we had the time! Even when there is free time to be found nowadays, it takes an awfully long time and a lot of materials to do it the old way. ScrapPad - Scrapbook for iPad is an easy, fun solution. This digital scrapbooking app has over 2,000 high-definition Retina elements to use. Pick the photos that you would like to use from your iPad's photo library, camera or iCloud. Once you've selected your photos, just use your fingers to "touch, drag, pull, plop, and pinch!" ScrapPad lets you make the designs of your page however you'd like them to be, and there is no limit on how many pages or scrapbook albums that you can make. The app even offers a Print Store if you want professionally printed photo books. Personally, I think that it would be much more fun to DIY for a homemade touch, but it is nice to have the Print Store option. With kits that consist of over 20 themes, AirPrint options, and free updates added pretty regularly, you'll be making snazzy scrapbooks in no time.

Origami Instructions is a colorful app for those that are interested in the ancient hobby of Chinese paper folding. It offers both easy and advanced methods with very clear instructions on how to make everything from a butterfly to a hat. You'll get instructions on how to make about 20 items for free, and if you would like to learn more, there are 2 different in-app purchases available. I found that what was offered for free was enough for me, but if you really get into it, you may decide to pay the extra amount to get instructions for hundreds of objects. Either way, Origami Instructions is a great way to learn a very old hobby that many still enjoy regularly. This app will also work on other iDevices.

Another great hobby that many people overlook when it comes to your iDevice is making beaded bracelets or necklaces. How to Bead is a free and universal app that will guide you in making beaded trinkets, decorating pieces of your clothing with beads, and much more. The UI itself is pretty plain looking. However, you are focusing on how to make items with beads, which are generally small, so this did not bother me. I was able to look at the directions with no added distractions. How to Bead is a free app, and beading can be a really fun yet inexpensive hobby.

Instant Poetry HD evokes the time when you may have had a magnetic poetry kit for your refrigerator. Even if you are not very poetic, you can very easily make beautiful poems just by tapping on words and dragging them around on your iDevice's screen until it sounds right to you. Instant Poetry HD has an algorithm which provides you with words needed to make a poem, so you really cannot go wrong! You can personalize the masterpiece you've made by using a photo from your library as a background, pick from 3 different word themes (Love, Sadness, or Passionate), or even change fonts and colors to match how you feel about what you're writing. Poetry is a hobby that has many therapeutic benefits, and appeals to all ages and sexes. This app will work on your iPod touch or iPad as well.

Last but definitely not least, there is Yoga Free for iPad. You may be thinking, "Yoga? A hobby?" Well, yes! A hobby is defined as an activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure. There are a lot of people that practice yoga as a hobby to calm themselves, keep in shape, and just become relaxed overall. Yoga Free for iPad features over 300 poses that come with instructions and photos of the poses, and comes with one program that was designed by a "yoga guru." While the app and a good amount of content are free, you will have to buy subscriptions via in-app purchases for the more detailed content. For a hobby, I have found that the free content is enough. Yoga Free for iPad has enough in the basic free part to calm me when I tried some of the exercises and poses. After reading about all of the wonderful hobby apps available on your iPad, hopefully you have found a new hobby to enjoy or some enrichment for the hobbies you already have. I personally have found that balancing my body and mind by means of yoga was the ultimate hobby for me, and it may be for you as well, so why not give it a try? It could become your favorite new hobby!