Apple's iWork for iCloud apps get new features and exit beta
The iWork suite of apps was recently updated to include 3D Touch support for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, new multitasking support for the iPad, and more. At the same time, Apple apparently decided it was time to add some new features to iWork for iCloud and bring the Web apps out of beta.
The browser-independent iWork Web apps now support ten new languages and support commenting on documents, among other new features. Each of the Web apps also has its own new splash page, showing off some of the new features. The enhancements include:
Pages
- Create custom colors
- Word count
- Version history
- Preview on mobile browsers
- Comments
- Open Pages ’08 and Pages ’06 documents
- View documents with tracked changes
- Insert pages and sections
Numbers
- Edit pop-up menu cells
- Comments
- Create custom colors
- Open Numbers ’08 spreadsheets
- Filter tables
- Version history
- Annotate interactive charts
- Preview on mobile browsers
Keynote
The splash page shown above, courtesy of 9to5Mac, seems not to appear at the time of this writing. Furthermore, Apple’s support page detailing the version history for Keynote for iCloud hasn’t been updated since November 2014. However, I can confirm that all of the below features work fine in the Web app at this time.
- Show, hide, and resize slide navigator
- Change slide background
- Version history
- Comments
- Create custom colors
- Copy and paste slides
- Open Keynote ’08 and Keynote ’06 files
I’m glad to see these Web apps exit beta, but I’m most impressed with the additional ability to comment within documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows as well as view version history. These features make the products much more competitive with the features offered by Google Drive’s suite of Web apps. All you need to do to use the iWork for iCloud set of apps is visit iCloud’s Web page and sign in with your Apple ID.
