Ulysses, Procreate Pocket, Agenda for iOS and other apps of the week.

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

This week we get productive, with colorful new features in the Ulysses word processor app, amazing new keyboard controls in Things for iOS, and more. Check out our awesome apps of the week.

Things

Things reminds you to do things.
Things reminds you to do things.
Photo: Cultured Code

Cultured Code’s lovely to-do app Things just got a massive update on iOS, and set the standard for iPad keyboard support at the same time. Now you can control pretty much anything from the keyboard, in a way that’s intuitive and useful, and not just there for power-nerds.

Also, you can finally drag and drop tasks to the sidebar list.

Price: $19.99

Download: Things 3 for iPad from the App Store (iOS)

Ulysses 13

The Ulysses writing app adds colored keywords
Ulysses adds helpful colored keywords.
Screenshot: Ulysses

Ulysses, the best writing app on Mac and iOS, just got a big update, which may or may not affect you. The super-slick word-wrangling app now uses syntax coloring for any code blocks you insert into your text, which is great for tech bloggers and folks writing about programming. It also adds deadlines, and daily writing goals. These are great for journalists, and for novelists, respectively.

Along with some other tweaks (full-color image thumbnails, colored keywords), this makes for a solid Ulysses update. Is it worth getting excited about? That depends on how you use it.

Price: Free with pro subscription

Download: Ulysses from the App Store (iOS)

Download: Ulysses from the App Store (macOS)

Agenda

Agenda is whatever kind of app you want it to be.
Agenda is whatever kind of app you want it to be.
Screenshot: Momenta B.V.

Agenda is an odd app. It’s a calendar, it’s a note-taking app, and it’s a to-do app. Or it’s all three of these. Agenda for iOS joins the Mac version of the same app, so now all your notes, tasks and appointments will sync to all your devices. The design is pretty freeform. So free, in fact, that it can take a while to work out how you’re going to use it.

But this freedom also means you aren’t forced into one way of working. Do you mostly take notes, but occasionally need to add a date or deadline? Do you usually need just a calendar, but occasionally want to make detailed notes? Agenda may be for you.

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Download: Agenda from the App Store (iOS)

Procreate Pocket 2

The Procreate Pocket painting app is just like the iPad version, only smaller.
Just like the iPad version, only smaller.
Photo: Savage Interactive

Procreate might be the best painting app on the iPad. Procreate Pocket is a smaller version tailored for the iPhone, which brings almost everything from its big brother except Apple Pencil support. You get all the brushes, the same powerful drawing engine, all shrunk for the smaller screen (including proper iPhone X support).

The app also takes advantage of haptic feedback and 3D Touch to get back a little bit of the feel of the Apple Pencil.

Price: $4.99

Download: Procreate Pocket from the App Store (iOS)

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