This week we go to school with Apple’s Schoolwork app, then take time out cooking up delicious recipes for pixelated Pokémons. Then we enjoy a beautiful soundtrack on maybe the most impressive synth on iOS — and all for free!
Synth One
Photo: AudioKit Pro
Synth One is a new synth app for the iPad, but it’s also a big deal. Why? Because it is free, open-source and built by volunteer musicians and programmers. It’s beautifully designed, sounds great, is easy to use, and a lot of fun.
The specs include the following: An “analog”/FM poly synth, 300 built-in presets (most of which are awesome), an easy to use arpeggiator, full MIDI keyboard support, effects (reverb, delay and more), and a whole lot of super in-depth tweaks and settings. It’s also a very small download, coming in at just under 50MB.
Price: Free
Download: AudioKit Synth One Synthesizer from the App Store (iOS)
Edit
Photo: Edit
Edit is just about the simplest notes app possible. It doesn’t have search, it doesn’t even have multiple notes. It’s just a single page onto which you can write or paste text, and almost nothing more.
Price: $1.99
Download: Edit from the App Store (iOS)
Pokémon Quest
Photo: The Pokémon Company
Pokémon Quest is like a simulated version of that Pokémon Go game that has adults wandering the streets like children, hunting down virtual creatures. Only now, instead of hunting the Pokémons, you catch them by cooking up a delicious dish, in order to attract them to your camp, then fight and capture them. Or something. I’ve never played any of these games, so I grilled (ha!) Cult of Mac’s Killian Bell about it, and paraphrased his answer. That’s called a primary source, folks!
Price: Free to play
Download: Pokémon Quest from the App Store (iOS)
Apple Schoolwork
Photo: Apple
Apple’s Schoolwork app is designed to make managing assignments easier for pupils and teachers in iOS-first schools. Teachers can create new assignments and send them directly to students’ iPads. Assignments can include web links, PDFs and other documents, and even specific activities inside other apps.
Students can use the app to organize their workload, keep track of the assignments they need to complete, and to — hopefully — keep to deadlines. Teachers can even keep an eye on students’ progress and performance while the assignments are in progress.
Price: Free
Download: Schoolwork from Apple
