Apple late on Tuesday rolled out the latest updates to its iWork and iMovie apps for iPhone and iPad. All now offer full mouse and trackpad support, iCloud file sharing, and a number of other new features and improvements.
It took nearly ten years, but Apple has finally accepted and embraced the fact that many of us would like to pair a mouse or trackpad with an iOS device — iPad especially — when using it for extended periods.
Its latest iOS 13.4 release beefs up trackpad support in a big way, adding gestures, a much-improved pointer, and more. And now Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and iMovie can take full advantage of it.
iWork and iMovie play nicely with trackpads
The new updates add full mouse and trackpad compatibility, ironing out any kinks users may have run into before. It also paves the way for the glorious new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro, which is scheduled to launch in May.
Here’s what else you can expect from these releases, according to Apple’s notes:
Pages
- Select from a variety of gorgeous new templates to help you get started.
- Add a Pages document to a shared iCloud Drive folder to automatically start collaborating. Requires iPadOS 13.4 or iOS 13.4.
- Add a drop cap to make a paragraph stand out with a large, decorative first letter.
- Apply a color, gradient or image to the background of any document.
- Touch and hold, then drag across multiple objects to select them.
- Easily access recently used templates in a redesigned template chooser.
- Print or export a PDF of your document with comments included.
- Edit shared documents while offline and your changes will upload when you’re back online. Requires iPadOS or iOS 13 or later.
- Enhance your documents with a variety of new, editable shapes.
Numbers:
- Create spreadsheets with more rows and columns than ever before.
- Apply a color to the background of a sheet.
- Add a Numbers spreadsheet to a shared iCloud Drive folder to automatically start collaborating. Requires iPadOS 13.4 or iOS 13.4.
- Edit shared spreadsheets while offline and your changes will upload when you’re back online. Requires iPadOS or iOS 13 or later.
- Touch and hold, then drag across multiple objects to select them.
- Easily access your recently used templates in a redesigned template chooser.
- Print or export a PDF of your spreadsheet with comments included.
- Add a drop cap to text in a shape.
- Enhance your spreadsheets with a variety of new, editable shapes.
Keynote:
- Add a Keynote presentation to a shared iCloud Drive folder to automatically start collaborating. Requires iPadOS 13.4 or iOS 13.4.
- Edit shared presentations while offline and your changes will upload when you’re back online. Requires iPadOS or iOS 13 or later.
- Select from a variety of gorgeous new themes to help you get started.
- Touch and hold, then drag across multiple objects to select them.
- Easily access your recently used themes in a redesigned theme chooser.
- Print or export a PDF of your presentation with comments included.
- Add a drop cap to make text stand out with a large, decorative first letter.
- Enhance your presentations with a variety of new, editable shapes.
- New “Keyboard” text build in and build out animation.
iMovie:
- Use keyboard shortcuts to toggle between the five inspector modes when a clip is selected: Action, Speed adjustments, Volume, Titles and Filters.
- Use keyboard shortcuts to quickly rotate video 90-degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.
- Tap the Download All button at the top of the soundtracks list to download all bundled soundtracks at once.
- Add PNG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP files to your movie.
- Performance and stability improvements.
Update today
You can download the newest versions of Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and iMovie for free from the App Store. Many of the same improvements, including iCloud file sharing, are also now available in iWork for Mac.
