Those clamoring for more professional-grade iPad applications could soon get a quartet of them. An analyst found evidence on Monday that Pixelmator Pro and three more Mac apps for graphics professionals are getting ported to iPadOS.
If true, the move should help quiet the critics who complain that the iPad Pro isn’t very “pro.”
Pixelmator Pro and other pro apps could be headed for iPad
Although the hardware in recent iPad Pro models is very powerful, many say the limiting factor is the software. The new iPadOS 26 lets the tablet look and act much more Mac-like, which should help. But there is undeniably a lack of pro-grade applications for the iPad.
The challenge for graphics professionals is that there are some of the tools they need. The tablet and Apple Pencil make a great combination, to start. Apple released Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad in 2023, while many artists heavily depend on the iPad version of the third-party app Procreate. There are other examples, but the list is far shorter than what’s available for Mac.
Apple could be taking a big step in the right direction by introducing iPadOS versions for four of its Mac applications for creatives.
“I uncovered 4 App Store IDs which I believe are related to upcoming iPad apps for Pixelmator Pro, Compressor, Motion, MainStage,” Aaron Perris posted on X on Monday.
Pixelmator Pro is a powerful image editor that’s currently a Mac exclusive, though iPad users can turn to the scaled-back Pixelmator. Compressor is a tool for Final Cut Pro to help with video conversions,
while MainStage is a tool for Final Cut Pro when handling live performances. Motion lets users create cinematic 2D and 3D titles, fluid transitions and other effects.
While Perris doesn’t have a timeline for when these applications might hit the App Store, he did say, “With the M5 iPads out now and iPadOS 26.1 right around the corner, the timing couldn’t be better for a release.”
Much more progress is possible … and needed
If Perris’ prediction pans out, these four applications should make getting work done easier for graphics professionals who prefer iPad. But that’s a subset of tablet users, of course.
There have been calls for years for Apple to port Xcode to iPadOS, allowing developers to write applications on their tablets. An iPad with an M5 chip packs more than enough power to compile and run apps. Perhaps that should be Apple’s follow-up to the four new pro-grade iPad apps for creatives.
