There is no shortage of apps where you can gather your thoughts and ideas when brainstorming a new project, planning a vacation, or any other task. Personally, most of my brainstorming (both my own and with others) is done in Apple’s Notes app.
However, with release iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2 and MacOS 13.1Apple’s Freeform app coming soon.
Think of Freeform as a kind of digital whiteboard. A place where you can write, draw, and add pictures and documents — alone or with others.
Also: Why your Apple device might stop charging this winter
Before you delete or hide Freeform, take a few minutes to try it out. There are many things it can do. Below I’ll walk you through the core tips and tricks to get you started with the latest Apple apps.
General layout of a table in Freeform
When you open Freeform for the first time, you will see a blank table. You can pinch your finger to zoom in or out of the table, with the zoom level showing in the bottom left corner of the screen. There’s no limit to how far you can shrink, allowing you to add as much to the table as you want or need.
Review: Amazon Kindle Scribe: 7 ways it could be even more remarkable
Along the top of the screen is where you’ll find all the available tools. You can use apple pencil to draw on the board, add sticky notes, choose from over 700 different shapes, add text boxes or add links (complete with previews), images, and documents. You can add the following from the Photos or Files app, or even scan documents directly into the app.
If you’re using Freeform on your iPhone, you can use your finger to draw on the board because iPhone doesn’t work with Apple Pencil. On a Mac, you can use a mouse.
Edit or customize board entries
As you start adding content to your table, you’ll want to change the look and feel of your table. With a quick tap on an item, you can display a small menu with options to adjust different aspects of the object.
For example, if you add a shape, you can drag and drop it anywhere on the board, or resize it by dragging any of the handles. But if you tap on it to bring up the menu, you can change the color, add a border, add text, copy, delete, or if you tap the three-dot icon, see even more options. The entire experience is intuitive and easy to navigate.
Remember that if you run out of space, simply zoom out or scroll in the direction you want to add more items.
You can collaborate on a board with friends, colleagues
You don’t need to edit and manage the table yourself. You can invite friends or colleagues to work on a board with you, and if you’re both active and editing a board at the same time, you can even work on it together via FaceTime call.
However, before you can share a board, you need to enable iCloud sync for Freeform. To do that, go to Setting > tap your name > icloudthen touch Show all Under Apps that use iCloud section.
Also: 3 very simple ways to take notes on your iPad with Apple Pencil
Scroll through the list until you find Freeform, then slide the switch next to the On position. You’ll need to repeat this on every device where you want to use Freeform.
Go back to the Freeform app and tap the share button in the upper right corner. From there, you can choose a contact you want to share your current board with, or an app you want to use to share a link to your current board.
Near the top of the share page, there’s a line of text that says “Only those invited can edit”. If you tap that text, you can customize the privacy settings for the table. You can limit access to invitees or make the board public so that anyone can access and edit it.
When Freeform first came out in beta, I created a public board and shared it on Twitter for everyone to access. It’s still available — click here to add it to your Freeform app and feel free to use it if you want to test it.
Who or what is Freeform for?
I’ve tried several times over the past few weeks to take Freeform and make it my daily or even weekly routine. But, for me, it still doesn’t click. I found the appeal of sketching out plans or ideas but found the linear approach I was limited to in the Notes app to be easier for me to use.
Also: How to use Apple’s Always-On Display
I imagine the users mind mapping app will find Freeform a welcome addition to the platform — something that will only get better as Apple gathers more feedback.
But for me, I’ll stick with the Notes app.
That said, I’d love to hear from people who finally find Freeform useful. I would like to know how and what you are using it for. Who knows, maybe it will spark an idea for me to start using it in my workflow.
