Welcome to Notability: powerful, yet wonderfully simple note-taking and PDF annotation. Apple Editors' Choice on iPad, iPhone, and Mac! Apple's Mac App of The Year! Recognized by Apple as the Best Selling Paid Productivity app in 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013! Top Free iPad Games 1. Magic Tiles 3: Piano Game 4. Tattoo Drawing 5. Call of Duty: Mobile 6. Subway Surfers 7. Dancing Road: Color Ball Run! Tiles Hop EDM Rush 9. Mario Kart Tour 10. Top Paid iPad Games 1. Geometry Dash 6. The Game of Life. IPad: Apple currently have the best apps for digital planning. Goodnotes is the most popular digital planning app. Notability is another great app and there are many articles which explore differences between the two. Top paid iPad apps 1. Teach Your Monster 6. Affinity Designer 8. Toca Hair Salon 3 9: Toca Life: Hospital 10.

People are constantly asking me “what’s the best app for _______” (fill in the blank with your favorite daily task).

So here’s a list culled from my years of experience helping lawyers incorporate the iPhone and iPad into their everyday practice. I’ll keep the list updated as apps are updated and new apps are introduced.

Here’s the list criteria:

Easy-to-Use & Intuitive: the app must be easy to use without requiring a large learning curve.
Build Quality & “Polish”: the app must look impressive and work fluently.
Functional & Efficient: the app must enable lawyers and legal professionals more efficient in their day-to-day work.
Tech Support: the app is supported by folks who care about their customers.

For every category you’ll see the BEST APP along with a short description and justification for the pick. For some categories there are multiple apps so I offer “runner ups.”

Categories:
Viewing Microsoft Word Documents
Editing Microsoft Word Documents
Viewing PDF Files
Annotating PDF Files
Managing Files
Scanning Documents
PDF Conversion
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations
Trial Presentation
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets
Taking Notes: Handwriting
Taking Notes: Typing
Surfing the Web
E-mail
Calendar
Task Management
Password Manager
Mind Mapping
RSS Reader
Read Later Service
Reading Books
Twitter
Legal Research
Legal Rules and Statutes
Transcript Management
Jury Selection
Calculator
Web Meetings
Dictionary
Legal Dictionary
Podcasts
Clipboard Manager
Weather App
Maps
Audio Recorder
Printing App

Microsoft Word
FREE
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad (also available for Android)
Version 1.27 (last updated Nov. 15, 2016)

Finally introduced by Microsoft in March 2014, the Microsoft Word app is the best app for VIEWING Microsoft Word documents since other apps will change the document’s formatting.
Yes, the iPad & iPhone have a built-in document viewer, but it won’t show advanced formatting features, or Track Changes, or other items that the Microsoft Word app will show.
If you receive a Microsoft Word document as an e-mail attachment, I recommend you use the “Open In” menu to open the document in the Microsoft Word app.

Microsoft Word
FREE (but works best with an Office 365 subscription)
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad (also available for Android)
Version 1.27 (last updated Nov. 15, 2016)

Before March 2014 when Microsoft finally released their official Microsoft Office apps for the iPhone and iPad, we had to use a variety of third-party apps to edit Microsoft Word documents, Some of us used Apple’s Pages app since it could open Microsoft Word documents, others used Docs To Go. But with the official Microsoft Word app available today, there is no question that it is the best app for editing Microsoft Word documents.

GoodReader
$4.99
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad
Version 4.12.1 (last updated Feb. 12, 2016)

GoodReader has a long and solid reputation among lawyers for managing and viewing files of all types but it has a particular focus on PDF and TXT files.
The GoodRead help file is extensive and well organized.

Runner Up:PDF Expert

GoodReader
$4.99
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad
Version 4.12.1 (last updated Feb. 12, 2016)

Many may rightfully argue that PDF Expert is a little more polished and better looking than GoodReader, but GoodReader take s slight edge because the PDF annotation tools are simpler and their “Annotation Summary” is a little better formatted.
I know a lot of attorneys like iAnnotate as well. And while I swoon over the ability to customize the annotation toolbars in iAnnotate, I don’t believe it is as useful as GoodReader or PDF Expert.

Runner Up:PDF Expert, iAnnotate

Documents 5 by Readdle
FREE
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad
Version 5.7.4 (last updated Nov. 16, 2016)

This is a tough category for iOS devices. There is no “My Documents” folder available on the iPhone or iPad, so we have to make do with the apps and services that we have available to us.
The best general, all-around app for managing files stored locally on your device, or in the cloud, is Documents from Readdle.
To locally manage files on the iPad or iPhone, I recommend turning to GoodReader or PDF Expert. Both of these apps offer excellent file management tools for moving, copying, and renaming files. And both of these apps will also connect to cloud-based storage services such as Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc.
For those of you using cloud-based storage services, you may simply use the app for your particular service such as Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, etc. You’ll need access to the Internet in order to access files stored in those services, but most of the apps allow you to save local/offline copies of the files so they can be accessed when you’re offline.

FREE (but I recommend the $7.99 in-app upgrade for “Pro” features)
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad
Version 6.0.1 (last updated Oct. 28, 2016)

It’s a close race between Scanbot and Scanner Pro, but Scanbot has been offering OCR functionality for longer and offers a few additional options.

Runner Up:Scanner Pro

$7.99
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad
Version 5.4 (last updated July 7, 2016)

It’s another close race between PDF PROvider (from Darsoft Inc.) and PDF Converter (from Readdle). Both offer most of the same features, but PDF PROvider has a slight edge since it can connect directly to cloud storage services.

Runner Up:PDF Converter

FREE (but works best with an Office 365 subscription)
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad
Version 1.27 (last updated Nov. 15, 2016)

If you desire to view and run Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from your iPad, this is the best app to use.
Apple’s Keynote will take PowerPoint files and show them, but you may lose some formatting in the conversion.

$129.99
iPad only
Version 4.5.4 (last updated July 21, 2016)

For any other presentations are NOT Microsoft PowerPoint or Keynote, TrialPad is the best option for organizing and presenting evidence.
There are a few other trial presentation apps available, but TrialPad is by far the most polished and full featured.

Runners Up:TrialDirector, ExhibitView

FREE (but works best with an Office 365 subscription)
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad
Version 1.27 (last updated Nov. 15, 2016)

The Microsoft Excel app for iPhone and iPad is the best app for when you need to VIEW and EDIT Excel spreadsheets.
While both the iPhone and iPad can show Excel spreadsheets with their built-in viewer, there’s a lot of information lost when you don’t use the Microsoft Excel app.
And while I don’t usually recommend editing an Excel spreadsheet on your iPhone or iPad, the Microsoft Excel app is your best option.

$9.99
Universal app for both iPhone and iPad
Version 6.4.2 (last updated Nov. 10, 2016)

Notability 6.4 IOS