Free iPad apps don't have the best reputation, and with good reason: many of them are free in name only, and spend much of the time trying to part you from your cash in order to provide something approaching a decent user experience.
Free apps, then, aren't always the bargain they first appear - beware of false economies, scams, annoying in-app payments  and adverts, and various other irritations that often beset free apps for both iPad and iPhone. We discuss some of these issues in ' Freemium is the worst thing in the history of gaming: a rant ' and 'Why apps need to be more expensive'. [1]
But that's quite enough negativity. Because there are plenty of free iPad apps that are great - you just need to know which ones to pick. In this article we round up 25 of our favourite free iPad apps, and explain why they're so good. We also link to longer reviews of the apps where possible, and to download links so you can try them right away. They're free, remember, so there's no reason not to give them a go.
Updated for Christmas 2014 since Apple isn't running the 12 Days of Gifts giveaways . You don't need Apple to giveaway great apps - plenty of good apps are free already!
Read: The best free apps for iPhone
See also: Best free iPad games | Best free iPhone games Â
Best free social apps for iPad
1. Facebook
If you're on Facebook, then this is probably the first app you'll be downloading on that new iPad whether I advise you to or not. Luckily it's a decent offering. It's free, it looks good (and fits in with the design aesthetic of iOS 7  and iOS 8 ) and does a good job of getting out of the way and letting you find out where your ex-girlfriend has been on holiday. [2]
FREE | Read our full Facebook for iPad review | Download Facebook for iPad [3]
2. Twitter
Like Facebook, Twitter [4] 's free native iOS app is simple and effective. It's cleanly designed, intuitive to use and well suited to the more basic aspects of using Twitter - which is what you want from the mobile app.
FREE | Download Twitter for iPad [5]
3. Find My Friends
Find My Friends had a pleasant, minimalist make-over when iOS 7 came out. And in terms of functionality, those still interested in stalking their friends, checking up on their wife's whereabouts and making sure they don't end up in the same pub as their dad will find it as useful as ever. For those that haven't tried it, it's free to download and well worth exploring.
FREE | Read our full Find My Friends review | Download Find My Friends for iPad [6] Â
4. Skype for iPad
Here's a superb and versatile alternative to FaceTime for when you want to video-call friends and relatives who (for some unfathomable reason) aren't on Apple devices. Features a user-friendly interface and the ability to make calls over 3G, although call quality issues and data limits mean we'd recommend this as an occasional indulgence only.Â
FREE | Read our full Skype for iPad review | Download Skype for iPad [7] Â
Best free entertainment apps for iPad
5. Kindle
When it comes to reading apps, we're looking for a lot: a pleasant reading experience; benefits like a built-in dictionary, easy and fast navigation and search, and customisation options; and a store with a massive ebook selection, which is easy to browse from an iOS device. Amazon's Kindle app shines on all those fronts.
That's why - despite competition from no less a giant than Apple and its iBooks offering - it's still the best e-reading option in the App Store. (See also: iPad mini vs Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablet comparison review )
FREE | Read our full Kindle for iPad review | Download Kindle for iPad [8] [9]
6. BBC iPlayer
With its large catalogue of television programs and radio shows, all streamed without adverts, the BBC iPlayer app enables you to watch any show broadcast in the last seven days on the move.
The BBC iPlayer app should be a stock download for all iOS device owners in the UK. The ability to cache shows for 30 days - added in version 2 - will make it a vital component for anybody going on long journeys without reliable connection, and also make it less data intensive for watching television shows.
FREE | Read our full iPlayer for iOS review | Download BBC iPlayer for iPad [10]
7. GarageBand
If you're a serious musician you might find the iOS version of GarageBand a bit gimmicky (although it's much more likely that you'll appreciate it as a handy portable notebook). However, for those who can hear it all in their heads, but have no training whatsoever, and never felt confident enough to try and lay it down, the interface of GarageBand for iOS is nothing short of a miracle.
It's free, too, although a one-off in-app purchase of £2.99 unlocks all the additional instruments and loops.
FREE | Read our full GarageBand for iPad review | Download GarageBand for iPad [11] Â
Read our reviews of the other iOS iLife apps: Apple iMovie for iPad, iPhone  | Apple iPhoto for iPad, iPhone
8. Podcasts
Apple's first stab at its Podcasts app didn't support playlists and didn't sync podcasts between devices, and its Now Playing screen was split in two. But since version 1.2 - the app's on version 2.1.2 at the time of writing - it's been a different matter. Playlists (called Stations) have been added, iCloud syncing ensures synchronisation between devices (and with iTunes on your Mac), and the Now Playing screen is a single unit that - thank goodness - lacks the old tape-deck interface.
FREE | Read our full Podcasts for iPad review | Download Podcasts for iPad [12]
9. YouTube
It's easy to get used to viewing YouTube videos in Safari, and hardly a painful experience (assuming you steer clear of the Justin Bieber clips), but the optimised YouTube iPad app is altogether smoother and slicker. A clever feature, for instance, lets you swipe downwards in a video you're watching to browse the rest of YouTube while the video continues in a lower-right splitscreen.
FREE | Download YouTube for iPad [13]
See also:Â How to download YouTube videos to your iPad for free
10. Remote
Something of an essential if you're an Apple TV user, Remote lets you control media libraries in nearby systems from the comfort of your iOS device. A simple and stripped-down app - even more so since the iOS 7 flat-design revolution - but it gets the job done.
FREE | Download Remote for iPad [14]
Best free work & creativity apps for iPad
11. Evernote
This note- and snippet-managing service lets you type text notes and take photo notes with your device's camera. Evernote automatically uploads everything you put into it to the company's servers, where your notes are indexed for easy search and retrieval, and become available for syncing to all your devices. It's fast, smooth and highly functional.
FREE | Read our full Evernote review | Download Evernote for iPad [15]
iPad Air 2 review  | iPad mini 3 review
12. Readdle Documents
Documents is, as the name suggests, an app for keeping your documents in one convenient place, particularly on the move. Those documents include text, audio, music files and web and email content. It's been awarded 'Editors' Choice' by Apple in more than 70 countries, and that's a fair reflection of the app's exceptional quality and usefulness.
FREE | Read our full Readdle Documents review | Download Readdle Documents [16]
13. Quark DesignPad
DesignPad for Quark is a useful creative tool that's user-friendly and capable of producing attractive designs - or rather, the foundations of attractive designs - in minutes. Ideally suited to design students and enthusiasts, DesignPad is a good way to learn the fundamentals of grid-based design without the cost and time needed to invest in full-scale desktop publishing software.
FREE | Read our full Quark DesignPad review | Download Quark DesignPad [17] Â
14. Snapseed
Snapseed might be free, but its tools and enhancements rival those of many paid-for photo apps on the iPhone.
From single-tap Auto Correct and tools for cropping and straightening to more creative options such as Retrolux, Grunge and Tilt-Shift, Snapseed is packed with features and worthy of a place on your home screen. We recommend that you give it a try, and doubt you'll be disappointed.
FREE | Read our full Snapseed for iPad review | Download Snapseed for iPad
[18]
15. Paper By FiftyThree
Paper may be one of our favorite drawing apps ever to grace the iPad. If we didn't put so much trust in reality, we would've sworn that the company found some way to magically turn its supply of charcoal, watercolors, markers, and inkwell pens into lines of code that, when run on an iPad, made beautiful artwork.
FREE | Read our full Paper By FiftyThree review | Download Paper By FiftyThree [19]
Best free maps & travel apps for iPad
16. Google Maps
It's time to take sides: are you a fan of Apple Maps or Google Maps?
In fact, the joy of free apps is that you can hedge your bets and try both as much as you like. Many reckon Google is still ahead, and we'd strongly recommend that you download Google Maps and test it out for yourself. What people need from a navigation app is accuracy, and we still feel that Google is more reliable. But Apple is catching up, and is always going to feature better iOS integration. You pays your money (or not, in this case); you takes your choice.
FREE | Apple Maps vs Google Maps comparison review  | Download Google Maps for iPad
[20]
17. Google Earth
On top of its real-world applications - which are not inconsiderable - Google Earth remains one of the most purely visually impressive apps out there. Swooping in from orbit to a view of your street in a matter of seconds is a great way to wow the uninitiated.
FREE | Read our original Google Earth review from 2006 | Download Google Earth for iPad [21]
Best free news & weather apps for iPad
18. BBC News
BBC News is precisely what you would expect from one of the finest news organisations on the planet: an elegant, information-packed, customisable app that delivers a wide range of global news.
FREE | Read our full BBC News for iPad review | Download BBC News for iPad [22] [23]
See also: The best news apps for the iPad & iPhone
19. BBC Weather
The BBC Weather app offers beautiful, intuitive design, but it's more than a looker: it features useful additional data including hourly based visibility, humidity, pressure, wind direction and wind speed information, along with important UV details including, for those many hay fever sufferers, pollen count. BBC Weather offers the ability to search and save favourite locations and then swipe vertically to view them individually - a great idea for planning a journey or bragging/moaning to friends or family from afar.
BBC Weather is a useful, attractive addition to the wealth of weather related apps currently available to iOS users. While there are more detailed and varied weather apps available, the BBC app wins out for ease of use and clarity.
FREE | Read our full BBC Weather for iOS review | Download BBC Weather for iPad [24] Â
See also: The best weather apps for iPad & iPhone
20. The Guardian Eyewitness
The Guardian Eyewitness is a beautifully simple photography-centric app, which showcases recent photos by professional photographers. These range from hard news imagery to human-interest pictures. Each image looks unsurprisingly gorgeous, vividly displayed full-screen on the iPad.
Photography fans will love the incredible shots here. The app's subtle interface wisely stands back, letting the photos steal the show.
FREE | Read our full Guardian Eyewitness for iPad review | Download Guardian Eyewitness for iPad [25]
21. Flipboard
According to the team behind the app, Flipboard "is on a quest to transform how people discover, view and share content by combining the beauty and ease of print with the power of social media". With the ability to customise content suited to your interests, it's a claim that stands up well.
As a social-news aggregator, Flipboard supports an extensive range of accounts including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Linkedin and Instagram. Signing in adds, where applicable, yet more tailored content, from your Facebook timeline for example. Additionally, users can create a free Flipboard account, which adds the ability to read favourite sections anywhere on any device, and create and manage personalised magazines to share with others or keep private.
Flipboard is a must have app: one that showcases Apple's iPad to great effect, while maintaining a lead over similar social-news aggregators. Beautifully tactile and responsive, it makes reading anything on your iDevice a absolute pleasure, one ideal for exploring both favourite news sources and discovering new and inspirational content, including wonderful user-curated personalised magazines.
FREE | Read our full Flipboard for iPad review | Download Flipboard for iPad [26]
Best free shopping apps for iPad
22. eBay for iPad
The first rule of online auctions is that you need be constantly connected - if not, how will you be able to bid on a desired item last minute if you're away from your computer?
Thanks to eBay's iOS app, you don't have to worry about ever missing an auction. This fully fledged app allows you to do just about anything eBay's full website does.
FREE | Read our full eBay for iOS review [27] | Download eBay for iPad [28] Â
Best free utilities & miscellaneous apps for iPad
23. Find My iPhone
You frantically pat your pockets or dig through your bag, as the realisation sets in: you've misplaced your iPhone. Fortunately, Apple's free Find My iPhone app makes it easy to find out where you lost your phone -Â or your iPod touch or iPad. If you've set up Apple's service for locating your device (and you really should), then it's a breeze to enter your username and password, tap your device, and find it on a map.
Hopefully, you'll never have to fire up Find My iPhone for anything other than a tech demo for curious friends, but if you do, then you'll find it does its job with aplomb.
FREE | Read our full Find My iPhone review | Download Find My iPhone [29] Â
24. Airport Utility
Until the release of the AirPort Utility app back in 2011, the only way to configure an AirPort Extreme Base Station, Time Capsule, or AirPort Express was from the desktop AirPort Utility software. The free AirPort Utility for iOS from Apple includes all the relevant functionality of the desktop software plus a little extra: a graphical depiction of your network's wiring and wireless routes to the internet and among base stations. At a glance, you can pick a router, which Apple represents with a thumbnail of its appearance, to examine or configure. A red or yellow icon next to the globe representing internet connectivity or a router means something’s wrong.
The app provides ready access to information you need from a router, such as the IP address at which it's operating and has been assigned by an internet service provider or set manually. But tap an Edit button, and you can drill down into most but not all configuration details, from picking a particular 5-gigahertz radio channel to the rate of speed at which a given wireless client has connected.
AirPort Utility for iOS is the perfect tool for configuring and troubleshooting Apple's gear without having to lug a laptop around.
FREE | Read our full Airport Utility review | Download Airport Utility [30] Â
25. iTunes U
The iTunes U app has clear purpose for pupils and teachers, students and lecturers. It has the potential to change classrooms everywhere, and it has appeal for people outside the education system too. With free access to course materials, audio, video and presentations from schools and colleges around the world, it’s nothing less than a gift to iOS users.
FREE | Read our full iTunes U review | Download iTunes U [31]
See also:Â Everything you need to know about iTunes U, and how to get the most out of it
Links
- ^ Why apps need to be more expensive (www.techadvisor.co.uk)
- ^ Macworld on Facebook (www.facebook.com)
- ^ Download Facebook for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Macworld on Twitter (www.twitter.com)
- ^ Download Twitter for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Find My Friends for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Skype for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Kindle for iPad review (www.macworld.com)
- ^ Download Kindle for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download BBC iPlayer for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download GarageBand for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Podcasts for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download YouTube for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Remote for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Evernote for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Readdle Documents (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Quark DesignPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Snapseed for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Paper By FiftyThree (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Google Maps for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Google Earth for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ BBC News for iPad review (www.macworld.com)
- ^ Download BBC News for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download BBC Weather for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Guardian Eyewitness for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Flipboard for iPad (itunes.app le.com)
- ^ eBay for iOS review (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
- ^ Download eBay for iPad (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download Find My iPhone
(itunes.apple.com) - ^ Download Airport Utility (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Download iTunes U (itunes.apple.com)
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