It’s not every day Apple releases a brand new app, but you’ll probably see a new icon in your library after updating to iOS and iPadOS 16.2 or macOS 13.1. On Tuesday, Apple launched the Freeform app, which the press release describes as “an infinite canvas” for “creative brainstorming and collaboration”. Basically, it’s a virtual whiteboard that you can use with friends – so we tested it out to see how well it handled that task.
Apple has announced Freeform during the WWDC keynote earlier this year, demonstrating the ability to add photos, files, drawings, links, notes, and more to a virtual canvas, by yourself or with others. Of course, Freeform also integrates with other Apple apps – the app has buttons that let you start a discussion about what you’re working on with other collaborators via iMessage or FaceTime.
I’m happy to say that Freeform gave me a pretty good first impression. Changes generally sync across devices and accounts in near real-time, even when I was mobile, which is important to nail for an app focused on collaboration. I was also surprised how often I quickly found the features I was looking for. I was able to move images I inserted to the back layer so that handwriting would appear over them, and I could add descriptive text to elements that VoiceOver would read. You can also copy and paste styles between text boxes or ready-made shapes and lock things you don’t want to accidentally move.
There were a few reminders that this software was just released. On both macOS and iPadOS, I had to go into settings and manually enable iCloud syncing for Freeform (something the app helpfully told me, though one of the error messages was a bit vague). It also took a while for the app to actually appear on my iPhone after I updated; I had to launch it through the App Store a few times before it showed up in my app library or Spotlight. That’s not to endorse the Freeform experience on the iPhone; it’s certainly designed with large-screen devices in mind, though the handheld version will probably get you by in a pinch.
I also managed to get my devices out of sync, which took a while to figure out, and the collaboration features would sometimes tell me that no one else was looking at the board, even though someone else was definitely there. It’s also worth noting that all these issues popped up in a document shared by two people – Apple promises you can have up to 100 users on the same board, which I think would be extremely chaotic.
It’s probably too early to tell if Freeform will become an essential part of workflows, like Notes, or if it will be more like those Apple apps that hardly anyone remembers, like Clips or iTunes Movie Trailers. I will say I never see myself sitting with anyone else creating extremely detailed artwork like Apple shows off in its press photos but I would at least consider using it as a virtual notebook if I had an iPad and my own Apple Pencil. At least that’s more than I can say for certain other apps meant to promote real-time collaboration.
