Best Apps on iPad: Paper

There are a lot of hidden gems in the iOS App Store, but one of the best apps for iPad from 2012 actually won Apple's iPad App of the Year award. Look away, stylus haters: we're talking about the Paper app.

Paper is a sketching and drawing app with one of the best-implemented user interfaces we've ever come across. There's no shortage of sketching apps in the App Store, but Paper is the only one that does a good job of emulating an actual, paper notebook.   

Best Apps on iPad: Paper - Drawing

You can make pretty good use of Paper using an index finger, but the app is free: take your savings and go buy a $5 stylus. It will feel a little awkward at first, but you really need a stylus to take full advantage of the iPad app — your finger, no offense, is too clunky.

Even if you're a terrible artist, the way Paper renders your input usually makes for an aesthetically pleasant composition and brush strokes will feel natural. While you can use the iPad Paper app for taking notes, Penultimate is arguably a better application for this. Paper truly shines in more drawing-centric applications.

Best Apps on iPad: Paper - UI

The user interface on the Paper app is one of its biggest selling points. The free version of Paper comes with a basic set of color inks as well as a pen and eraser. Additional composition tools and colors are available as in-app purchases.

One of the neatest features of Paper is that you can save your sketches into notebooks (that look like Moleskines) and then export them into PDF format for viewing on other devices.