If you happen to needed to determine the primary thrust of Apple’s most up-to-date software program releases, it will be productiveness. Whereas iOS 14 marked the primary look of redesigned widgets, iOS 15 doubled down on maximizing productiveness with Focus, and shortly, Freeform seems to finish this trilogy with a brand new iOS 16 replace.

Apple’s new app (opens in new tab) provides you a clean canvas the place you’ll be able to work by yourself or collaborate with different Apple customers throughout macOS 13.1, iPadOS 16.2, and iOS 16.2, all now obtainable to obtain from right this moment (December 13) by going to Settings > Normal > Software program Replace.

Whereas Freeform was first proven off throughout WWDC 2022 in June, it was made obtainable to customers in November with the primary public beta releases of macOS 13.1, iPadOS 16.2, and iOS 16.2, which lets you join a testing part to see what’s been modified and what’s been mounted.

Since then, I have been attempting it out on an M1 12.9-inch iPad Professional (2021), Macbook Professional 14-inch (2021), and my iPhone 13 Professional, and whereas it is left me with a way of hope that Apple hasn’t missed the mark in its productiveness focus, it additionally makes me marvel if it is a precursor to how apps might be used with its rumored headset.

Freeforming a undertaking with ease

If you launch the app, you are dropped at a clean canvas, with a menu bar on the high, the place you’ll be able to insert textual content, sticky notes, photographs, and shapes, alongside a toggle to make use of an Apple Pencil.

Because the app identify implies, it is a freeform undertaking mapping area. The canvas is as clean or full as you want it to be.

Nevertheless it goes deeper than that – you’ll be able to invite family and friends to assist contribute to this canvas, sparking new concepts or constructing upon current ones. You too can drop in wealthy hyperlinks for web sites, alongside video hyperlinks that may play as soon as you choose them inside Freeform. Direct entry to what would usually be third-party capabilities makes canvas creation and administration rather more streamlined and has made it that a lot simpler for me and my spouse, for instance, to construct concepts throughout the canvas.

The design of the app is pure Apple – a minimal quantity of choices on the high of the app to select from, however sufficient to get the job finished, wrapped up in a sublime app that works throughout iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It is nice to see a brand-new app that works so nicely out of the gate, and Freeform’s nice design will make you wish to match it into your workflow.

I have been making a Freeform canvas structure for planning the places of my dwelling good cameras (I purchased three throughout Black Friday weekend). I’ve an area within the eating room the place our canine, Jolly sleeps, and, on my Freeform canvas, I’ve a sticky observe describing the place the digicam might go.

Sometimes, my spouse will add a photograph to a different a part of the canvas that defines one other room of the home, and I am going to see her replace on our shared workspace indicating the place the digicam needs to be positioned, and when it ought to report.

It has been use case for a way Freeform might work, however there’s an AR side to the app that makes me suppose it might be excellent for Apple’s rumored headset, because it appears tailored for the following frontier.

Productiveness in an AR world

Think about sporting a headset that may load up Freeform, and you would collaborate on a digital wall that has your current canvas connected. Along with your arms, you’ll be able to rearrange the sticky notes and pictures, much like a scene from the 2002 film, Minority Report.

Whereas utilizing the app, it felt as if Freeform might be a improbable showcase for the headset if it does turn into official in 2023, as these use circumstances could be excellent for this product. Collaboration and productiveness are themes that Apple has been enhancing upon for its iPhone, iPad, and Mac merchandise in the previous few years, and one thing like this might solely sharpen that focus.

Regardless, Freeform is a improbable first model to come back out from Apple, and it is an app I will be utilizing alongside my to-do apps when one other large undertaking arrives.