Affinity Designer 2 for iPad

I recently purchased an Affinity V2 Universal License and I was happily surprised to find that my license also includes support for the iPad apps. My iPad is a travel device for me: I use a Mac for all the heavy stuff but when I need them, the iPad apps have every feature from the desktop app (save for the AI powered stuff, but that’s processor dependent) and I find that I actually gravitate more to using the iPad apps more. Apple Pencil support is excellent, and the command controller provides access to all the modifier keys when my keyboard isn’t attached. The fact that the license for this is a one time purchase and not a monthly subscription is highly appealing, and was actually what made the decision to go Affinity and not Adobe. Most everything I’ve said here also applies to Photo and Publisher - those apps were held to the same standard for quality, functionality, and overall experience compared to Designer. This is easily the best design software out there for any platform, and it’s miles ahead of any other option on the iPad App Store. I would highly recommend it.

It’s taken me a long time to decide how I feel about Designer 2 after using the first version. The giant change between the two is that it is now a near-exact replica of the desktop app; they replaced dialog boxes with a UI system that suits the iPad better (it would have been a travesty if they hadn’t), and you still have to think a bit laterally to figure out where to find features. But that’s not new. What held me up for a long time was the Command Controller. That’s the thing that substitutes for the keyboard: command, control, option, shift keys. The desktop version can’t work without them, and neither can this. That means my habit of holding the iPad in one hand and drawing with the other keeps tripping and falling down. It’s most annoying when it _almost_ works, then hits a snag. So I regret the loss of some workarounds that they’ve removed, like the ability to select multiple layers by tapping one then sliding on the others. Constant annoyance: to get to Help, you have to exit the current document, find it on the main menu, then close it and go back to the document. Despite complaints, one huge accolade: this is an iPad app that does almost everything its desktop cousin does, and its cousin is first rate. I may be about to copy and paste this to Photo 2, as everything here applies identically there.

I am impressed! I was skeptical at first because of the 3.4 out of 5 stars rating. But I have to wonder if some of the older reviews from before the upgrade to 2.0, are in the mix here. Or perhaps the app was not as good as it is now, when it was release 6 months ago. I have been using Vectornator and Procreate together for several years now, both of which I love, but also had steep learning curves in the beginning, given that I am just a serious hobbiest and not a trained graphic designer. This app, seems to combine the best of both of those worlds into one app! If you are new to drawing and vector apps, then yes there will be a steep learning curve. But that is true of all these kinds of apps. This one is powerful and I played with it for several days on the free trial to see it’s potential. As soon as I realized it was far exceeding my expectations and the rating in the store, I purchased it. Also, I had a couple of questions and wrote to support. I received a timely and helpful response. To me, that shows engagement by the developer. There is nothing worse than spending money and later discovering the app was abandoned. This one is clearly being worked on and actively improved.