The BEST FREE APPS

FOR MAC, iPHONE, iPAD AND WATCH

- IAN OSBORNE

You can get some great software for your Apple gear free! Here's completely our expert guide to some of the best

SOFTWARE DOESN'T HAVE to Scost a fortune. You can get all sorts of apps for free, covering all manner of uses. There are free word processors, graphics editors, games, media players, utilities, and more.

Don't assume that because an app is free, it's less capable than a paid-for piece of software. In many cases, the free app is the best one for the job. Some are coded by programmers that work for the love of their art, others are made by professional software publishers but released without charge, alongside their paid-for apps.

In this feature, we take a look at some of the best free software available for all of your Apple gear. Whether it's for the Mac, iPhone, iPad or Watch, if it's both free and good, it's likely covered here.

The criteria for inclusion is very simple; it just has to be free. We've avoided demo versions for paid apps, but if a free app with paid-for premium features is capable enough, it's made the cut.

It's amazing what you can accomplish without paying a single penny

iWork Apps

If you don't have these yet, take a trip to the Mac App Store and download them now. They're among the most important apps on the Mac, and although they previously cost money, they're now completely free.

Pages is an awesome word processor that can handle pictures and videos as well as text. Numbers is a very capable spreadsheet with full formula support, and Keynote is the Mac's best presentation app; it's the one Tim Cook and the team use at Apple events.