How To Use Apple's New Freeform App

With the latest version of macOS, iOS and iPadOS we get a new tool from Apple to combine text, images, shapes and more. You can use this as a collaboration tool, but it is hard to say where this fits in with other existing tool like Note and Pages.

Comments: 17 Responses to “How To Use Apple's New Freeform App”

    Mark Luffman
    2 years ago

    Gee Whiz Gary, Looks like Google Docs or Google Drawing! ;-)

    Mark Luffman
    2 years ago

    That said...
    Thank you for sharing about Apple's Freeform App! Nice that it works across the three device types.
    Can you only share with other Apple iCloud users?
    Thanks so much!

    2 years ago

    Mark: As I show you can set it to "anyone with a link" but I think they'd still need to be using iCloud or there's no way for them to use the iCloud feature of Freeform to begin with. I don't see a case where they wouldn't be iCloud users since this app is only on the iPhone, iPad and Mac anyway. If you want to show someone else a board, probably exporting to a PDF and then sending them that is what you would do.

    Janis
    2 years ago

    Great! Thanks for explaining this new feature.

    I could see it being used as a personal Apple “Pinterest” board.

    Juris Ozols
    2 years ago

    Gary - This is super useful as always. Appreciate it. Question - I'm struggling a bit with the "Take Photo" feature. I have my iPhone sharing a board nicely with my iMac. When I do the "Take Photo" action with the iPhone the picture is taken but doesn't show up on the board. Should it? Or does that require a manual "Drag and Drop"? Or do I need to do something else? Thank you for all this!

    2 years ago

    Juris: It should show up in the board. Just tried it on a Mac and it worked for me as expected.

    Juris Ozols
    2 years ago

    Okay, got it. Have to hit the “Use Photo” button. Thank you again.

    RJ
    2 years ago

    Gary, can you add a Category of Group so as to put together Boards of the same type or subject.

    Can't see where you can do mid.

    2 years ago

    RJ: Nope. Best you can do is to use clever naming, like "Trip: Restaurants" and "Trip: Sights" and such then sort by name.

    George (Germany)
    2 years ago

    Hallo Gary: Freeform ist a useful App for Coaches. I am a Soccer Coachand after loading this APP i quickly created a complete Soccer Training. I needed 10 min for it. Great to hear and watch your Videos.
    Best Regards from Germany

    Tom Craig
    2 years ago

    Thank you, Gary, for this "tour de force" of Apple's new Freeform app. You've saved me lots of time in learning its features. I plan to use it to create large boards on my 5K LG monitor from which I make screen grabs (shift-command-4) for posting high resolution jpgs on Facebook or emails.

    Ira Abramowitz
    2 years ago

    One problem with my M1 mac mini is that borders around shapes are not fully formed. This seems also to happen on my iPad mini 5

    Otherwise this is a great app. I plan to use it for producing Holiday Cards in 2023

    Louise Kienast
    2 years ago

    I made this silly Keynote silent movie from a pdf to Preview file with all the silly things I played with today in Freeform.

    Just pure nonsense but fun to do. Is it a good idea to share a link to my 3 minute movie? Not sure if that is allowed here.

    While it is a bit tricky at first, once I began to play around, it was not a bad outcome. You are a good teacher Gary! Thanks for your ideas.

    John
    2 years ago

    We used this just before Christmas. My sister (in Boston) and I (in California) planned out a trip to visit relatives in Michigan. We planned out the days, set tasks, etc. My sister was a little undisciplined and kept trying to play hangman while I was tidying things up.

    Question. There is a button to use Audio. Does that setup up a direct audio connection between devices? We called each other on our iPhones to talk while using this.

    John
    2 years ago

    I should clarify. When sharing a board, if you click on the icon of the person you are sharing with it gives options for audio and video. I haven’t been able to try these. Do they just call up your phone or Keynote or do something different?

    2 years ago

    John: When you are collaborating with someone, you can use the video, audio or message buttons to use FaceTime or Messages to communicate. So they are just quick ways to establish those communications.

    CMS
    2 years ago

    My first impression was very enthusiastic and I can see how people will enjoy "playing" with it but after doing some experiments with it I decided it is only good for fun and not much for work because for example if I need to add images or new stickies inside existing text I create a mess of the layout and have to move everything down, and similar problems with adding new text to an existing piece. I doubt I will use it much because Notes seems a lot more friendly. But it's fun.

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