Popular sketching app Paper by FiftyThree received a major update today, expanding support to the iPhone and adding a range of new features to expand its idea-capturing capabilities. With the new update, Paper builds on its sketching and diagramming tools with support for text, images, lists, and more.

Today's update is Paper's biggest revamp since it launched in 2012, and the company's goal is to turn it into the ultimate mixed media note-taking and idea-aggregating app for better productivity. It's now possible to add images, photos, and text to Paper, and text can be customized with simple swipes. You're also able to pick up text snippets and move them around on the screen with a finger, and entire lists can be built with a swipe.

paperbyfiftythree
With image support, Paper users can take a photo directly within the Paper app and then annotate it using the built-in drawing tools. Ideas created in Paper can be shared with friends by email and through a range of social media networks. Here's a full list of the features, new and old, in Paper:

Text, Photos, and Sketching--Each note has the option to take a photo, type a note, or sketch out your idea.

Swipe to Style--A ground-breaking new feature that lets you create fast lists, bullet points, or headlines with a simple swipe of your finger.

Photo Spotlight--A new filter that lets you easily spotlight the area in photos and screenshots that you want to call attention to.

Sketch--All the power of Paper's award-winning tools to write, sketch, diagram, and graph are now in your pocket.

Diagram--Paper recognizes and corrects shapes drawn, making it easy to create presentation-ready shapes for charts, diagrams, flows, and more.

Grid View--grid view means text, photos, and sketches live together in a grid that shows you everything at once and can be rearranged into presentations, outlines, or storyboards.

Spaces--Organize your ideas into separate Spaces that you can name and customize with a cover image. Make as many Spaces as you want.

Universal App--Paper is a universal app that works across iPads and iPhones that run iOS8+.

Pencil--Connect Pencil, FiftyThree's award-winning Bluetooth stylus, for a faster and more natural way to sketch out your ideas.

All of the new features are available on both the iPad and the iPhone, and the existing Paper app is now universal to allow it to work with all of Apple's mobile devices.

Paper by FiftyThree can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

Mac Fly (film) Avatar
134 months ago
Two-finger circular undo. Their app itself. Color-mixing. Color-palette. How they did lists and bullet-points in this app. How you close drawing books. They are truly great designers and very innovative. Apple should acquire them and bundle the Paper drawing app into iOS by default. Imagine also when you choose to draw in Notes it pops you temporarily into a Paper view as you complete your drawing. That'd be awesome. They're so talented it'd be great to keep their apps exclusive to Apple and bring that talent in-house. My favourite iPad app.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Michaelgtrusa Avatar
134 months ago
I can't wait to see this on the iPad pro.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lazyrighteye Avatar
134 months ago
Yes, it is obvious. I just don't get, what you're trying to say here.

My post was not particularly against the guys at 53, - I actually love their paper app and also like their pencil...
But now, after the announcement of that another fruity pencil, - it automatically degrades to a crayon.

Anyways, I really looking forward for the 53' paper app to support apple pencil. In my opinion, it would be a wonderful combination!
Sorry. I simply meant there is this cool Apple offering that only works with iPad Pro. Wish it worked with other iDevices.
All good. As you were.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
google pixel 10

Switching Between iPhone and Android Will Get Easier With New Apple and Google Collaboration

Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta. Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
ipad blue prime day

iPad 12 Rumored to Get iPhone 17's A19 Chip, Breaking Apple Tradition

Wednesday December 10, 2025 12:22 pm PST by
The next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup. Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and...
Apple Fitness Plus expansion hero

Apple Fitness+ Coming to 28 New Regions With Digital Voice Dubbing

Monday December 8, 2025 6:19 am PST by
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre. Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....