App developer Serif today launched Affinity Designer for iPad [Direct Link], a precise vector graphic design tool that aims to help users create marketing materials, websites, icons, user interface designs, concept art, and more, all without needing to be tied to a desktop computer.

The new app is based off the similarly titled Affinity Designer software available for Mac, and now optimized for iPad with Metal enhancements, full Apple Pencil support for drawing with pressure, tilt, and angle, and iCloud Drive integration for file storage and sharing.

affinity designer
When creating a design, Serif notes that panning and zooming is always live at 120 frames per second, and there are live gradients, transforms, effects, and adjustments available during the creation process. The app supports a split screen mode, wireframe view, and live pixel and retina view of vector artwork.

In terms of color and output features, Affinity Designer for iPad supports the professional CMYK, LAB, RGB, and Grayscale color models, as well as full 16-bit per channel editing and end-to-end ICC color management. Check out more of the app's features below:

- Seamless switching between tools and editing modes for frustration-free design.
- Advanced Lanczos 3 image resampling plus Bicubic, Bilinear and Nearest Neighbor methods.
- Live effects, blend modes, image adjustments, and raster and vector masks for any part of your design.
- Use the strengths of vector and raster behaviours for the best of both worlds.
- The best pen tool, pencil tool, corner tool, curve editing, geometry operations, and smart shape tools available.
- High quality raster tools for texturing, masking and finishing artwork. Create your own brushes too.
- Artboards, symbols, constraints and stored assets give the ultimate flexibility for UI and graphic design.

In February, Serif updated its Affinity Photo iPad app with a suite of powerful features, including the ability to shoot in RAW or HDR video directly within the app. At the end of last year, Apple awarded Affinity Photo as iPad App of the Year for 2017.

Affinity Designer is available for iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, and iPad (early 2017 and newer) for $13.99 [Direct Link], and requires iOS 11 or later.

Top Rated Comments

ck2875 Avatar
99 months ago
Honestly this was an instant buy for me. Designer with Apple Pencil will make this so insanely powerful. Serif makes great apps and they aren't trying to fleece users with the subscription model nonsense that is plaguing the App Store.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ck2875 Avatar
99 months ago
Is this cross compatible with the Mac version and does it use continuity by any chance? Since it doesn't seem to be mentioned outright, I suspect not, but that would be very useful to me.
Not sure about Continuity, but I was able to easily open my .Designer files created on the Mac version and stored in iCloud Drive.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
99 months ago
I was hoping they would charge more! The iPad probably doesn't deserve this app. I've been following this closely for the past year or so when they first teased it and I will be going home for lunch today just so that I can install this on my iPad and try it out as I forgot to put it in my bag. What a treat! I've been considering shutting off my Adobe CC account to use this software full-time (and I have an Adobe subscription at work as a fallback) and I think I'm going to try that now. I've purchased the Mac versions of both and this will make it easier to move between devices when working on a project. Now my only wish is that Serif would make my dreams come true and release a real replacement for Lightroom that syncs photos to iCloud and/or Dropbox across macOS and iOS and I could ditch Adobe entirely!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Abazigal Avatar
99 months ago
Always great to see more pro apps coming to the iPad.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
grahamwright1 Avatar
99 months ago
Just purchased - this should be an awesome app!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tubular Avatar
99 months ago
This app is a delight on the Mac. Looking forward to trying it on the iPad.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Logo Black

Apple Just Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever After Beats

Thursday January 29, 2026 10:07 am PST by
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio. Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014. Q.ai has...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. At the time,...
apple unsold web store

Retail Accessories Apple Won't Sell You Now Available via New Site

Friday January 30, 2026 8:46 am PST by
A newly surfaced resale operation is seemingly offering Apple Store–exclusive display accessories to the public for the first time, potentially giving consumers access to Apple-designed hardware that the company has historically kept confined to its retail environments. Apple designs a range of premium MagSafe charging stands, display trays, and hardware systems exclusively for displays in ...
imac video apple feature

Apple Unveils First New Products of 2026

Monday January 26, 2026 1:55 pm PST by
Apple today introduced its first two physical products of 2026: a second-generation AirTag and the Black Unity Connection Braided Solo Loop for the Apple Watch. Read our coverage of each announcement to learn more:Apple Unveils New AirTag With Longer Range, Louder Speaker, and More Apple Introduces New Black Unity Apple Watch BandBoth the new AirTag and the Black Unity Connection Braided...