Final Cut Pro for iPad Reviews: Worth the Wait, But Some Limitations
The first reviews of Final Cut Pro for iPad were published today, providing a closer look at the touch-optimized video creation app in action. We also shared our own hands-on video of the app, which is available now on the App Store.
Final Cut Pro for the iPad is a subscription-based app priced at $4.99 per month or $49 per year in the U.S. after a one-month free trial. The app is compatible with iPads equipped with the M1 chip or newer, and requires iPadOS 16.4 or later.
The Verge's Vjeran Pavic:
Final Cut Pro for iPad is a carefully designed app that gets a lot of the basics right. It's a great adaptation of its desktop app, and FCP users will feel right at home. It also takes advantage of the iPad's touch-first interface and utilizes accessories like the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil well. It's also priced accessibly — Apple is selling it as a subscription at $5 per month or $50 per year, which makes it easy to use for a month or two to see if it's something you want to stick with.
But if you're hoping that it's a complete drop-in replacement for the Mac version of Final Cut Pro, you'll likely come away disappointed. There are still many features omitted from this version that I missed throughout my testing of it. And if you're the type of editor who wants to work on both the iPad and the Mac, you're going to need to be careful with how you organize your projects and which device you start out with.
iMore's Daryl Baxter:
If you're a videographer and you've been waiting for Final Cut on iPad, it's been worth the eight-year wait. But it feels like there's already a need for a 1.5 update that's going to line up feature parity on the same level as what Logic Pro for iPad already manages. Swapping between devices with projects and not experiencing any bugs when moving from a Mac to iPad and vice versa is critical.
Final Cut Pro brings out the best in iPad, from its multi-touch focus to the fun features of Live Drawing and the jog wheel. It gives some rare clarity to a confused device category, and buggy software features like Stage Manager that have bogged down the iPad for the past year. And for that alone, it's worth the subscription price.
Six Colors' Jason Snell:
After quite a few hours in Final Cut Pro iPad, my impressions are mixed. There were moments where I really did get into a groove and felt great about the app—generally when I was using the Magic Keyboard since it gave me access to shortcuts that haven't been properly translated into the touch interface.
But I also felt a lot of familiar frustration at an app that's packed with features but hasn't quite realized that multi-touch gestures and the Apple Pencil can make the process go smoother even without an attached keyboard. The pieces are all in place for Final Cut Pro to become a great iPad app, but it's still got a lot of growing up to do.
More Reviews and First Impressions
Videos
Popular Stories
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing.
Test Settings
I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
...
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell.
With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing.
The iPhone 17 is the only new...
The first preview release of the Swift SDK for Android was published this week, allowing developers to build Android apps in Swift with official tooling and making it easier to share code across iOS and Android.
The SDK enables Android apps to be built in Swift using officially supported tooling rather than community workarounds. In June, it was announced that Apple's Swift programming...
At least some new iPhone models launching next year may support full 5G satellite internet, according to a report this week from The Information.
"Apple plans to add support in upcoming iPhones as early as next year for 5G networks that aren't tethered to Earth's surface, which includes satellites," the report said. "That would give the iPhone full internet access over satellite," it added.
...
