The iPad Pro just got a huge upgrade to potentially replace your MacBook Pro

News
By published

Apple is bringing Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to iPads

iPad Pro 2022
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are coming to the iPad.

Recently Apple announced that its popular editing programs will be available via subscription models starting on May 23. Said models offer both applications for either $4.99 a month or $49 a year on iPad.

Final Cut Pro on iPad

Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro on iPad have all-new interfaces. (Image credit: Apple)

Another new feature called Live Drawing lets you draw and write on top of videos using the Apple Pencil. On the Apple M2-powered iPad Pro, you can use the Apple Pencil hover feature to skim and preview footage without touching the screen. 

Logic Pro has also been redesigned to facilitate touch controls. The new sound browser features what Apple calls “dynamic filtering” meant to help music editors find the right sound for whatever they’re working on. The sound browser shows available instrument patches, audio patches, plug-in presets, samples and more. The new Beat Breaker pitch-morphing plug-in lets you swipe and pinch to “radically reshape and shuffle sounds.”

Outlook 

This announcement is no doubt exciting for professional video and music editors who now have a more portable option for bringing their works to life. They’ll no longer have to lug around laptops like the MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 and MacBook Pro 16-inch 2023 to get at least some work done. The M-series chips inside iPads like the iPad Air 5 and the latest iPad Pro now seem more justified too, if folks intend to use the slates as their primary means of editing videos and audio.

The subscription model Apple is employing seems fairly priced, especially if you make a living as a professional editor. It’s also worth remembering that Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro cost $199 and $299, respectively. In that sense, it’s at least initially cheaper to use these programs on an iPad. 

Considering you get a one-month free trial, it’s worth giving Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro on iPad a shot if you’re a creative or simply want to see what the apps are all about.

More from Tom's Guide

Tony Polanco
Tony Polanco
Senior Computing Writer

Tony is a computing writer at Tom’s Guide covering laptops, tablets, Windows, and iOS. During his off-hours, Tony enjoys reading comic books, playing video games, reading speculative fiction novels, and spending too much time on X/Twitter. His non-nerdy pursuits involve attending Hard Rock/Heavy Metal concerts and going to NYC bars with friends and colleagues. His work has appeared in publications such as Laptop Mag, PC Mag, and various independent gaming sites.