20 iPad Apps for Productivity


Numerous conveniences make iPads wonderful office companions. They're lightweight, Wi-Fi enabled, have a screen you can see more easily than a smartphone's, and pack enough power to support plenty of work tasks. Why undock your laptop to drag it to a meeting if all you need to do is take a few notes and maybe reference some existing documents?

A lot of people still prefer their laptops, believing that an iPad can't actually support their needs, when in reality it can—if you have the right apps.

Need to connect to the office VPN? There's an app for that. Or what if you need a document that you didn't download to your iPad, and it's sitting right on your computer's desktop? There's an app that lets you control your desktop remotely so you can open the file and see it right on your iPad, too.

The 20 iPad apps on this list can indeed help you stay productive at work, in the classroom, at a conference, from a hotel, or an airplane seat. Some of the apps help you stay connected to people while others connect you to files and data that you need to get work done. One lets you e-sign documents without the hassles of printing, signing, scanning or faxing, while another lets you send a fax for those rare occasions when someone can't accept a document by email. A few of the apps are one-trick ponies (although the trick is pretty nifty), while others are multi-purpose wonders.

The 20 productivity apps for iPad that made this list appear in alphabetical order. If you know of a great productivity app that isn't on this list, please share it with our readers in the comments section. We'll consider adding it to future updates of this article.

Next: Apps 1-10