Best productivity apps for iPad in 2026: 10 picks for sellers

A seller's iPad earns its keep in three places. Across the table from a buyer, you write down their numbers and sometimes get a signature. Afterwards, every promise you just made either gets a date or gets lost. The night before, you plan tomorrow's calls. We judged every app on those three moments.

Everything here comes from each app's own website and help docs. We didn't test them hands-on, and you won't find star ratings, because we'd have had to invent them. Prices are in US dollars as of October 2026. Several bill yearly, so check again on the day you pay.

Five things decided the list:

1. It's built for Apple Pencil, or its job doesn't need one: a task list or a calendar works fine with a finger or a keyboard.
2. What you write in a meeting is easy to find later.
3. It opens the quotes, price lists and contracts buyers send you.
4. It helps you set the next step before you leave the room.
5. The free version holds a real week, or the paid one costs less than one lost deal.

We left out apps for writing novels or revising for exams. Good apps, wrong job.

Start with Goodnotes if you meet buyers in person. If you can't spend a dollar, go straight to number 10, and come back for a paid app the day a free one runs out.

1. Goodnotes: best for handwritten meeting notes

Goodnotes turns the iPad into a notepad you can file, with a notebook for each client and Apple Pencil for the writing. Bring in a buyer's PDF and you can write straight on top of it. It records audio as well, handy when you want their exact words on price, as long as you ask before you record.

The free plan covers three files and 20 minutes of audio recording. Essential, at US$11.99 a year, lifts both limits. Pro, at US$35.99 a year, is the plan that lists sync across devices and real-time collaboration.

Pick it if you meet buyers face to face and writing by hand keeps your eyes on them instead of a keyboard. Skip it if you need those notes on your phone and laptop as well and won't pay for Pro, because that's where Goodnotes puts cross-device sync.

2. Notability: best if you record the meeting as well as write

Notability records audio while you write. The feature was made for lectures, and it suits a long discovery meeting just as well once the buyer has agreed to the recording.

Notability's Starter plan is free for five notes. Lite lists at US$14.99 a year for unlimited notes, and Plus at US$19.99 a year adds limited audio transcription. On 29 October 2026 both were 20% off, so look before you pay full price.

Pick it if you run hour-long discovery meetings and want budget and timing in the buyer's own words. Skip it if you'd write more than five notes and won't pay, since Starter stops there.

3. Todoist: best for follow-ups you promise in the meeting

Todoist is a task list that runs on the iPad, your phone and your laptop. Its Quick Add picks the date out of what you type, so "send Lim the revised quote Friday 9am" files itself on Friday, and "every other Tuesday" makes a repeat.

The free Beginner plan gives you five personal projects, Smart Quick Add and task reminders. Pro is US$5 a month billed yearly, or US$7 month to month, and adds a calendar layout and deadlines.

Pick it if you walk out of meetings with three promises and want each one dated. Skip it if you want this week's follow-ups laid out as a calendar without paying, because the calendar layout is on Pro.

4. Things 3: best one-off purchase for an all-Apple setup

Things for iPad is US$19.99 once on the App Store, with no subscription. The Today list puts your to-dos beside your calendar events, and repeating to-dos come back on schedule. Forward an enquiry email with Mail to Things and it arrives as a to-do, synced to your other devices free through Things Cloud.

The Mac, iPhone and Apple Watch versions are sold separately, and the free trial is for the Mac only. On the iPad, the App Store page leans on keyboard and trackpad support: you can edit to-dos without touching the screen.

Pick it if you type on a keyboard cover, hate subscriptions and want an enquiry email turned into a follow-up in two taps. Skip it if you also sell from an Android phone or a Windows laptop, because Things lists versions for Apple devices only.

5. Fantastical: best for booking the next meeting on the spot

Fantastical shows your iCloud, Google and Exchange calendars in one app. On the free plan you type a sentence such as "site visit with Dana Thursday 3pm at her office" and it becomes an event. It also shows dated tasks from Reminders and Todoist beside your meetings.

The paid Individual plan is US$4.75 a month billed yearly, or US$6.99 monthly. It adds Openings, a link where a buyer picks a time your calendar has free, plus meeting polls, travel time and time-to-leave alerts.

Pick it if you want the second meeting booked before the first one ends, with the buyer choosing a slot on your screen. Skip it if all you do is look at one calendar, because the parts worth paying for are the booking tools.

6. Microsoft 365: best if your quotes live in Word and Excel

Word, Excel and PowerPoint all run on the iPad, and every Microsoft 365 plan lets you view documents. Editing depends on the size of your screen. Microsoft's support page says the plans it calls non-qualifying, such as Microsoft 365 Basic or a one-time Office purchase, edit only on screens up to 10.1 inches. So on a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Microsoft's own example, you can't change a file until you're on a qualifying plan that includes the desktop apps.

For one person on a big iPad, the plan to buy is Microsoft 365 Personal: US$99.99 a year or US$9.99 a month. Business Basic qualifies too, with a cap of 10.9 inches.

Pick it if your price list and quote template are Excel and Word files and you change numbers while the buyer watches. Skip it if your company plan is Business Basic and your iPad is bigger than 10.9 inches, because you'll be able to read the quote and not change it.

7. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides: best free office apps for a shared quote

Anyone with a Google Account can create in Docs, and comments let a buyer reply on the same copy you edit. Sheets holds a price list, and Slides holds the deck you walk a client through.

On the iPad you can turn on "Make recent files available offline" or save one file for offline use.

Pick it if you want free editing on an iPad of any size and your buyers are happy with a link. Skip it if your company sends every quote from a Word template, because you'll spend the meeting converting files.

8. PDF Expert: best for getting a contract signed across the table

PDF Expert, from Readdle, fills in PDF forms, edits text inside a PDF and signs with Apple Pencil. Its iPad page says you can let customers sign PDFs right on your iPad, which is the moment a seller cares about.

The app is a free download. The yearly plan is US$79.99 and covers the iPhone, iPad and Mac apps, and it lists signing, text editing and conversion to Word among what you get. The lifetime licence is for the Mac only, so it won't help on the iPad.

Pick it if you close in person and want the signature before anyone stands up. Skip it if you sign one PDF a month, because Apple's free Preview handles that (number 10).

9. Notion: best for a team playbook you open in meetings

Notion holds pages and databases. A small team uses it for the talk track, the pricing rules, the answers to the five objections you hear most, and a page for each big account.

Notion's pricing page says a free workspace you use alone takes as many pages and blocks as you like, while a free workspace with several members hits a block limit. Plus is US$10 a seat a month billed yearly, or US$12 monthly.

Pick it if you manage three or four reps and want one place they open before a meeting. Skip it if you want that shared playbook for free, because the free plan's block limit kicks in once a second person joins.

10. Apple's own apps: best if it has to be free

Notes, Reminders, Calendar, Files and Preview come with the iPad. Apple's support page shows Notes scanning a document with the camera and adding your signature to it, and Files scans documents too. Preview fills and signs PDF forms, and you can sign with Apple Pencil or a finger.

There's nothing to buy. Every app here is already on your iPad.

Pick it if you take a few pages of notes a week and want nothing new to learn. Skip it if your clients and colleagues work in Google or Microsoft files, because the quotes you edit for them belong in those apps.

Prices are in US dollars as of October 2026. Some bill yearly only.

The free kit is enough while it holds every client you're talking to and every promise you've made them. Count both before you pay for anything, because each free plan runs out somewhere different:

• Goodnotes: three files. Keep one notebook per client and that's three clients.
• Notability: five notes.
• Todoist: five personal projects, with reminders included.
• Notion: fine alone, limited once a teammate joins.
• Microsoft 365: free editing stops at 10.1 inches of screen.

Say you have 12 live deals and meet four buyers a week. Apple Notes holds the meetings, Reminders holds the follow-ups, Preview takes the signatures and Google Docs holds the quotes, all for nothing. The day you want a notebook for each of those 12 clients, Goodnotes Essential at US$11.99 a year is the first thing worth paying for. That's a dollar a month, against one deal that slips because the notes were on page 40 of one long file.

Pay for an app the first week the free version makes you squeeze clients into fewer files or type the same promise twice.

A notes app holds what the buyer said. A task app holds what you promised. Neither one holds both, with the chat and the last quote beside them. While you have a dozen clients and a good memory, two apps are fine. Past that, the gaps start costing you:

• You flip through three notebooks before every callback to remember what was said.
• A promise sat on page 14 of a meeting note and never reached your task list.
• Your manager asks where a deal stands, and you rebuild it from handwriting.
• A buyer messaged you about the quote, and the reply is in a chat you can't match to the meeting.

If two of those are true, the follow-ups belong in a CRM, with each note and task on the client's record. Pick two from the best CRM for small business list and run a week of follow-ups from each. For how often to chase and when to stop, use the sales follow-up process.

The apps only pay off if the iPad is ready before you walk in. Here's the routine, start to finish:

1. The night before, reread last meeting's page and write down three questions they haven't answered yet. With ten minutes to spare, prepare for the client meeting properly.
2. Before you leave, save the quote, the price list and the contract for offline use, so a dead lobby signal can't stall you.
3. In the meeting, start a fresh page with the date and the buyer's name, put their words in quotes and circle every number. The client meeting notes template gives you the headings.
4. Before you stand up, book the next meeting while they're in front of you, and get the signature if they're ready to give one.
5. Afterwards, type every promise as a dated task. It takes two minutes, and it's the step that saves the deal.
6. That evening, file the page under the client and check tomorrow's follow-ups. The daily sales routine template puts that check at the start of your day.

• Goodnotes, Plans and pricing, read 29 October 2026
• Notability, Pricing, read 29 October 2026
• Todoist, Plans and pricing, read 29 October 2026
• Todoist Help, Use Task Quick Add in Todoist, read 29 October 2026
• App Store, Things 3 for iPad, read 29 October 2026
• Flexibits, Fantastical pricing and features, read 29 October 2026
• Microsoft Support, What you can do in the Microsoft 365 apps on mobile devices, read 29 October 2026
• Microsoft, Compare all Microsoft 365 plans, read 29 October 2026
• Google Workspace, Google Docs, read 29 October 2026
• Google Docs Editors Help, Work on Google Docs, Sheets and Slides offline (iPhone and iPad), read 29 October 2026
• Readdle, PDF Expert for iPad and iPhone, read 29 October 2026
• Readdle, PDF Expert pricing, read 29 October 2026
• Notion, Pricing, read 29 October 2026
• Apple Support, How to scan documents on your iPhone or iPad, read 29 October 2026
• Apple Support, Fill out and sign PDF forms in Preview on iPad, read 29 October 2026