The World of iPad Apps
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
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Apps that come with your iPad and Apple’s office apps, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are just the tip of the iceberg. The App Store contains hundreds of thousands of apps from third-party developers, with more added each day.
You use the App Store app to shop for and purchase new apps—although many are free. You can also rearrange the app icons on your Home screen pages to organize them.
Purchasing an App
Adding a new app to your iPad requires that you visit the App Store. You do that, not surprisingly, with the App Store app on your Home screen.
Tap the App Store icon on your Home screen.
If this is the first time you have used the App Store, you see the featured apps at the top of the screen. Otherwise, tap the Featured button at the bottom.
Swipe left or right to view more featured apps. You can do the same for the sections below, which often change to feature different types of apps.
Swipe up to scroll down and see more featured apps.
Tap Top Charts to see the top paid apps and top free apps.
Tap Categories to see a list of app categories. Another way to see apps by category is to tap the Explore button at the bottom of the screen.
Tap any category to go to the page of featured apps in that category.
Use the search box to search for an app by keyword.
The button at the top lets you filter between iPad apps and iPhone apps. Apps that are optimized to work well with both screen sizes will appear in both.
Select whether you want to see apps that are free or both free and paid.
Select a category to narrow down the search results.
Choose how you want the results to be ordered: relevance, popularity, ratings, or release date.
Tap an app to read more about it.
The app’s page displays screenshots, other apps by the same company, and user reviews.
Tap on the price on the left under the large icon to purchase an app. It changes to a Buy App button. Tap it again. If you have already purchased the app, the button will say Open, and you can launch the app by tapping the button. If you have purchased the app in the past, but don’t currently have it on your iPad, you will see a cloud/download button that lets you download the app again. You do not pay again for an app you have already purchased.
Swipe up to read the description of the app.
Tap Reviews to look at reviews for the app.
Scroll left and right to flip through the screenshots for the app.
When you purchase an app, it starts installing, and you can watch the progress from the app’s information page in the App Store app or from the location of the app’s icon on your Home screen.
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>>>Go Further: Free, Paid, and Freemium
Some apps in the App Store are free, and others you need to pay for before downloading and installing. But some apps are free for the basic version, and then you need to make in-app purchases to use advanced functions or buy more content. These are called “freemium” apps.
It is up to the developer of the app to design the method of making purchases. Most apps show you a preview of the function or content and then include a purchase or buy button. Before any app can charge your iTunes account for an in-app purchase, you will see a standard Confirm Your In-App Purchase prompt.
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Photo apps may use in-app purchases to charge you for additional filters or effects. Drawing apps may charge for new brushes or tools. Some free apps have advertising and allow you to make an in-app purchase to be able to use the app ad-free.
Often games will have a variety of items you can purchase to alter gameplay. But instead of a long list of in-app purchases, they simply charge you for in-game currency such as tokens, gems, or gold. Then you can use these to purchase items inside the game.
There’s no risk in trying free apps that offer in-app purchases. If you find that the purchases in the app are not worth it for you, simply do not purchase anything. If the app isn’t useful, you can delete it without spending a penny.