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Who makes the best apps for the iPhone and iPad? It's not Apple

Apple has a tight grip on the iOS ecosystem, and yet pretty much across the board the apps that it ships on iPhones and iPads are terrible.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Apple ships a lot of stock apps with iOS, everything ranging from a browser to a calendar app, to a reminders app, to an app for storing notes. And while these apps are workable, they're definitely not the best apps for the iOS.

Not by a long shot.

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It might surprise many to hear, but when it comes to iOS apps, the company that's currently doing the best job of developing apps for the iPhone and iPad is Microsoft.

Yes, Microsoft. The company behind the Windows platform.

Microsoft has some awesome apps for iOS. You get features that you'd expect to find on the desktop made available to you on the small screen.

If you've not tried them, I suggest you take a look at what it has to offer. I started using the OneNote app after deciding that Evernote wasn't working for me, but eventually moved to using Word and Excel too.

Apple's own Pages and Numbers apps seems so basic and useless in comparison to what Microsoft offers that they feel like a bit of a joke.

Sure, to get the full benefit of Microsoft apps you need to buy an Office subscription, but even without a subscription these apps are head and shoulders better than anything Apple offers.

Don't want to go the Microsoft route? Then take a look at what Google has to offer. Yes, that Google. The company that is behind the Android mobile platform.

Apps such as Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar are all extremely powerful, packed with features, and allow you to work with and have access to your documents no matter where you are and no matter what device you are using.

I'm highlighting Microsoft and Google here, but that doesn't mean that there aren't hundreds, or even thousands, of other amazing developers out there making great apps for iOS. However, outside of a few big names – think the likes of Amazon, Adobe, or Dropbox – most don't have the ability to deliver such a broad range of apps, and offer many of there them either completely for free or offer a subset of the features without needing a paid subscription.

I understand that Apple is trying to cater for the masses with its iOS apps, but given that it has such tight control over the ecosystem, and how high-priced its devices are, it seems like a real blunder that it doesn't do a better job of catering for those higher-end users who actually use those expensive iPhones and iPads for real work.

I wish Apple would work on making some serious apps that can do serious work for iOS. Not only would that streamline workflow for Mac and iOS users, but also allow users to better leverage Apple features such as iCloud and the tight integration between devices.

Are you an iOS user? What do you think of Apple's apps for the platform? Do you use them or do you also have to turn to third-party apps to get your work done? Let me know!

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