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These 5 iPhone Apps Will Make You Wildly More Creative

3 minute read

Sure, your iPhone can send texts, make calls and get the weather. But it can also help you realize your artistic ambitions, too. How? Check out these five apps, all recently highlighted by Apple as ways to be more creative using just your iPhone or iPad.

Procreate

Procreate can turn your iPad into a professional-grade tablet for illustration. Not only is the app hundreds of dollars cheaper than comparable software, but it allows you to draw using a stylus or your hand and export your work into a variety of formats. Procreate lets you edit multiple layers at once, use a series of professional illustrator’s tools, and tinker around with scores of customizable brushes. Procreate isn’t merely a doodling app; it’s for creating something remarkable.

Procreate is available for $5.99 in the App Store.

VSCO Cam

VSCO is one of the few ways to take full advantage of the newest iPhones’ advanced camera settings. Not only does it help you take photographs, but it also allows you to edit them with a wide range of vintage-style filters, making VSCO Cam a double-threat in mobile photography. Toy around with a series of presets, but also learn what makes a better photograph by comparing edited versions of your photos to the original shot. At best, VSCO Cam will help you take ambitious and gorgeous photographs, and, at the very least, will get you a ton of Instagram likes.

VSCO Cam is free in the App Store.

iMovie

Apple’s iMovie software realized its true potential when the company moved to Intel processors about ten years ago. For the first time, users could actually make professional-quality movies using just their iMac. The iMovie app has since been adapted for your iPhone and iPad, which means you can take your mobile videos and edit them with the software’s hallmark simplicity and efficiency. Your movies will be almost as mind-boggling as the ease with which they were created.

iMovie is available for $4.99 in the App Store.

See the World Await and Celebrate Apple's iPhone 6

People pass time as they wait outside an Apple store for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in London on Sept. 17, 2014.
People pass time as they wait outside an Apple store for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in London on Sept. 17, 2014. Lefteris Pitarakis—AP
People wait for the release of Apple's new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in front of the Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014.
People wait in line in front of the Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014.Yuya Shino—Reuters
A man sleeps in a tent in the queue outside an Apple store in London on Sept. 18, 2014.
A man sleeps in a tent in the queue outside an Apple store in London on Sept. 18, 2014.Justin Tallis—AFP/Getty Images
A man wearing a replica of an iPhone 6 Plus model on his head yawns while waiting in front of the Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.
A man wearing a replica of an iPhone 6 Plus model on his head yawns while waiting in front of an Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.Yuya Shino—Reuters
A woman sleeps in a chair as she waits in queue outside the Apple store in London on Sept. 18, 2014.
A woman sleeps in a chair as she waits in queue outside the Apple store in London on Sept. 18, 2014. Justin Tallis—AFP/Getty Images
A staff member removes a display poster of iPhone 5S at the Apple store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014,.
A staff member removes a display poster of iPhone 5S at an Apple store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014,.Yuya Shino—Reuters
Customers queue outside an Apple store in Hong Kong on Sept. 19, 2014.
Customers queue outside an Apple store in Hong Kong on Sept. 19, 2014. Xaume Ollerose—AFP/Getty Images
Ken Miyauchi Vice President of Softbank, Japanese mobile phone company and actress Sayaka Kanda, in a pink dress, react during a ceremony to mark the first day of sales of the latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus at a store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.
Ken Miyauchi Vice President of Softbank, Japanese mobile phone company and actress Sayaka Kanda, in a pink dress, react during a ceremony to mark the first day of sales of the latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus at a store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.Shizuo Kambayashi—AP
Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus go on sale in USA
After being first in line for 19 days, Moon Ray, from Jackson, Miss. runs the gauntlet of Apple store workers as she enters the Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York on Sept. 19, 2014.Peter Foley—EPA
Apple store staff high five customers as they enter the store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.
Apple store staff high five customers as they enter an store in Tokyo on Sept. 19, 2014.Chris McGrath—Getty Images
A man wearingaA man wearing a mask depicting Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs holds up a cardboard cut-out of Apple's new iPhone 6, as he walks into the Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014. a mask depicting Steve Jobs holds up a cardboard cut-out of Apple's new iPhone 6, as he walks into the Apple Store in Tokyo
A man wearing a mask depicting Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs holds up a cardboard cut-out of Apple's new iPhone 6, as he walks into an Apple Store in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2014.Yuya Shino—Reuters
Andreas Gibson celebrates as he exits the Apple store after being the first to purchase an iPhone 6 Plus on Sept. 19, 2014 in New York.
Andreas Gibson celebrates as he exits an Apple store in New York after being the first to purchase an iPhone 6 Plus on Sept. 19, 2014. Julie Jacobson—AP
Jamael Ahmed jumps in the air as he leaves the store after being the first to purchase the iPhone 6 at Apple Covent Gardens in London on Sept. 19, 2014.
Jamael Ahmed jumps in the air as he leaves the store after being the first to purchase the iPhone 6 at Apple Covent Gardens in London on Sept. 19, 2014.Ben A. Pruchnie—Getty Images

Slow Shutter!

Slow Shutter! taps into iOS 8’s expanded manual photography controls, allowing iPhone photographers to snap photos while manually operating the shutter speed in order to create longer exposure photographs. Think of it as Picasso painting with light, except now you can use your iPhone.

Slow Shutter! is available for $1.99 in the App Store.

Brushes 3

Like Procreate, Brushes 3 is a very powerful mobile sketching app. Perhaps a bit more like drawing by hand than digital illustration, Brushes 3 is a hugely customizable app that allows users to pinpoint their style preferences and use the tools that work best for them. Moreover, it can also be used on the iPhone, which brings an added dimension to this advanced creativity app–this level of detail is usually reserved for the iPad’s larger screens.

Brushes 3 is free in the App Store.

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