5 apps for your inner creative

From editing vacation photos to making booty-shakin’ beats, your tablet is a powerful tool for all sorts of creative endeavors. We’ve rounded up five of our favorite apps you can use to make the most of your next project.

Canva makes it easy to design everything from flyers to newsletters and social media posts. Choose from plug-and-play templates or start from a blank canvas. Add elements like stickers, graphics, charts, and even animated GIFs. You can edit projects across your devices – from tablet to phone to desktop – and easily order prints in the app.

Try Canva’s Whiteboard tool for brainstorming with teammates on projects.

Designed for much more than adding filters to your latest Instas, this workhorse is ideal for professional photographers and serious amateurs alike. Use tools like the background remover for isolating elements of a picture, and add effects like haze or vignette. Try facial recognition, which identifies individuals in your photos and creates easy-access folders for pics of each person.

Use the Version feature to compare multiple photo edits at once.

Stop motion is a filmmaking style using individual photos of objects to create animated scenes that give the impression of movement. Try your hand at this playful art with Stop Motion Studio. You can learn the ropes with animation guides before diving into the filmmaking fun. Explore features like an interactive timeline, filters, and various fades to bring your vision to life. Then, create a soundtrack for your movie using built-in music and sound effects.

Attach a remote camera or keyboard to your tablet for even more control.

BandLab isn’t just for making music – it’s also a social hub for sharing and discovering new tunes. Create your own songs using premade back tracks and beats, and even sounds you record on the street. Share your projects on BandLab’s feed, where you can discover the work of other artists.

Find an artist you love? You can follow their work or invite them to join forces. Your shared projects will be saved to your Collaborations folder.

It’s all about the details with Tayasui, one of our go-to apps for digital drawing. Sketch naturally with both finger and stylus, with realistic responses to changes in angle and pressure. Brushes come in a variety of styles, including oil pastel, watercolor, pen, and airbrush. Other creative tools include smudge for blending and cutter for moving selections to create collages. Everything is easily reversible: Undo and redo strokes with a tap of two or three fingers, respectively.

Upgrade your quiver with one-time in-app purchases that offer unlimited access to your new tools.