On November 2, 2026, Canva released Affinity for iPad on the App Store. It’s a single, free design app that puts sketching, vector illustration, photo editing, and page layout in one place, and it’s built around Apple Pencil. The short answer to the big question: yes, the core tools are free for individuals with a free Canva account. AI-powered features need a paid Canva plan, and some desktop tools haven’t made the jump yet (Affinity blog; MacRumors).
If you draw, edit photos, or design layouts on an iPad, this is one of the more interesting free creative apps to land in a while. Here’s what you actually get, what’s missing, and who should care.
What Happened
Canva owns Affinity. The previous generation of Affinity on iPad was three separate apps: Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, and Affinity Publisher. The new Affinity for iPad replaces that setup with one app and one file format, .af (9to5Mac; The Verge).
Inside the app, the tools are grouped into four “studios”:
- Sketch Studio: A new touch- and Apple Pencil-first drawing space with customizable brushes.
- Vector Studio: Vector illustration tools, the job Affinity Designer used to do.
- Pixel Studio: Photo editing, including RAW support, masking, and non-destructive adjustment layers. Non-destructive means your edits sit on top of the original image instead of permanently changing it.
- Layout Studio: Multi-page document design for things like brochures and portfolios.
You switch between studios inside the same document. You don’t have to export a file from one app and import it into another.
The headline new feature is Sketch to Shapes in Sketch Studio. It turns rough freehand marks into clean, editable vector shapes (MacRumors; 9to5Mac).
According to the Affinity blog, the app works with professional formats including PSD (Photoshop), AI (Illustrator), INDD and IDML (InDesign), PDF, and SVG. That matters if you work with people who still use Adobe software.
The iPad release follows Canva’s unified desktop Affinity app, which Canva says has passed seven million sign-ups (MacRumors). That figure comes from Canva itself.
Is Affinity for iPad Free? What’s Included and What’s Paywalled
This is where most of the confusion will come from, so here’s the breakdown based on the sourced coverage.
| What you get | Free Canva account | Paid Canva plan |
|---|---|---|
| Sketch Studio (incl. Sketch to Shapes) | Yes | Yes |
| Vector Studio | Yes | Yes |
| Pixel Studio (RAW, masks, adjustment layers) | Yes | Yes |
| Layout Studio (multi-page docs) | Yes | Yes |
| Apple Pencil Pro support | Yes | Yes |
| AI-powered design features | No | Yes |
Sources: Affinity blog, MacRumors, The Verge. Retrieved November 3, 2026.
So for drawing, illustrating, photo editing, and layout work, you don’t pay anything. You do need to sign in with a Canva account. A free one works.
The paid part is the AI tools. The Verge reports that Canva Pro costs around $18 per month. However, it isn’t confirmed that this is the exact price tied to Affinity’s AI features specifically. Check Canva’s current plan options before you upgrade.
One more nuance: the free offer is described as free for individuals. If you’re buying for a team or business, don’t assume the same terms apply.
Who This Affects
This launch is for iPad; the announcement doesn’t mention an Android tablet version. Here’s what you need, per MacRumors and The Verge:
- An iPad running iPadOS 18.0 or later (check Affinity’s supported-device list, since not every iPad that can run iPadOS 18 is confirmed to support the app)
- A free Canva account to unlock the core tools
- An Apple Pencil (recommended). For the full gesture set, you need an Apple Pencil Pro.
This is most relevant to four groups:
- Owners of the old Affinity iPad apps who have been waiting for the new Affinity on iPad (AppleInsider frames it as cross-platform users finally being able to update).
- Adobe users looking for a no-subscription alternative that works with PSD, AI, and InDesign (INDD and IDML) files.
- Students and hobbyists who want pro-style tools without paying upfront.
- People switching from Windows who already use the desktop Affinity app and want the same
.affiles on an iPad.
Apple Pencil Pro Support: What It Does
Affinity for iPad supports the full Apple Pencil Pro feature set (MacRumors):
- Pressure: Press harder for thicker or darker strokes.
- Tilt: Angle the Pencil to shade, like the side of a real pencil.
- Barrel roll: Rotate the Pencil in your fingers to turn shaped brushes.
- Squeeze: Squeeze the Pencil to trigger a tool action.
- Hover: Hold the tip just above the screen to preview where you’ll draw.
Barrel roll, squeeze, and hover are the gestures specific to the Apple Pencil Pro. Affinity hasn’t published how the app behaves with each older Apple Pencil model, so if you use one, try the free app with your own hardware before buying anything. The Apple Pencil Pro also works only with certain iPad models, so check Apple’s compatibility list before buying one.
What’s Missing Compared to Desktop Affinity
This is the part you should read before you delete anything from your Mac or PC. Affinity for iPad is not a one-to-one copy of the desktop suite yet. According to MacRumors, these desktop features are missing at launch, with more features planned:
- Books (combining multiple documents into one long publication)
- Batch processing (applying the same edits to many files at once)
- Data Merge (filling templates automatically from a spreadsheet)
- Quick Adjustments
- Info and Scope panels
- Macro recording
- Astrophotography Studio
If your workflow depends on any of these, keep using the Mac or Windows app for those tasks. The shared .af format means you can start a project on iPad and finish it on desktop. Canva hasn’t said when, or if, these features will reach the iPad.
How It Stacks Up
Versus the old Affinity iPad apps
| Old Affinity iPad apps | New Affinity for iPad (Nov 2, 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of apps | Three (Designer, Photo, Publisher) | One |
| File format | Separate app workflows | Unified .af file |
| Dedicated sketching studio | Not part of the old lineup | Sketch Studio + Sketch to Shapes |
| Core tool price | Paid apps | Free with a Canva account |
| AI features | N/A | Paid Canva plan |
Sources: 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Affinity blog.
This is the clearest upgrade in the story. You no longer jump between three apps, and you no longer pay for each of them.
Versus other iPad creative apps
- Procreate is a paid, one-time-purchase app focused on painting and drawing. It doesn’t combine vector, RAW photo editing, and multi-page layout in one app the way Affinity for iPad does.
- Adobe Fresco is Adobe’s free-to-start drawing app. It focuses on drawing and painting, not on mixing vector, photo, and layout work in one file.
- Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for iPad are separate apps that typically require a Creative Cloud subscription. Affinity bundles comparable core functions in one free app.
No sourced feature-by-feature or performance comparison exists between these apps yet. So this comparison is about scope and pricing, not speed or quality.
Versus Android and Windows
Canva already offers the unified Affinity app on desktop, including Windows. The research for this story did not establish exact Windows feature-parity details versus the iPad, and it didn’t establish an Android tablet version or any Pixel or Galaxy equivalent to compare against. We also found no verified benchmark comparisons with Android or Windows apps. Anyone claiming the iPad version runs faster or slower than another platform right now is guessing.
The Reaction
Reaction is still forming. We didn’t find verifiable posts we could link to on X or Reddit, and there were no matching Hacker News discussions when we checked on November 3, 2026. Give it a few weeks for real user feedback, especially from people moving existing projects over from desktop.
Our Take
Verdict: Canva did this better on price and later on completeness.
On price, it’s hard to argue with. A pro-style suite with sketching, vector, RAW photo editing, and page layout, all free for individuals, undercuts Procreate’s upfront cost and Adobe’s subscriptions. Folding three old apps into one .af workflow is a genuine improvement over the previous Affinity iPad lineup. Turning on full Apple Pencil Pro support from day one makes it one of the more Pencil-centric creative apps on iPad, at least on paper.
But it isn’t finished. Missing Books, Batch processing, Data Merge, and macro recording means professionals can’t treat it as a full desktop replacement. Also note that “free” has a condition: you need a Canva account, and AI tools cost extra.
Should you switch?
- Old Affinity iPad app users: Yes, try it. It’s free, and it’s where Affinity on iPad is headed.
- Desktop Affinity users: Add it, don’t replace. Keep the desktop app for missing features.
- Procreate users: No need to drop Procreate. Install Affinity alongside it if you want vector art or layouts.
- Adobe users tired of subscriptions: Worth a serious look, since it works with PSD, AI, and InDesign files.
Should you buy new hardware for it? Not necessarily. You need a supported iPad running iPadOS 18 or later; check Affinity’s device list before downloading.
Consider an Apple Pencil Pro only if you’ll actually use barrel roll, squeeze, and hover, and confirm your iPad supports it first.
What to Do Next
Check that your iPad can run it. Go to Settings > General > Software Update and make sure you’re on iPadOS 18.0 or later, then confirm your specific iPad model is listed as supported before downloading.
Then download Affinity for iPad from the App Store and sign in with a free Canva account.
If you plan to edit RAW photos from a camera, a USB-C SD card reader makes it easier to get those files onto your iPad. A matte screen protector can also make Pencil sketching feel a little more like paper, though that’s personal preference.
Wrapping Up
Affinity for iPad is the real deal on price: the core sketching, vector, photo, and layout tools cost nothing with a free Canva account. Just go in knowing that AI features are paywalled and several desktop tools haven’t arrived yet. Our honest take: it’s a great free starting point and a smart companion to desktop Affinity, but not a full replacement for it today.