Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad

Seems great at first with all the features you could want, but once you start working with large files some features will crash the program without explanation. It’s also unable to export those large files and will crash every time you attempt it. This is a publishing app: sometimes books made for print are large, it should be able to handle large files. Looking on forums, I’m not the only person with this problem. Should be fine for small personal projects.

The first application for iPad that is a true analogue to the Mac version. And the interaction has been well thought out and non-fiddly. I never feel like I'm wrestling with the interface, unlike the other iPad apps. A true joy to write with that lets me stay in the flow while seeing the document in its full glory.

Update: Still glitchy! There are so many missing features, confusing design decisions and crashes/glitches that it is honestly terrible to use. i've just opened it again this morning to do more client work and, even something as "simple" as using a raster paint brush to draw a circle and then the fill tool to flood fill the "object" ends in frustration: 1. The brush was glitching the whole time, with portions of the line disappearing; Had to go back to Document selection window and open the document again to get it to actually draw correctly. 2. Finally did that, got the circle drawn and tried to flood fill? Visibly it didn't "fill" (i.e. the circle still looked visibly empty) on the document, but the layer panel showed that it worked; had to, again, go back to the Document window to see that it had, indeed, actually filled the object. These sorts of "quirks" are constant and interrupt workflow entirely on a repeat basis throughout the course of the day, whether on the iPadOS or macOS version. Given the amount of bugs that are found on a daily basis, plus their insistence on funnelling everyone through a forum instead of a proper ticketing system, it's clear that their team doesn't care. If you want something professional for actual paid work, DO NOT BUY THIS! Original Review: ----------------- I hate to post a negative review, but this software is so infuriating to use. It crashes or glitches frequently, and randomly, has poor/no documentation, and “support” is attrocious due to their insistence on using forums, rather than a proper ticketing system. The Good: You can transfer files between desktop and iPad to work on them how and as you need. You pay once for the whole fricking suite. The Bad: Did you want palm rejection or gesture control settings? Tough. The system is set to work in one way and tough luck if you need to disable or change anything. Did you want to draw without the colour picker popping up? Tough. There are no settings for it, so it sucks to be you. Did you want to draw a vector line using a brush? Go for it. Then go back and pick the brush again because the software refuses to let you actually draw using anything other than a plain, round vector brush, so you have to then pick the brush afterwards. Again. What’s that? You changed the stroke width before choosing the brush you just changed to? Well, you’ll have to change the stroke weight again because every brush has a different default stroke weight and ignores the current setting.

I never expected the iPad apps to be so unlimited and so feature rich. It’s not any compromise to work on the iPad with this app.

Love using it for the publications I have been working on. Affordable, and works well. No glitches. Worth getting!

I want to love this part of the suite as much as I do Designer and Photo..but honestly Affinity Publisher is CONSTANTLY crashing! I’m running on an ipad pro M1 so it clearly isn’t a performance issue. I am writing this review to help another avoid starting a project with this app before it becomes stable. I hope there will be an update soon. Features are always appreciated but a solid base is always essential. (Suggestion : at least put a short cut save option other than having to exit the doc. It would be appreciated on all the three apps.)

I use Affinity designer a lot love it! Thought this one would live up to Affinity designer quality but nope! Can not make files when adding own photos in program crashes, and loses all saved progress. Because you have to leave the file to save the file, (that should be updated and should be in the file menu to save within the file) to help at least keep progress with all the crashes… As well the file save PDF file is not working! Keep saving as an error document. Very frustrating! The app version is not good at all. Stick to the computer one. Not worth spending the money. I have tried many routes since July 2023 (2 months) to get my book to work and has not with the save problems and continual crashes. Which has left me to now having to restart the entire thing book from scratch. Definitely not impressed.

It is an amazing and very powerful app. It is very fast and responsive. You can work on a same file with desktop and iPad version. The UI can be much better.

Not enough intuitive design. Impossible to find the fill feature for text boxes and shapes. Text is clunky, very poor support for Bluetooth keyboard, constantly stops working in app (but works elsewhere). Overall not enough thought on the simple stuff. Very disappointed.

But for now I wish I could bill Affinity for the hours I spent redoing client work when the most random actions somehow corrupts the file and causes the app to crash and crash and crash