SyncPad really needs an update
SyncPad is one of my favorite iPad apps. It allows you to draw all over a blank canvas or imported document, and stream it in real time to any HTML5-enabled web browser. Unlike similar apps, it doesn’t require any special software on the other end, and it doesn’t require a local connection, as it works over the internet. I’m studying to become a teacher, and SyncPad has raised a few eyebrows simply because it takes me 30 seconds to get my iPad to stream a whiteboard wirelessly to a computer connected projector.
Despite it being so unique, the app hasn’t received an update since April. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but SyncPad is missing so much core functionality that it literally makes me want to punch my iPad when I use it. You have a pen, eraser, a few colors, and a few pen sizes. That’s it. No text input, line tools, shapes, zoom, copy and paste, object interaction (moving images etc), or anything you get in a normal note taking app on the iPad. You can’t even insert blank pages! It’s one of the most unique apps I know about, and yet it’s one of the biggest failures I know about because it has so much unused potential. It’s like the developer invented a faster than light engine and then attached it to a model rocket, figuring that was the only thing something like that would be good for.
I know for a fact that the developer is still active, which begs the question as to why SyncPad isn’t receiving any love. It’s the kind of app that should be plastered all over iTunes’ education section, an app that no teacher in the world should be unaware of. Instead, it’s this peculiar little app whose users are slowly giving up as the reality of a note app without an undo function sets in.
Download: iTunes
