Affinity for iPad free: what costs money, and which iPads work

For individuals, there’s no catch on the core app. The iPad version follows the same model Canva set when it relaunched Affinity on desktop a year ago: the full creative toolset is free, and Canva says it will keep getting new features and updates without a charge. The desktop version has had three big updates since launch, all free.

You do need a Canva account, though it can be a free one. When you first open the app, it asks whether you’ll mostly work with your fingers or with Apple Pencil, then sets up the interface to suit.

There is an in-app purchase. It adds Canva’s AI tools and templates, and nothing else in the app depends on it. If you never tap an AI button, you’ll never hit a paywall.

What you pay for: the Canva AI tools

The paid layer is Canva AI Studio, built into Affinity. It includes:

• Generative Expand, which extends a photo’s background beyond its original edges.
• Generative Fill, for painting new content into part of an image.
• Decompose Layer, which splits a flat picture into separate editable layers.
• Upscaling to raise image resolution, plus AI noise reduction and motion blur effects.

These need a paid Canva plan. In the US, Canva Pro costs $18 a month or $143.99 a year, and a business subscription for Affinity is $250 a year. Canva hasn’t published separate UK or Canadian prices for these in its announcement, so check the plan page in the app before you subscribe.

When Canva bought Affinity’s maker, Serif, in 2024, many longtime users feared the apps would be forced onto a subscription or stuffed with generative AI. So far, Canva has kept its promise not to force anyone to subscribe. The AI is there, but it’s optional.

The app needs iPadOS 18.0 or later. Supported models are:

• 13-inch iPad Pro with M4 or M5, and later models
• Every 11-inch iPad Pro
• The 3rd generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro
• iPad Air from the 3rd generation onward
• iPad mini from the 5th generation onward
• The standard iPad from the 7th generation onward

If your iPad can update to iPadOS 18, it’s very likely on that list. Older, slower iPads will open the app, but heavy photo composites with lots of layers will feel much better on a recent Pro or Air.

1. Open the App Store and search for Affinity by Canva. It’s listed as free with in-app purchases.
2. Install it, open it and sign in or create a free Canva account.
3. Pick touch or Apple Pencil as your main input when asked.
4. Start a new file, or open an existing .af file from your Mac or Windows PC through Files or iCloud Drive.

That last step is a bigger deal than it sounds. The new app saves in the same .af format as desktop Affinity, so one project can move between your computer and your iPad. You can also bring in work from Adobe apps: Photoshop PSD, Illustrator AI and InDesign INDD or IDML files all import with their layers and structure. Complex InDesign formatting, such as GREP styles, tables and anchored objects, may need some manual cleanup afterwards.

Canva says the iPad app was designed for touch rather than shrunk from the desktop version, and it has the same four-in-one idea: you switch between Pixel, Vector, Layout and a new Sketch Studio while working in one file. But it isn’t feature-for-feature identical yet. Affinity’s own site lists these as missing on iPad for now:

• Astrophotography Studio
• Data Merge and Batch processing
• Macro recording
• Books
• Quick Adjustments
• The Info and Scope panels

Canva says more features will arrive over time. If you run print jobs that rely on Data Merge, or batch-process photo shoots, keep that work on your computer for now.

There’s one feature the iPad gets that desktop doesn’t: Sketch Studio. It has more than 350 adjustable brushes that react to Apple Pencil pressure, tilt and barrel roll, and a Sketch to Shapes tool that turns rough hand-drawn forms into clean vector shapes. On Apple Pencil Pro, squeeze and hover work too. For photo work, a new Mask Tool follows tricky edges like hair, fur and leaves as you trace with the Pencil.

Sketch Studio pushes Affinity into ground long held by Procreate, but it’s aimed more at roughing out ideas than at full digital painting. Canva itself describes it as a place for early concepts. Illustrators who paint finished artwork may still prefer a dedicated painting app.

Where Affinity wins is range. One free app covers photo retouching, logo and icon design, and multi-page layouts like zines, lookbooks and photo books, ending in a print-ready file. That’s work that would normally mean several separate apps.

It’s worth installing if you:

• already use Affinity on a Mac or PC and want the same files on the go;
• pay for Adobe tools mainly for occasional photo edits, posters or flyers;
• are a student or hobbyist who needs serious design tools at no cost.

There’s also good news for Mac users who held back. The old iPad apps (Affinity Photo 2, Designer 2 and Publisher 2) can’t open files from the new desktop app, so people who worked across both devices had to stay on the old versions. With matching apps on both sides, they can finally move up.