Freeform is due out later this year, but its availability on Apple devices could keep it from gaining ground on various competing whiteboard apps on the market. Credit: Apple Apple, at its developers conference this week, unveiled a digital whiteboard app to support real-time collaboration among users. The slick-looking app, named Freeform, was among the highlights offered up by Apple execs during the WWDC keynote; they described it as a collaboration tool that could be easily used for project planning or brainstorm sessions. But could its limited reach keep Freeform from gaining traction in the enterprise, much as Apple’s FaceTime video app — unlike Zoom and Microsoft Teams — failed to reach a broad audience during the COVID-19 pandemic? Freeform can be opened from FaceTime: from there, users can access a shared whiteboard space for note taking and drawing (there’s support for Apple Pencil), and share content such as video and PDF files. Mouse cursors are visible to all participants, indicating in real-time where other users are focused. You can also tap on a user’s icon to quickly jump to what they’re working on — which can be useful when boards are sprawling with information. Freeform, which is slated to arrive later this year, will compete with numerous collaborative whiteboard apps aimed at use in the workplace. Mural and Miro are two popular standalone whiteboard apps, while Microsoft relaunched its Whiteboard app last year. Google, Zoom, ClickUp and Box are among the other software vendors that have incorporated whiteboards into their products of late. “With support for both real-time and asynchronous collaboration, whiteboard tools play an increasingly important role in enabling teams to innovate, brainstorm and co-create when they can’t be together — evidenced by the continued growth of startups like Miro,” said Angela Ashenden, principal analyst at CCS Insight. “By leveraging the group messaging features in iOS/iPadOS/iMacOS and allowing users to invite whole groups to collaborate, Apple seeks to remove the friction of shifting between apps and thereby improve adoption of its newer tools.” While Freeform is comparable in functionality to other digital whiteboard tools on the market, the app’s availability only on Apple devices means it won’t have as broad a reach, said Irwin Lazar, president and principal analyst at Metrigy. “I could see this being useful for individuals or among small teams who are all on Apple’s OS, but I don’t see it having the widespread appeal of more robust tools that are supported across iOS, Mac, and Windows,” said Lazar. Ashenden agreed — to a point. “The catch is that of course all collaborators must be Apple users — but that is the same for all the iWork apps and we still see consistent adoption of these tools by around 5-6% of all employees in CCS Insight’s surveys,” she said. Freeform will be available on iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and MacOS Ventura when it is released. Related content feature Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build? Get the latest info on new preview builds of Windows 11 as they roll out to Windows Insiders. Now updated for Build 22635.3566 for the Beta Channel, released on April 26, 2024. By Preston Gralla Apr 26, 2024 251 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows 11 news Dropbox adds end-to-end encryption for team folders Dropbox this week unveiled a range of features, including security updates and key management, and the ability to co-edit Microsoft 365 documents from within the file-sharing app. By Matthew Finnegan Apr 26, 2024 3 mins Cloud Storage Collaboration Software Productivity Software feature Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to 15 Explore Android's ongoing evolution with this visual timeline of versions, starting B.C. (Before Cupcake) and going all the way to 2024's Android 15 (beta) release. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 23 mins Small and Medium Business Smartphones Android news analysis The unspoken obnoxiousness of Google's Gemini improvements Google's Gemini chatbot is seeing all sorts of upgrades on Android this week, but those advancements reveal a darker underlying reality. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 12 mins Google Assistant Google Android Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe