Quick Summary

Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad is available now. If you have an M4 iPad Pro it promises twice the rendering speed and 4x the ProRes RAW streams, but there are improvements for every iPad too.

The M4 iPad Pro is the most powerful tablet that Apple has ever made, but when you read the reviews you’ll see the same thing said again and again: all this power is amazing, but what’s it actually for? What apps can actually take advantage of it? Apple has provided the answer and you can install it today.

Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad takes full advantage of the M4 hardware and promises dramatically improved performance on Apple’s best tablets. Apple announced it in May but it’s taken a while to arrive.

Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad is a significant upgrade if you have an M4. According to Apple, on M4 you can expect twice the rendering speed of the M1 and the app supports up to four times the ProRes RAW streams too. And the new Live Multicam feature enables you to wirelessly connect to and preview up to four cameras at once. It works with Final Cut Camera on iPhone or iPad, enabling you to use their cameras; that’s also available as a stand-alone iPhone and iPad video capture app.

Don’t worry if you don’t have an M4, though. There are new features for every iPad, not just the latest Pros. And Apple has updated the Mac version too.

What’s new in Final Cut Pro on iPad and Mac

Final Cut Pro 2 now supports external projects without using up your iPad’s limited storage space, and it supports the new Apple Pencil Pro for more precise control of your drawing tools and easier access to settings. There are 12 new colour-grading presets, eight basic text titles, 20 new soundtracks, and additional dynamic backgrounds that you can use to create effect overlays and title sequences.

Over on the Mac, Final Cut Pro 10.8 brings new AI features to M-powered Macs including Enhance Light & Colour and Smooth Slo-Mo. There are new organisational tools to help with large projects too.

If you’re an existing Final Cut Pro user, the updates are free on both iPadOS and macOS. If you aren’t, Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad is $4.99/£4.99 per month and Final Cut Pro for Mac is a one-off payment of $299.99 / £299.99.