Final Cut Pro for iPad Reviews: Worth the Wait, But Some Limitations

The first reviews of Final Cut Pro for iPad were published today, providing a closer look at the touch-optimized video creation app in action. We also shared our own hands-on video of the app, which is available now on the App Store.

Final Cut Pro iPad UI
Final Cut Pro for the iPad is a subscription-based app priced at $4.99 per month or $49 per year in the U.S. after a one-month free trial. The app is compatible with iPads equipped with the M1 chip or newer, and requires iPadOS 16.4 or later.

The Verge's Vjeran Pavic:

Final Cut Pro for iPad is a carefully designed app that gets a lot of the basics right. It's a great adaptation of its desktop app, and FCP users will feel right at home. It also takes advantage of the iPad's touch-first interface and utilizes accessories like the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil well. It's also priced accessibly — Apple is selling it as a subscription at $5 per month or $50 per year, which makes it easy to use for a month or two to see if it's something you want to stick with.

But if you're hoping that it's a complete drop-in replacement for the Mac version of Final Cut Pro, you'll likely come away disappointed. There are still many features omitted from this version that I missed throughout my testing of it. And if you're the type of editor who wants to work on both the iPad and the Mac, you're going to need to be careful with how you organize your projects and which device you start out with.

iMore's Daryl Baxter:

If you're a videographer and you've been waiting for Final Cut on iPad, it's been worth the eight-year wait. But it feels like there's already a need for a 1.5 update that's going to line up feature parity on the same level as what Logic Pro for iPad already manages. Swapping between devices with projects and not experiencing any bugs when moving from a Mac to iPad and vice versa is critical.

Final Cut Pro brings out the best in iPad, from its multi-touch focus to the fun features of Live Drawing and the jog wheel. It gives some rare clarity to a confused device category, and buggy software features like Stage Manager that have bogged down the iPad for the past year. And for that alone, it's worth the subscription price.

Six Colors' Jason Snell:

After quite a few hours in Final Cut Pro iPad, my impressions are mixed. There were moments where I really did get into a groove and felt great about the app—generally when I was using the Magic Keyboard since it gave me access to shortcuts that haven't been properly translated into the touch interface.

But I also felt a lot of familiar frustration at an app that's packed with features but hasn't quite realized that multi-touch gestures and the Apple Pencil can make the process go smoother even without an attached keyboard. The pieces are all in place for Final Cut Pro to become a great iPad app, but it's still got a lot of growing up to do.

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Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
24 months ago
Biggest drawback: Monthly/Yearly Subscription. ?
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
24 months ago

$5/month isn't too offensive for what's on offer. I mean FCP on Mac is $300 (i.e. about 5-years at $5/month). If you're an occasional user then you can dip in/out. If you're a pro, then $5/month is a steal.

There's also Lumafusion, which is superb at $30 forever, and is a pretty good solution if you need to edit video on the go using an iPad.
Valid points! But I rather pay One Time Fee for a photo/video editor and not have to worry about paying monthly or yearly. Apple could have followed the Aperture pricing model.?



Attachment Image
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CalMin Avatar
24 months ago

Biggest drawback: Monthly/Yearly Subscription. ?
$5/month isn't too offensive for what's on offer. I mean FCP on Mac is $300 (i.e. about 5-years at $5/month). If you're an occasional user then you can dip in/out. If you're a pro, then $5/month is a steal.

There's also Lumafusion, which is superb at $30 forever, and is a pretty good solution if you need to edit video on the go using an iPad.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Naraxus Avatar
24 months ago
Surprise surprise. Apple's bubbly PR spokeswoman iJustine is gushing over an Apple product....
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
24 months ago
IMO, best thing about these hitting now is that obviously Apple did not think they could fit into up to 3 hours at WWDC. These certainly SEEM like something "new" that could have been revealed there and probably filled upwards of 20+ minutes with some "ooooh" and "ahhhhhh."

I recall them spending a good chunk of time during the AppleTV portion a few years ago to basically talk about the release of Amazon Prime. These apps seem much BIGGER than yet another streaming service.

What's coming at WWDC that moved Apple to go ahead and let these cats out of the bag only a few days before? (that's somewhat rhetorical, more so expressing anticipation instead of actually asking the question. If we don't know by now, we've been reading rumors wrong). Bring on the goodies! Show us something entirely NEW!
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Minxy Avatar
24 months ago

Surprise surprise. Apple's bubbly PR spokeswoman iJustine is gushing over an Apple product....
I’ve come to completely disregard the ’reviews’ of many content creators precisely because they’ve allowed themselves to become part of Apple’s PR machine, meaning all the viewer gets its hype and no critical evaluation of substance.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)