Freeform app to add new collaboration tools for Apple AR/VR headset

Apple is said to be working on adding new collaboration tools to its Freeform app, including giving users the ability to work on virtual whiteboards together in virtual reality, according to a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who says Apple is working on a range of updates to its apps to support the upcoming headset.

In his weekly Power On newsletter, Gurman says the headset will include the ability to run most of Apple’s existing iPad apps in mixed reality, which blends AR and VR. That includes Books, Camera, Contacts, FaceTime, Files, Home, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Safari, Stocks, TV and Weather.

Gurman says that one of the apps expected to add support for the upcoming Apple AR/VR headset is Freeform, which Apple released late last year.

Freeform is a cross-device flexible canvas app that gives users the ability to see, share, and collaborate all in one place. Users can add photos, video, audio, documents, PDFs, web links, stickies, and more anywhere on a Freeform’s board. The app has a library of over 700 shapes and alignment guides for creating visuals, and allows users to scan paper documents with the built in document scanner to archive documents and annotate them, right on the board.

Freeform boards can be shared via email, link, or using Messages with up to 100 collaborators in the same board. Users can use their finger, or Apple Pencil on a compatible iPad, to draw anywhere on the canvas, with a variety of brush styles and colors.

Apple is widely rumored to be planning on unveiling its long-rumored AR/VR mixed-reality headset at WWDC23 in June ahead of a release in the fall.