Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1 – Enhance Light and Color Added

Software Update

by Heath McKnightToday

Apple has released a new update, Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1. New features include Enhance Light and Color, new Live Drawing inks, new effects and transitions, and more. You’ll be able to film, edit, and deliver an entire project on a supported iPad. Let’s take a look!

Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1 – features

The Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1 update comes just months after version 2.0 debuted earlier in 2024. It’s also part of a trio of major updates to the Final Cut Pro family, including FCP 11 and Final Cut Camera 1.1.

The Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1 isn’t a small update with a new addition or two and some fixes. Instead, Apple has debuted some significant new features, including:

• Enhance Light and Color:
  • When selected, color, color balance, contrast, and brightness of footage and stills are automatically and intelligently improved. This feature is powered by Machine Learning. This feature also appears in Final Cut Pro 11.
  • HDR, SDR, RAW, and Log-encoded media can also be improved quickly.
• New Live Drawing Inks:
  • Easily add Live Drawing animations to projects.
  • New inks include watercolor, fountain pen, crayon, and monoline inks.
• More Built-In Content:
  • The new Picture in Picture and Callout effects highlight and overlay visuals.
  • Additional color grading presets.Modular transitions for reveals.
  • More soundtracks that will intelligently and dynamically adjust to the length of the edit.
• Haptic Feedback:
  • Instant feedback while editing and navigating Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1 with the new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard. This also includes trimming or moving footage and moving around the timeline.
  • New onscreen controls to resize and position the viewer, all while receiving haptic feedback.
• Other Improvements:
  • Cut high frame rate footage, including media filmed in 4K at 120 fps with the new iPhone 16 Pro. Timeline support includes 90, 100, and 120 fps.Adjust the size and position of the viewer dynamically in Picture in Picture mode, plus customize the workspace.Expand or minimize clip height in the timeline with a vertical pinch to zoom gesture.
  • New keyboard shortcuts to improve efficiency.

Additionally, here is a list of features that debuted in Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.0:

• Live Multicam supports live switching of up to four iPhones.
• Apple developed ver. 2.0 from the ground up to support touch. Proxies are live-streamed, while full-quality ProRes versions are automatically transferred.
• Added support for external drives, which is a welcome feature. The first version didn’t have this, which led to storage issues in the iPad itself.

Please check out my colleague Nino Leitner’s video review and tutorial of the Live Multicam feature in Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.0.

Price and availability

Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1 is available now on the iPad App Store and is priced as a subscription, $4.99 per month or $49 per year. There is a one-month free trial for new users, plus you can cancel anytime.

As far as system requirements go, an iPad with an M1 chip or later is needed, or an iPad mini (with A17 Pro). iPadOS 17.6 or later.

Visit Apple’s Final Cut Pro for iPad page to learn more.

What do you think of the new features found in Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1? Are you editing with FCP for iPad? Let us know in the comments below!