MICROSOFT WORD FOR IOS

Create and update Word docs, for free

We reviewed Microsoft Word for iOS when the company introduced it in March. But with a new update for all the Office apps — Word, PowerPoint and Excel — Microsoft has significantly upgraded what users can get for free.

The Word app, along with the other apps, used to only let users read documents; now they can create and edit them as well. There are still features that require you to subscribe to Office’s online subscription: in Word, these include the ability to track changes or insert section breaks.

But for basic document creation — and even a little bit of the fancy font and layout stuff, such as bullets — the app works just as you would expect it on a mobile device. Navigation is touch-friendly, and a document can be changed to fit your screen or to show a normal page layout. Users will have to sign into a free Microsoft account to use the apps. Free, for iOS devices. An Android version is in development. Windows Phone version also available.