(Be sure to check out our other hot new Apps lists, too: Best iPhone Apps, Best Android Apps, and Best Android Tablet Apps.)
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Entertainment
Entertainment covers all the stuff you watch, read, play, and enjoy. This is the fun stuff, and our favorite section.
Movies and TV
Netflix
Netflix is an absolute essential app, especially on the iPad. Tons of films, TV shows, and random documentaries about drug cartels that look great on the Retina display. Subscription starts at $8 a month.
Hulu Plus
No cable? No problem. Hulu is the place to go for catching up on all of the shows on television right now. Most network and cable channels have shows available. Subscription to Hulu Plus starts at $8 a month.
Amazon Instant Video
For Amazon Prime subscribers who take advantage of the large video library provided by Amazon, this is the app of choice. Rent, purchase, and stream tons of videos. Amazon Prime subscription run $100 a year.
IMDB
What good is all this streamable content if you can't remember the names of the shows and movies or actors that you want to watch? IMDB is the answer, plus it provides movie news and showtimes.
Crackle
The Netflix and Hulu apps may be free, but Crackle's content is free, too, with no subscription needed. There's tons of turnover and weird content, but it has Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars series.
Viggle
Viggle does the novel task of rewarding you for consuming media, which you're going to do plenty of. Check in to shows, interact with fans, play show-specific trivia, and score some gifts for your trouble.
YouTube
YouTube used to be included in iOS until the Apple-Google breakup, but you should put it right back on your iPad. It's the best place to watch user-submitted content, and a great place to get your fix of cute animal videos.
Fan TV
With content split up across various platforms, it can be a pain to figure out where the movies and shows you want reside. Fanhattan centralizes all the information by showing you everywhere a video is streaming.
Showyou
In front of the television and the silver screen aren't the only place to be entertained anymore. There are tons of online creators, and you can see all the best web video in one place on Showyou. It's like Flipboard for video.
Books
Audible
You can easily read a book on a tablet, but why do that when you can have someone else read it to you? Audible, an Amazon company, has a massive library of audio books to choose from.
Kindle
You may have chosen the iPad over a Kindle tablet, but you can still enjoy the Kindle app. It gives access to Amazon's huge selection of books that can be downloaded and read anywhere.
iBooks
This is a no-brainer app since you already have an Apple device, but Apple's own book shop is still a solid option. Purchases sync to your account and can be viewed on any Apple device.
Oyster
Video and music aren't the only mediums that have gotten the streaming experience. You can pay a monthly fee for Oyster and download all the books you want from its library without owning. The subscription costs $10 a month.
Comics
Who says books can't have pictures? Some of the best stories out there exist in graphic form, and you can read them on your iPad with Comics. The app allows you to read purchases on your ComiXology account from anywhere.
News
The news isn't always pretty, but it will look good in Flipboard. The app turns your favorite news sources into a digital magazine with a beautiful layout for your consumption.
Zite
Pick the topics that matter to you and Zite will mix them together in a mashup of articles tailored to your tastes. It's a hodgepodge of the things that interest you most (highly addictive).
News Republic
News Republic is a news app for the social media generation. Articles from hundreds of top publications are navigable by tags, which will lead you into an internet rabbit hole very quickly.
Feedly
Feedly is the more traditional way of following your favorite websites. This RSS reader will feel familiar to any Google Reader users and is ideal for keeping up with tons of sources at the same time.
Wind up with way too many tabs open at the same time? Then it's time to get Pocket. Save articles and come back to them when you have time. This app is formerly known as Read it Later.
News 360
There's always multiple takes on a news story, and you can see them all with News 360. Find a headline that catches your eye and see how every other news source has tackled the same topic.
Digg
A lot of news apps try to match your preferences, but Digg has its own tastes and interests. You can see the hand-picked stories deemed to be best of the web and trend-worthy by Digg's staff.
Radio and Podcasts
Pocket Casts
Apple's own podcasts app wasn't so well received, which sent us on a hunt for a better option. Pocket Casts is our favorite podcast app thanks to its design and great options.
TuneIn Radio
With its new version, TuneIn just reinvented the Live Radio and podcasting app. The new TuneIn has built-in social elements like Spotify. Read our full review.
Stitcher Radio
Stitcher Radio is a bit like the Pandora of talk shows. Tell it your favorite podcasts and shows and it'll put together a playlist of those plus others it thinks you'll enjoy as well.
Music
Spotify
No music streaming service is more popular or offers more music than Spotify. Listen to all of your favorite songs on the go. A subscription to Spotify Premium is $10 a month.
Pandora Radio
Everyone is plenty familiar with Pandora at this point, and it's still a must-have app for music lovers. No other option matches Pandora for new music discovery tools.
Shazam
If you can't put a finger on the song that you're listening to, or you hear a catchy tune on a commercial and want to log it, use Shazam to figure out what's playing.
Games
Infinity Blade III
Apple always turns to the Infinity Blade series to show off what its tablet is capable of, and for good reason. The fighting game with epic boss fights always looks amazing.
Limbo
For an odd game, check out Limbo. It's eery, a little scary, and stunningly beautiful despite its black and white color palette. Filled with tough puzzles and challenges.
Bastion
A hit from the indie gaming world made its way to the iPad and the experience is just as great. An action RPG with amazing visuals and an enthralling story.
Monument Valley
Some games are about offering an intense environment and difficult challenges. Then there's Monument Valley. It's an extraordinarily pleasant game with beautiful visuals, relaxing puzzles, and an odd retro vibe.
The Room Two
Things are going to get a little creepy and odd once you enter the Room. It's a game full of ambiance and intrigue. The Gameplay consists of puzzling and intricate machines that you interact with through intuitive touch controls.
The Walking Dead
If you're familiar with the Walking Dead empire at all, you'll know what to expect here. Tons of tension, an engaging story, and plenty of gory and graphic deaths – both human and zombie.
Pro Sports
ESPN SportsCenter
No place offers sports coverage like ESPN, so turning to the Worldwide Leader in Sports on your iPad makes sense. Score updates, news alerts, video highlights, and more await the sports fanatic in you.
WatchESPN
Seeing the scoreboard tally each point in real time isn't always enough. Sometimes you just have to see it. WatchESPN lets you watch tons of sporting events live – assuming your cable provider allows it.
TheScore
There's way too much sports news to digest, but if you want to try, TheScore has all that and more — tons of information, live scores, and everything you'd expect to track your crazy sports obsession.
College Sports
ESPN College Football
It's pretty tough to avoid ESPN when getting your sports fix. It just has the best college football coverage. Year-round updates, live games, and a scoreboard are all here.
NCAA March Madness
March Madness is easily one of the best times of year for any sports fan. Non-stop games, tons of upsets and underdogs, and you can follow it all as it unfolds with this app.
CBS Sports
It's not college specific, but CBS Sports has a plenty of college related content and offers regular coverage of the biggest college sporting events, including title games.
Security and Utilities
This section will help you secure your tablet (and find it), but also add those little touches you like. Want a good alarm clock or calculator. We've got 'em right here.
Secure Your Tablet
1Password
Despite being a little on the pricey side, 1Password is a necessity in an age where private data always seems to be at risk. Protect passwords, credit card information, and more with top-grade encryption.
Private Photo Vault
Images might not have any personal information in them, but we all have a few we'd rather not see the light of day. Lock down those photos, videos, and galleries meant only for certain eyes with this app.
Hotspot Shield VPN
This app is free to download but costs $5 a month to use. It's worth it if you do a lot of work or Web browsing on your iPad in public locations, because it blocks hackers from accessing your data on public Wi-Fi networks.
Track Your Device
Lookout
Think you're free of danger because you're on a tablet? Think again. Add Lookout to your iPad to protect yourself from viruses and malware, back up your contacts, and locate a stolen device. Upgrade to premium for $3.
Find My iPhone
Find My iPhone is Apple's protective service for stolen devices. Find your device via GPS, lock your iPad remotely, or erase the data if it's gone for good. (Read: 6 People get vigilante justice with Find My iPhone.)
Prey Anti Theft
If your device is snatched out from under you, Prey Anti Theft helps you track it by triangulating its location. Trigger an alarm, take pictures with either camera, and gather information via connected networks remotely.
Basic Utilities
Alarm Clock HD
Set your iPad up on a stand and turn on Alarm Clock HD to treat it like a big, touch screen alarm clock. Complete with multiple alarms, news feeds, social media integration, weather info, and more.
MyScript Calculator
The iPad's built in calculator is nice for the simple stuff, but MyScript Calculator can handle more complex equations and takes inputs via handwriting, converting your writing to standard text.
My Data Manager
Trying to keep your data usage under control and maybe bring that cell bill down a bit? My Data Manager gives you unprecedented control over your data. Visualize usage and set alarms to avoid overages.
Wallpapers
Cool Wallpapers
The iPad's screen is too impressive to not plaster with pretty images, and Cool Wallpapers has plenty of options. Over 100,000 individual wallpapers are available for your choosing.
Pimp Your Screen
There's no need to stop at just the wallpaper when modifying your iPad's look. Pimp Your Screen offers custom app shelves, home screen themes, icon skins, and lock screens in a variety of styles.
Wallpapers HD
Wallpapers HD is bound to have good looking wallpaper options – it has HD right in its name. New entries are regularly added and organized in easy to browse categories for convenience.
Benchmarking Apps
3D Mark
Test out the performance of your iPad and see how it compares to similar devices, including Android and Windows tablets. This diagnostics tool focuses on graphics performance measurement.
Geekbench 3
Recently optimized to test out Apple's 64-bit processors, Geekbench 3 is one of the most comprehensive performance testers around. It measures processor and memory performance.
GFXBench 3.0
GFXBench may be familiar by its former name, GLBenchmark. No matter the name, it can help you comprehend the 3D graphics benchmark and will determine performance.
Travel and Maps
Most of us don't use our iPad around town (unless you have a LTE enabled version), but that doesn't mean an iPad isn't a great tool to help you get around or understand where you are. Here are our favorite travel apps.
Maps and Turn-by-Turn Navigation
Google Maps
We'd hate to re-open the Google Maps vs. Apple Maps wound again, so we'll just say this: Download Google Maps. It's accurate, thorough, and offers free turn-by-turn voice navigation.
Waze
Waze helps you avoid traffic jams, find cheap gas, and pick the best places to stop by providing access to crowdsourced, community-generated data that will be invaluable for your road trips.
MotionX GPS Drive
MotionX GPS Drive includes voice directions, live traffic maps, active lane guidance, social media check-ins, a parking spot meter, and a live compass to make for a feature-packed travel app.
Traveling Abroad
TripIt
Having TripIt on your iPad is like having your own special travel itinerary folder (the one you plan to make for every trip but never do). It keeps hotel, car rental, and flight information in place and in chronological order.
Kayak
Kayak Pro is like the Google of travel planning. It's the smart search engine for trip planning that will help you find flights, cars, and hotels to fit your schedule and budget. It aggregates multiple airlines and services.
Hipmunk
Finding flights and hotels is easy on Hipmunk. The app offers handy visualizations, helps you land in a comfy hotel for cheap, and organizes flights by its trademark "agony" rating to minimize duration, layovers and price.
Language Translating
iTranslate Voice
There's no need to flip through translation dictionaries looking for the right word to say. The iTranslate Voice app gives real-time speech-to-speech translation with support for 36 different languages.
SayHi Translate
It's always best to have conversations face to face, but SayHi Translate is a great middle man. You and a partner speak into it and it translates your speech back and forth to help the conversation along.
Google Translate
If Google has an app for it, you should probably have that app. Google Translate can handle text, voice, handwriting, and text in images. It works with over 70 languages no matter the input.
Public Transit
Mytaxi
Never wind up stranded when you have your iPad in hand. In as few as two taps, you can get a taxi on its way to your location. Follow the taxi in real time, rate drivers, and pay by app.
HopStop
HopStop offers you step-by-step instructions on how to get to your destination using combinations of bus, train, and subway commuting options, optimizing the information to speed up your travels.
Google Maps
We've never listed the same app twice before, but when it comes to transit directions, Google Maps has it down with route guidance and a full color listing of route lines in many major cities, like NYC.
Outdoors Apps
MyTopo Maps
Who says you can't take technology out into the wilderness? MyTopo Maps will make your iPad a necessity for outdoor exploration, with maps of terrain and plan your trip with a powerful place search.
Spyglass ($4)
If you end up getting lost, you can count on Spyglass. It equips you with a GPS, compass, finder, tracker, and AR navigation to ensure you're never lost, even in strange locales.
MotionX GPS HD ($2)
MotionX GPS HD claims to have the best map selection
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