Using a whiteboard app is pretty simple. Most whiteboard apps can take the form of either apps or browser-based tools. You’d use them in pretty much the same way as a normal whiteboard. A whiteboard app is a useful collaboration tool for teams. As more of our daily tasks move from physical to digital spaces, everything you'd normally do on a whiteboard has taken the digital leap. The learning experience is becoming richer and more dynamic, thanks to tools like interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Free online whiteboard apps often come with ads or watermarks and lack key features such as pdf or media uploads, permission management, as well as essential download or save options.
Interactive whiteboards in the classroom deliver many significant benefits for both higher and lower education. These interactive whiteboard apps help teachers and students think, organize, and create everything from mind maps to lessons to presentations. If all you need is a simple interactive whiteboard app to use, there are better options available right now.
Here are some of the best interactive whiteboard (smartboard) apps to draw, present, animate, create videos and collaborate.
Best Interactive Whiteboard Apps
Explain Everything is a powerful whiteboard app for iOS and Android devices that allows the annotation, animation, and narration of presentations on a digital and interactive whiteboard. Documents, pictures, and videos can be inserted onto the whiteboard space then on-screen drawing, annotation, and object movement can be recorded while audio may also be captured. From sketches, through PDFs, to videos, this app lets you turn an infinite canvas into a mixed-media playground that captivates and inspires.
It is a tool that not only makes it easier for teachers to use it in the classroom, it makes student led lessons fun and exciting for our future leaders.
Devices: iOS and Android
If we missed any of the Best Smartboard Apps, tell us about them!
Scribble Together Whiteboard makes teaching online classes easy and fun. The app allows users to create a board, which starts out as a blank white page. Users can then use a variety of tools included on the app to mark up the board however they want. For example, users can write out their lessons using multiple pen colors, highlight important points, and easily select and erase what is drawn on the board. After completing the board, users can export it as a .pdf or share it as a link. Users can also share their board in real time, although this feature requires a subscription. Scribble Together Whiteboard is a great tool for brainstorming or teaching remotely and is definitely worth checking out.
Devices: iOS
Vico SmartBoard is a free interactive whiteboard app for teachers and tutors to teach students remotely using real-world mechanics such as drawing boards, separate workspaces, and voice communication. Vico Smartboard provides a very authentic teacher-led learning experience that can guide and promote thinking on the student's part.
Devices: iOS
4. Miro
(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Miro is one of the best online whiteboard for turning ideas into tasks. You are allowed to annotate and record everything happening on the whiteboard. Other than that, you can even make your presentations fun by adding videos, photos, and documents.
Miro is available on any device - and on the web. Miro's marketplace, meanwhile, offers many integrations with other apps. As well as being a great brainstorming tool, it allows you to view changes, assign tasks, and send messages to colleagues.
Devices: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Educreations is an interactive whiteboard app that allows educators and students alike to design more enhanced and engaging presentations. On the Educreations site or iOS app, users can record, share, and view interactive lesson plans. Users can import images into their whiteboard with the free version and mark them up in real time up on a screen.
Devices: iOS
ShowMe is an interactive whiteboard that can record a screencast on the iPad. It will import photos or graphics from iPhoto, has simple drawing tools, an eraser, and voice recording. Having a tool that incorporates graphics with voice recordings provides a wonderful opportunity for students to translate material they have read.
ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard is a great app for digital creation where both teachers and students can teach and learn from shared digital whiteboards. Uploading content to this site will provide an embed code, and enable the ability to email the file or post it to Twitter or Facebook.
Devices: iOS
7. Jamboard
(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Google Jamboard is a digital, cloud-based whiteboard app, and is part of the G Suite of apps so it integrates nicely with Google Classroom. Google Jamboard is an innovative tool that allows teachers to interact with students with a whiteboard-style experience, only digitally without being in the same room. It's essentially a giant digital whiteboard that can be used by any teacher for any subject, making it a great tool for schools to use right across the -- ahem -- board.
Devices: iOS and Android
8. Simple Whiteboard by Qrayon
(iPhone, iPad)
This handy tool encourages collaboration and creative expression, and it makes sharing assignments and giving feedback a snap for teachers. This interactive whiteboard app is a very useful tool to for students and teachers.
Devices: iOS
9. Classkick
(iPhone, iPad)
ClassKick is a website and app that allows you to create digital slides/work pages for students. You can see all students in a class at once, and jump into their pages to offer assistance. Students can also assist each other. The free version allows you to create 20 lessons (each lesson can be assigned to several classes). In the free version, it is so important that students always sign in the same way.
It is a great tool for synchronous and asynchronous communication, blended classrooms, personalized learning, and cooperative learning.
Devices: iPad, Chromebook, Web Browser
Frequently Asked Questions
Choosing the Right Apps for Your Interactive Whiteboard
We have tested many apps to see how well they work with smartboards and interactive whiteboards. We have tried these apps in a detailed and careful way, looking at different important aspects:
Installation and Launch: We checked if the app installs and launches correctly.
Scaling: We saw how well each app fits the large screens of the interactive whiteboards, making sure they look good and work well.
User experience and interface: we judged how easy and enjoyable it was to use the app, focusing on simple design and clear navigation.
Functionality: We explored the features of the app and checked if they all worked on a smartboard.
Performance: We measured the speed, responsiveness, and reliability of the app, making sure they are compatible with the interactive displays.
Compatibility: We made sure each app worked well with latest iOS or Android versions.
As collaboration tools, whiteboard apps are playing an increasingly important role as working environments evolve. These apps are all practical and easy-to-use collaboration tools that’ll help make teamwork easier, without minimal disruption to your existing workflows.
