iPad Pro Users Will Have to Pay for Microsoft Office Editing Features

If you're planning to purchase an iPad Pro and use Microsoft's productivity suite on it, keep in mind that editing and other advanced features won't be free.

Microsoft stepped on stage at Apple's September 9 event to showcase several new features in Office 365 for the iPad Pro. If you're planning to purchase the device and use Microsoft's productivity suite on it, do note that editing and other advanced features won't be free. Microsoft offers both viewing and editing features in iPad for free, but the company has said that it would charge for the same features on the iPad Pro.

The company had announced in March that the editing feature would require an Office 365 subscription on any device with a display larger than 10.1 inches. Even the Android and Windows 10 Office Mobile apps follow the same pricing. So it wasn't really surprising when the company confirmed to Ars Technica that the iPad Pro users wouldn't be able to use the aforementioned services for free. However, the iPad Pro thus becomes the first iOS device to not feature free editing on the Office apps for the platform. An Office 365 subscription starts at $6.99-per-month (Rs. 300).

Microsoft released Office for iPad last year. Within hours of its release, the productivity suite apps were among the top free apps on the App Store. While Office suite apps - Word, PowerPoint, Excel - were free to download and do reading, users needed an Office 365 subscription to edit and access advanced features. Later in 2014, the company removed that requirement and made editing features free too, adding the caveat about screen size.

Used by more than a billion people worldwide, Office is a cash-flow product for Microsoft. The company continues to add new features to the service to make it more lucrative to users. It recently released Office 2016 for Mac and Windows platforms that come with many new features including the ability co-author on posts, a black theme, and Tell Me assistant.