Procreate on a 3rd gen iPad?

No. Procreate requires iOS 12 and the 4th generation iPad is forever stuck at iOS 10.3.3

You need a more modern iPad if the reason for buying it is to use Procreate.

The following iPad can run Procreate:

iPad Air 1

iPad Air 2

iPad Air 3

iPad 5

iPad 6

iPad Pro (any pro model)

MichelPM wrote:

Procreate seems to be the ONLY known sketching/drawing/painting app for iPad.

This is incorrect and inaccurate.

There are lots of great sketching/drawing/painting apps for iPad and some are still easily available for iOS 10 and earlier.

I like Adobe's Sketch. Good support for Apple Pencil, and a lot of tools and things to draw with.

‎Adobe Photoshop Sketch on the App Store

If your daughter wants to use a smart Bluetooth stylus, similar to, but different from an Apple Pencil, with an iPad 4th generation, the only one I can recommend is the Adonit Pixel purchased from the Adonit Website here.

https://www.adonit.net/jot/pixel/

This stylus is compatible from the iPad 4 all the way to the 1st gen, 2015 12.9 inch screen iPad Pro.

This stylus is compatible with approx. 30 of the most popular sketching/darwing/painting/notes apps.

Agreed. Adonit makes top notch stylii.

The current version of Procreate requires iOS 12, which cannot run on a 3rd Gen iPad.

There may still be an older iOS 9.3.5 compatible version that can work on the 3rd Gen iPad, but you will have to jump through some hoops to get it.

See here: https://procreate.art/discussions/4/10/26560

Also the iPad 3 was discontinued in 2012 and is no longer being updated by Apple. It cannot be updated beyond iOS 9.3.5. Its really not the best thing to buy at this time.

Perhaps an iPad Air 1 or iPad Air 2 may be a better choice. Those can run iOS 12, and as such can run the newest version of Procreate.

Wonderkid88 wrote:

So if I was to get a 4th gen would that work?

Thank you for your response.

As I said, you may be able to get an older version that will work, but will need to jump through some hoops to get it.

If you just want to download the current Procreate version from the App Store with no extra steps, then an iPad Air 1 or later is required. You can also get an iPad Mini 2 or later. Or any of the iPad Pro models.

Also note, that if you want Apple Pencil support within Procreate, it will need to be an iPad 6, iPad Mini 5 or an iPad Pro.

iPad 3 and 4 models are 7-year old iDevices.

Getting older versions of apps, now, that have moved on to more current iOS versions and newer hardware may still reside on Apple’s iOS App Store servers, but obtaining these older hardware/iOS versions of apps is not a straight foward task, any longer, and requires either access to another newer iDevice, or the use of an older version of iTunes on a computer connected to Internet to access the Apple online stores via iTunes on a computer.

Also, if your daughter is hoping to use Procreate with an Apple Pencil, the Apple Pencil does not work with ANY older model standard 9.7 inch screen iPads made before 2015.

The only iPads Apple Pencils work with are all iPad Pro models, the 2018, 9.7 inch screen iPad 6th generation, the 2019 iPad Air 3rd generation and the new 2019 iPad Mini 5th generation.

So, you may want to look at much newer iPad models.

I would also like to add, there are other sketching/drawing/painting apps, that will still be easily obtained and used on older model iPads.

Procreate seems to be the ONLY known sketching/drawing/painting app for iPad.

This is incorrect and inaccurate.

There are lots of great sketching/drawing/painting apps for iPad and some are still easily available for iOS 10 and earlier.

If you only can afford an older iPad, if you find an iPad 4th generation that has, at least, 64 GBs of storage ( a 128 GBs model may be more preferrable, if you can find one ), there are handful of very good drawing apps still available for that model with iOS 10 and earlier.

She doesn't necessarily need to be using Procreate.

Look at

Art Studio

Art Studio Pro

ArtRage

iBis Paint/X

Inkist

Tayasui Sketches/Sketches School

If your daughter wants to use a smart Bluetooth stylus, similar to, but different from an Apple Pencil, with an iPad 4th generation, the only one I can recommend is the Adonit Pixel purchased from the Adonit Website here.

https://www.adonit.net/jot/pixel/

This stylus is compatible from the iPad 4 all the way to the 1st gen, 2015 12.9 inch screen iPad Pro.

This stylus is compatible with approx. 30 of the most popular sketching/darwing/painting/notes apps.

The 3rd generation iPad cannot be updated beyond iOS 9.3.5.

To download Procreate from the App Store requires iOS 12.0 or later. See: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/procreate/id425073498?mt=8