News Pages and Numbers apps update (after iOS 26.2.1)

Question

Level 1

4 points

News Pages and Numbers apps update (after iOS 26.2.1)

New Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (ios 26.2.1). Following the iOS 26.2.1 update I have updated today, 28/01/26, the new Pages and Numbers, as part of the new Apple Creator Studio subscription, and they are a very bad joke. I would like to know if would be possible to reverse the last update to the previous version. I don’t get why should I pay €129/y for 12 apps when just 2 are important to me. For about the same cost, I got a perpetual license of MS Office for my Macbook, which is more complete solution and more widely used app, I perhaps should do the same for my iPhone.

iPhone 17 Pro Max

Posted on Jan 28, 2026 12:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,208 points

Jan 28, 2026 12:59 PM in response to G_Colli

Pages, Numbers, and Keynote get template enhancements in the Creator Suite subscription. Otherwise, they are still free as always, though one has to grimace at the ten months it took the product team to go from 14.4 to 14.5. If there is a bad joke, that is it.

A single-purchase of Office 2024 for Mac Home and Business is now $99 at stacksocial dot com. Office 2021 for Mac Home and Student is even less, though Microsoft will retire it in Oct 2026.

Reply

Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,208 points

Jan 29, 2026 6:35 AM in response to VikingOSX

Correction. After I updated to the version 14.5 of these applications, it notified that it was end of support for that version, and offered the option of installing Pages v15.1. That requires your Apple ID password. The installation of Pages v15.1 requires macOS Sequoia v15.6 or later and does not automatically subscribe one to Apple Creator Studio.

There is a Pages application menu item "Get Apple Creator Studio" on the Pages v15.1 application menu that I suspect is the vector for the Pages in-app studio subscription purchase.

Otherwise, there are some cosmetic changes (icon, toolbar, focus behavior) that you can experience on your own since this is not a review of the new application.

Focus in Pages v15.1

Focus switched from Pages v15.1 to Safari:

Reply

Answer 3

G_Colli Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 28, 2026 11:28 PM in response to VikingOSX

Sure … new functions, AI capabilities and advanced image editing are among the things listed under the subscription now, they are not free anymore, as the dedicated Apple’s webpage said.

I’m sorry if got it wrong, you said that a bad joke would be more or less the time and effort invested by the product team to go from 14.4 to 14.5, I really don’t think so. What the product team has done is called WORK, they were hired to do a job and got paid to do that. This is another bad joke.

Now, the apps in discussion were completely free for years in a row, since the latest update, they are not “entirely” free anymore. Apple is now charging people to use ChatGPT, through their apps, because 95% of the time when you ask something to Apple Intelligence it asks you to allow the ChatGPT use. So, when you update a free app, the new features and capabilities that drove the update should be and remain available for free. There is no problem in charging people for app subscriptions, but do it in right way, discontinue the product and/or create a new one, in example.

Anyway … this is going nowhere, as Apple won’t reverse things. At least, people should be aware of what they are getting with the latest update.

Reply

Answer 4

Jan 28, 2026 11:39 PM in response to G_Colli

According to Apple:

Free versions of Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform continue to be available and are included with every new iPhone, Mac, and iPad.

Good Luck! 👋🏼😉

Smiliñ 😎 Brian

Reply

News Pages and Numbers apps update (after iOS 26.2.1)

Similar questions