Apple Keynote

Name: Apple Keynote
Rating: 7.8 (97 reviews)

Score7.8 out of 10

97 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Apple Keynote?

Keynote, from Apple is a presentation software with tools and effects, designed to make it easy to create memorable presentations, and comes included with most Apple devices. Use Apple Pencil on an iPad to create diagrams or illustrations that bring slides to life. With its real‑time collaboration features, teams can work together, whether they’re on Mac, iPad, iPhone, or using a PC.

Categories & Use Cases

Presentation

Steve Crawford

Associate Pastor at Grace Bible Church of Hutchinson, KS (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Apple Keynote frequently in my role as a public speaker. One of my primary job requirements is the weekly presentation of public addresses. At times, these presentations can become rather technical and in-depth, and Apple Keynote allows me to present this information in an effective way to my audience.

Pros

Clear presentation of information
Aesthetically pleasing slide designs
Effective tool in public speaking

Cons

Could use even more font options
Would like to see more slide template options
Would like to see the ability to have different indentations within the same text box

Return on Investment

Apple Keynote has effectively helped our church of 500+ attendees understand our weekly sermons
Apple Keynote has helped our staff of 6 pastors in our annual summer sermon series present a uniform vision.
Apple Keynote has helped us as an organization in our 3x a year church-wide business meetings present where our church budget and future plans are at.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Google Slides and Microsoft Powerpoint

Other Software Used

Todoist, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, Wufoo, Wix

Verified User

Director in Marketing (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Keynote for all my class presentations. It's my go-to software when I need to quickly adapt an existing presentation or create one from scratch since it has a streamlined UI and easy to apply transitions.

Pros

Slide transitions
Copy and paste elements from Adobe software
element animations
Easy to use text styles

Cons

uses lots of storage
no collaboration capabilities to work with a team on the same presentation

Return on Investment

Improved efficiency since my presentations are quick to update
Improved efficacy since the UI makes creating attractive presentations easy to create
There have been a few occasions when I need to convert my files to PowerPoint when using virtual conference platforms since Keynote is not as ubiquitous

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Powerpoint and Canva

Other Software Used

Figma, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe Firefly

Doug Cooke

Director of insights and trends in Professional Services at Asha Design (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We primarily use Keynote to put together client presentations and have transitioned from using it on stand alone documents that we had to send around to collaborate on to using online to collaborate on documents across the organization. Online is a true t is a true game changer in that it enables simultaneous work on documents to save time and increase collaboration and alignment.

Pros

Enables the integration text, images and graphics extremely seamlessly
Allows realtime collaboration across teams
Allows fine tuned control over graphic elements, images and text to achieve superior design (relative to PPT or Slides)
Enables for presentation or for print equally well

Cons

Having to open the sidebar to control text sizes and graphic parameters is an extra step that also consumes valuable screen real estate. Integrating some of those (especially type size and color of type, fills, and lines) would be very helpful.
Certain bugs like the color palette never working the first time it is selected and an attempt is made to apply a color - it always takes two tries :(
Required software version updates occur with no warning whatsoever so you can be working on a collab Keynote doc (on a tight deadline) and a dialogue box pops up that says SW update required and you no longer have access to the document you had just been working on. This is a HUGE problem and a deal breaker. (it occurred less often recently though)

Return on Investment

+ seamless realtime collaboration builds alignment and saves time
+ Powerful software allows good control of design elements for superior results.
+ Export to PPT (and PDF) is often used to give clients native files they can work into their presentations. (though PPT always requires extra work)

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Powerpoint, Google Slides, Miro and Adobe Illustrator CC

Other Software Used

Miro, Google Slides

Mark Feauto

Associate Pastor at Living Word Outreach Ministries (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am a youth pastor and use Apple Keynote as my main presentation software. Keeping the attention of teens can be a struggle at times, so using Apple Keynote connected to a large TV in my space allows me to create a presentation to go along with my message. This not only helps keep their attention but also gives a visual form of input for the students as they're learning.

Pros

I find the user interface for Apple Keynote very easy to navigate and interact with.
The displayed presentation is always clean, crisp, and professional looking.
It pairs nicely with the Apple Keynote iOS app, which I use as a remote for my presentations.

Cons

I would really like to be able to have better control of the presentation from the presenter's display. Having the options of a control screen with a grid of all the available slides in the presentation would be great!
I would love to be able to add or edit a slide without exiting the presentation.

Return on Investment

Putting notes and scriptures on the screen for my youth groups helps them take notes of their own for greater retention and future study.
Using Apple Keynote to play screen games with my group is a fun and interactive way to break the ice each week with my group.
The feature-rich interface allows me to create professional presentations that draw people in because of their beauty and seamless transitions.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

ProPresenter and Microsoft Powerpoint

Other Software Used

Planning Center, Canva, Adobe PhotoShop, ProPresenter, Microsoft Powerpoint

Verified User

Contributor in Marketing (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Create sales decks for new business pitches, internal presentations for trainings and guidebooks of service offerings for partners.

Pros

Create master slide templates
Use custom fonts
Slide to slide animation
Swap out imagery quickly
Upload brand color palettes
Precise object alignment on page

Cons

Working collaboratively at the same time
Compressing file size
Exporting files to PDF or JPEG
Integrating seamlessly with other platforms

Return on Investment

Secured business contracts
Secured renewals
Made onboarding more efficient

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Google Slides, Figma, Canva and Microsoft Powerpoint

Other Software Used

Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator CC, Google Slides, Figma, Adobe InDesign, Adobe After Effects