Apple iWork suite with real-time collaboration tools released for iPhone, iPad

The collaborative editing feature revealed for iWork at the "See You on Sept 7." event is still in beta, and syncs document changes across devices in real-time. Document editors can easily distinguish who is modifying a spreadsheet, word processing file or presentation based on user color-coding.

The addition arrives as a competitor to existing productivity software suites including the web-based Google Docs and Microsoft's Office 365, both of which have boasted collaboration features for years. The feature is reminiscent of long-time collaborative macOS text editor SubEthaEdit, by the Coding Monkeys available since 2003.

Other listed changes include improvements to display on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, improved iCloud downloading, and support for Wide Color displays.

The new iWork collaboration feature is now available for iOS devices. A Mac version will arrive with macOS Sierra on or around Sept. 20. Windows users can contribute in a browser version of iWork.

All three iWork applications cost $10 each, but have been included with new iOS devices for some time. All three apps require iOS 10.

Numbers is a 407 MB download, with Pages coming in at 430 MB, and Keynote hitting 645 MB.