Alternatives to Microsoft Touch Pack for Today’s Touch DevicesThe Microsoft Touch Pack was a small but notable collection of touch-optimized apps and games that Microsoft released for Windows 7-era touchscreen PCs. As hardware and software have advanced, many of those experiences feel dated or are no longer supported. If you’re using a modern touch device — Windows ⁄11 laptops and tablets, iPads, Android tablets, or hybrid devices — there are many contemporary alternatives that deliver polished touch-first experiences for productivity, creativity, entertainment, and casual play. This article surveys strong replacements, grouped by purpose, and gives practical tips for choosing the right apps for your device and workflow.
What the Microsoft Touch Pack offered (briefly)
The original Touch Pack bundled simple entertainment and creative apps — like Surface Globe, Microsoft Surface Collage, Photos, Rebound, and Blackboard — designed to showcase multi-touch gestures, direct manipulation, and social sharing. The pack emphasized:
- Intuitive touch gestures (pinch/zoom, rotate, swipe)
- Casual games optimized for touch
- Simple creative tools for photos, drawing, and collage
- Multitouch-enabled, family-friendly experiences
Many modern apps expand on these ideas with richer feature sets, cross-device sync, cloud integration, and continuous updates.
How to pick a modern alternative
Consider these factors:
- Device and OS compatibility (Windows ⁄11, iPadOS, Android)
- Touch feature support (pressure, tilt, multi-finger gestures, stylus)
- Performance on your hardware (some apps are resource-heavy)
- Sync and cloud integration (OneDrive, iCloud, Google Drive)
- Price model (free, one-time purchase, subscription)
- Accessibility and ease of use for casual users vs. professionals
Productivity & Note-Taking
- Microsoft OneNote (Windows, iPad, Android): Feature-rich note-taking with full touch and stylus support, cloud sync via OneDrive. Excellent for sketches, meeting notes, and multimedia clips.
- GoodNotes (iPad): Best-in-class handwriting and PDF annotation with natural pen feel.
- Notability (iPad, Mac): Combine handwriting, audio, and typed notes; strong for students.
- Samsung Notes (Android/Samsung): Optimized for S Pen with low latency and seamless device integration.
- Xodo PDF Reader & Editor (Windows, Android, iPad): Powerful touch-friendly PDF annotation and form filling.
Why choose these: they support stylus pressure/tilt where available, sync across devices, and are updated regularly — offering a professional upgrade from simple Touch Pack note apps.
Creativity & Drawing
- Adobe Fresco (Windows, iPad): Designed for natural painting and vector drawing with a wide brush library and live brushes.
- Procreate (iPad): Industry-standard illustration app with a fast, touch-optimized workflow (iPad only).
- Krita (Windows, Linux, macOS): Free, open-source painting tool with strong stylus support.
- Autodesk SketchBook (Windows, iPad, Android): Intuitive drawing tool that’s free and responsive for touch/stylus users.
- Affinity Designer / Photo (Windows, iPad): Professional vector and raster tools with robust touch and pen support.
These fill the role of Collage and Blackboard with layered editing, advanced brushes, export options, and cloud backup.
Casual Games & Interactive Experiences
- Tabletop Simulator (Windows): Play board games in a physics-based touch-friendly sandbox (with touch-screen support on some devices).
- Monument Valley series (iOS, Android): Beautiful, touch-driven puzzle games that emphasize gesture-based interaction.
- Fruit Ninja (iOS, Android): Classic swipe-based casual game good for touch demos.
- Mini Metro / Mini Motorways (iOS, Android, Steam): Simple touch-first design, great for short play sessions.
- Asphalt 9: Legends (iOS, Android, Windows): Arcade racing with touch controls and vivid visuals.
Modern touch games offer richer visuals, cloud saves, and online leaderboards, making them a fun update to Touch Pack’s simpler games.
Photo & Media Apps
- Adobe Photoshop Express / Lightroom (iOS, Android, Windows): Powerful mobile-friendly photo editing with touch gestures and presets.
- Snapseed (iOS, Android): Free, pro-level editing with intuitive touch controls.
- Microsoft Photos (Windows): Built-in app with editing, albums, and touch gestures — a direct heir to some Touch Pack features.
- Canva (Web, iPad, Android): Touch-friendly graphic design for social posts, presentations, and collages.
- LumaFusion (iPad): Professional multi-track video editor optimized for touch and Apple Pencil.
These apps bring modern filters, non-destructive edits, and cloud export options.
Educational & Family-Friendly Apps
- Toca Boca apps (iOS, Android): High-quality, imaginative apps for kids with excellent touch interaction.
- Khan Academy Kids (iOS, Android): Free educational activities with strong touch interactions for young learners.
- PBS Kids Games (iOS, Android): Safe, curated learning games for children.
- SkyView / Star Walk (iOS, Android): Touch-driven astronomy apps with interactive sky maps (a modern replacement for Surface Globe).
They provide safe, ad-free or low-ad environments tailored to children and families.
Multitouch & Collaboration Tools
- Microsoft Whiteboard (Windows, iPad, Web): Real-time, collaborative whiteboard with touch and pen support; integrates with Teams.
- Miro (Web, iPad, Android): Infinite canvas for team brainstorming — touch-friendly on tablets.
- Jamboard (Google, Web, iPad, Android): Simple collaborative whiteboard with easy touch controls.
These are the modern equivalents of collaborative Surface experiences, but built for remote teams and cloud workflows.
Utilities & Launcher Replacements
- Touch-optimized launchers and widgets:
- StartIsBack / Start11 (Windows): restore touch-friendly Start menu customizations.
- TaskbarX and other tools for customizing touch UI.
- Gesture utilities:
- MultiSwipe (Windows) — assign gestures to touch actions and trackpad swipes.
- BetterTouchTool (macOS): deep gesture customization for touchpads and touch-enabled devices.
These help tune a modern OS to behave more like the finger-first UI the Touch Pack showcased.
Cross-Platform Picks (best for mixed-device households)
- Microsoft OneDrive + OneNote: syncs across Windows, iPad, Android.
- Google Workspace apps (Docs, Sheets, Slides): touch-optimized web/mobile apps for collaboration.
- Evernote: cross-platform notes and clipping with decent touch support.
- Spotify / Netflix: touch-friendly entertainment apps available across platforms.
Cross-platform apps make switching between tablet and laptop frictionless.
Comparison table: example picks
| Category | Touch Pack era equivalent | Modern alternative (recommended) | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Note-taking | N/A (basic notes) | OneNote | Cloud sync, pen support |
| Drawing | Blackboard/Collage | Procreate / Adobe Fresco | Advanced brushes, layers |
| Casual games | Rebound, Garden Pond | Monument Valley, Fruit Ninja | Polished touch gameplay |
| Photo editing | Basic Photos | Snapseed / Lightroom | Pro tools, non-destructive edits |
| Collaboration | Surface apps | Microsoft Whiteboard / Miro | Real-time multiuser touch |
Tips for installing and using modern touch apps
- Prefer native apps for your OS (iPad apps on iPadOS; UWP/Win32 on Windows) to get lower-latency pen/touch.
- If using a stylus, check for pressure and tilt support — this affects brush behavior.
- Use cloud sync (OneDrive, iCloud, Google Drive) to keep edits available across devices.
- Try free trials for paid apps (Procreate, Fresco, Affinity) before buying — many have one-time purchases.
- For older Windows touchscreens, enable “Tablet mode” and update drivers to improve responsiveness.
Future directions in touch experiences
Expect deeper integration of AI (smart selection, content-aware brushes), better stylus latency, richer collaboration inside AR/VR spaces, and cross-device continuity where a tablet becomes a secondary touch surface for a laptop.
If you want, I can:
- Recommend specific apps tailored to your device (tell me make/model and OS).
- List free alternatives only.
- Create short how-tos for installing any app above.
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