Until now, iPad and iPhone users have been poorly served by official apps for accessing their Google Drive-stored documents. Unlike its Android counterpart, Google Drive has always been a read-only option for viewing documents stored in the cloud, but all that has now changed.

Google Slides, along with its companion apps Google Sheets (spreadsheets) and Google Docs (word processing documents), allows you to not just access files stored on your Google Drive account for viewing, sharing or printing, but also edit existing word processing documents and even create them from scratch.

It even boasts built-in collaboration, allowing you to work on a document at the same time as a friend or colleague, and works with Microsoft PowerPoint files as well as its own proprietary formats.

There are some limitations – you can edit and format the text for example, plus add and manage slides using a series of templates, but you can’t do anything about any existing images, whether that’s resizing, cropping or even replacing them.

The app is also able to work offline with your documents too - to do this, you’ll need to open the document as normal, then tap the menu button before ticking "Keep on device" to download a copy. Once downloaded, your documents are accessed via the main menu under – wait for it – the "On device" section.

Google Slides is an intriguing prospect, and currently the simplest way to edit or create Google Drive-hosted presentations on your mobile, but the limited editing options do cripple it somewhat, leaving it some way short of rivalling rival products. Still, at least it’s free.

What's New in Version 1.2017.22205

* Bug fixes and performance improvements