iThoughts, the most powerful mind mapping app on iOS, has been updated (well, re-released, really) with a bevy of new features. It’s now a universal app (both iPhone and iPad), and requires a new purchase. At the $2 US intro price, though, there’s really no reason for anyone to not grab it.

iThoughts’ UI has been fully updated to the iOS7 design philosophy. It’s beautiful and easy to use. Creating relationships between nodes is improved, and you can easily drag the actual curve and reattach end points to other nodes. The canvas is now “infinite” and grows to accomodate your map, and you can set default colors for callouts. That combination makes reviewing, expanding and annotating your map better than ever.

One of the biggest “under the hood” improvements is extensive support for Bluetooth keyboards. That’s always been the biggest sticking point for me with iOS mind mapping in general: I work and brainstorm more fluidly when I’m using a keyboard and an app that has great keyboard shortcuts. It’s there now.

A more reliable sync structure means your maps are available on all of your devices (including iThoughtsX on your Mac). Combined with the amazing number of export options that iThoughts provides, you can turn your brainstorms into almost anything you need. It can even export a multi-page PDF for printing and combining into a poster, or a website with clickable images and attachments. The website export is pretty cool, too; I had a lot of fun playing with that during the beta.

Another thing I had fun testing is Markdown import. Turn your Markdown outlines directly into mind maps on iOS with no OPML fiddling at all. It also imports Mindnode

Speaking of websites, the “Research” feature can now save your reference web pages as webarchive files and store them for offline access. That’s good for productivity and peace of mind.

As I mentioned, the new iThoughts is available for just $1.99 US right now, but that price is only for a little while. Even if you’ve never tried mind mapping, this is a great time to grab a powerful tool and learn how to incorprate it into your workflow. I can’t promise mind mapping is going to work for you and the way you think, but I can assure you this is one of the most frugal way to find out! For information on migrating and caveats, see this page on the toketaWare website.