Our new to us house came with an apple tree and we have never pruned..

We bought a house with some established fruit trees and we have no idea how to take care of them. The apple tree looks strange with the branches coming straight out of the top, and I'm guessing those all need to be pruned? We don't own any pruning tools, and I'm confused about whether loppers are ok, or as I heard from a YouTube video, they can damage the tree and it's better to use a hand saw or handheld pruning scissors. I am also unsure of when to prune. It is the end of March and I saw a neighbor pruning their apple tree, which is what began my day long pruning research fest. Some sites say we are too late and could damage the tree, some say too early, because we could damage by pruning if there is another frost! It's all very confusing. We are in zone 8b, and the tree is covered with leaf buds, which are just opening up. Some videos and posts I have found suggest minimal intervention, and letting the tree return to a more natural state, others say once pruning has been started you must continue. I have included a photo, and would greatly appreciate any advice!

Howdy Rae and welcome to permies! If the tree is leafing out, then any pruning you do now will invite a lot of sap dripping out and that can attract things you'd rather not have in your tree, like sooty mold, bacterial infection, and various pests. Cutting out all those upright leaders is a good idea though, and you can do it this summer. Loppers are my weapon of choice unless the branch is big, and then I switch to a sharp pruning saw.

I do more of my leader removal on apples and pears during the summer, especially the new growth. If you get them early enough you can just snap them off cleanly by hand and this goes pretty quickly. Those ones on your tree will need loppers and a saw, by the looks of them. That tree appears motivated.

Next winter you can go in and do more structural work, like opening up the center and thinning out the tree in general. The alternative, letting the tree go "feral," will more likely lead to a decline in tree health and fruit quality. But you might get lucky...sometimes trees in abandoned orchards keep plugging along for decades and still put on decent crops.

Yeah, I'd cut off all those water spouts (upward growing small branches) either during late winter or in mid summer through fall)

Thank you, this helps so much! I was worried that all was lost because we missed the pruning window, but it sounds like it's a better late than never kind of thing. I laughed out loud at our tree being "motivated"-- yes it is reaching for the sky! I will remove the waterspouts in the summer, and then in winter take off any branches that are crowding each other.. Do I also take off the waterspouts coming from roots (suckers?) in summer?
Really hoping we get some good fruit in spite of the trees getting a bit of neglect. We have a pear tree that's similar but without the waterspouts and a cherry tree that is very neat and tidy. I guess the previous owners liked cherries the best!

Definitely take care of the rootstock sprouts whenever you see them. Like the leaders, they're easiest to get while they're still young and green.