iA Writer Reviews

This application coupled with an iPad Pro and a magic keyboard have, quite frankly, made my on-the-go writing experience... magical! I’m not a professional by any means, however, as a college student I have had almost nothing to complain about when using this application. My only grievance, you guessed it, is more customization! This means more fonts, more color palettes, and more storage solutions like Google Drive. I totally understand that IA Writer’s aim is to be minimal and focus driven, but more “optional” customization features wouldn’t hurt anyone in my opinion. Overall, this is a wonderful application as is. My only suggestions would be to look into the “show stats” feature as I don’t like how it hangs over your text indefinitely... maybe move the word count to a corner where it doesn’t interfere with your text or perhaps set it to timeout after a few seconds. Also, there’s a wonderful feature labeled “syntax highlight” that I believe shouldn’t be buried within settings but would be of greater use somewhere next to the “aA” button. All the colors hurt my eyes so I never turn it on for long, however, occasionally using the feature helps me identify a myriad of adjectives and nouns to replace without having to read my entire essay again!

Whatever iA Writer does to sync your text files with iCloud, it does a lousy job of it. It loses text at a frankly unforgivable rate. I've seen it delete chunks of my writing multiple times within the same MINUTE—I write, it deletes, I rewrite, and it deletes again.

If you look at the developers' responses to other users who've complained about this on iAWriter Store, it seems they're willing to blame iCloud Sync for this, as if the problem is endemic to Apple's implementation of file synchronization. But other developers have seemingly worked out a solution for this: Bear doesn't lose my files like iA Writer does, and neither did Editorial (RIP). This arrogance on the part of the developers suggests they turn a blind eye to their own failures. At what point does intentional ignorance become functionally equivalent to incompetence? I'm not sure. Perhaps the developers of iA Writer should be asking themselves this question.

Fundamental inability to store data aside, iA Writer is a lovely app. File management could be a bit more graceful, but admittedly it's a trickier problem to solve on iOS devices—and the developers seemingly have bigger file-related issues to tackle first. I'd have rated iAWriter four or five stars, but a synchronization issue seems to have wiped a few of them out of existence.

I've tried several writing programs including Ulysses, ByWord, and Scrivener. I gave up on Ulysses after they went to subscription model. ByWord is very nice app, and I support it greatly, but I really want file management within an app, not outside of it. I also want a program that quickly starts and is ready to start writing. ByWord needs interaction (just a click) and Scrivener is a true word processor, so it seems I needed a program for some quick and random notes. Apple Notes is also nice, but I like the idea of being able to back up actually files, Apple Notes concerned me a bit about this. Apple Notes doesn’t feel like a writing program either, that’s just my opinion. So far, IA Writer has been solid. It types quickly and it helps me maintain my writing flow. I do wish we could rearrange files manually in any order we wanted to. I also miss a feature that Scrivener and Ulysses both have which is the ability to select multiple files and see/edit them as one long file.

Most of the writing I do is for large D&D campaigns that I work on where there are a lot of small markdown files organized into thematic folders, which iAWriter is perfect for. The writing surface is clean, the lines of text are spaced perfectly and the default duospace font is relaxing to view in both day and night modes, particularly on a large iPad.

I also particularly like how the markdown formatting symbols hang outside of the left margin of the text, which makes parsing documents with a lot of formatting much easier. The placement of formatting symbols is not perfectly right aligned outside of the margin, but that is a minor quibble with syntax that is designed to flow inline in a plain text file.

Feature Request: The ability to add folders from other applications would make iAWriter absolutely perfect. I use the Working Copy app to push all of my documents to Github and for version control. If iA Writer could add my Working Copy folders to the library, the writing experience and repository workflow would be sublime.

This is a great app. The way i use it is to formulate templates, Balance elements in each paragraph, and then i used grammerly For spell check. The only complaint i have is The lack of integration in other apps. I mostly use notion these days but some times i still want to proof read in AI and with grammerly but, i dont want to switch from app to app, nor use side card. It would be better if the two businesses collaborated and created extensions from each app with key features. For example, i dont need all three app to be up at the same time. It would be nice to see what nouns, and verbs are present with out leaving notion. It would also be more cohesive if they had the same keyboard extensions, and grammerly wasn’t docked on the on-screen keyboard especially when using a Bluetooth keyboard. I think its possible for all three companies to collaborate in the same way other businesses have been able to with Fleep and slack. Other than that, no complaints

Fast, simple, reliable. My go-to app for drafting stories on my ipad. Its frequent syncing means I've never lost a word I've typed. I've tried writing apps with more features, but the simplicity and speed of this one has always won out.

It is close to being a 5-star app, but I gave it 4 stars because it used to be better. I understand the need for some of the unwanted updates over the years due to iOS changes (like removing dropbox integration -- which has since been re-added, just with a bit more complicated workflow).

But there was a toolbar customization which was removed a few years ago for no apparent reason. You could add buttons above the keyboard to navigate and select by word (and, IIRC, paragraph). It was amazing! Selecting and moving text with touch is clumsy and this made writing so much faster.

I'm still frustrated and puzzled by the removal of this great feature.

However, the reliability of iAWriter means I haven't switched to an app that can do this. And they did leave the ability to go back and forth by a single letter. But I would be thrilled if they considered adding it back in.

I do want to report a recent bug: after having iAWriter open for a while, the paste function stops working. I can undo the recent "cut" and don't lose the text. It will work again if I force close and restart iAWriter .

I was delighted by iAWriter right up until I lost data, which happened almost immediately. I was editing a file stored in my Dropbox, switched to another app, and when I came back the last few changes I'd made were gone. This has happened to me several times in just a few hours of using iAWriter . Whatever the underlying issue is, it also seems to cause crashes, and sometimes iAWriter is unable to start up again.

I've seen a couple of replies from the developers in here in which they claim that cloud sync issues are essentially out of their hands. Yet, other apps don't seem to have the same issues. For instance, I've been using Scrivener on iOS for a year or two, storing files in Dropbox, and I've never, ever lost data.

I'm sure it's a pain to get this right for all the different cloud services, and I have no idea what constraints the developers are working under. But Dropbox integration is critical to me, and I verified that iAWriter supported Dropbox before I bought it. Now that I'm trying to use it, though, it seems very broken, to the point that I can't trust it with my data.

I really wish I could use iAWriter, but I don't think I can until the Dropbox support improves. This three-star rating is just because it doesn't do what it says on the tin; if it ever does get functional Dropbox support, I will be happy to come back and use it, and I think it will be worthy of five stars.

I love the simplicity of iAWriter!I have never used markdown or any markdown text editing apps, so take my review with that in mind. I am also using the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard Case to type with iAWriter.

The focus mode is nice, and I like that it has some buttons for markdown ready on the bottom right corner, like inserting a link. I wish there was a way to edit the size of photos or images, but I suppose iAWriter isn’t made for that kind of thing.

One gripe I have that I hope gets fixed in a future update, is that sometimes when I write... the screen keeps moving up and down in little increments with each letter that I type out, which makes it very distracting when I write (even when I’m in focus mode). It’s like someone is constantly wobbling my screen up and down when I type. If this bug could be fixed (it’s a bug, certainly not a feature) then I’d give it 5 stars. I’m also a little disappointed cause I paid for iAWriter and it seems to have this problem, but I know that there is always an opportunity for the developers to update it so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I would also love it if it had Google Drive or One Drive sync (as in, I could save directly onto Google drive instead of just pulling from it).

Since this is a writing app, it’s important to be able to select sections of text for editing. Unfortunately, text selection seems to not be well implemented on iPhone or iPad. Unlike the text field in other apps like Notes, where you can drag the grab handles to select words or lines of text very precisely, in iA Writer, there’s no precision to the selection. For example, when I drag the grab handle down *slightly* to select the next line of text, the whole view starts scrolling very quickly until the entire document is selected. The same issue happens when using the iOS keyboard-turned-trackpad mechanism.

On iPad, things are even worse: in addition to the issues above, whenever I hide the iPad keyboard, the text view jumps to different parts of the document, forcing me to scroll back to where I left off each time. It’s difficult to understand how these kinds of issues were not found/fixed before iAWriter was released.

Everything about iAWriter is excellent. All the transitions are really instantaneous and latency-free!

Unlike Apple's Notes app, the keyboard latency here (something important for fast types) is also excellent. There's no lag between a letter press and its rendering on the screen. This is not a small achievement.

My only issue with iAWriter is that in the iPad landscape mode, vertical screen state is very precious. When using iA in landscape, the extra keyboard bar takes a very precious area of state. Combine this with the fact of big fonts and line spacing used by iA (which are lovely), and you get only around 8 lines of text to view while writing, which is quite limited. I wish if an option to minimize (or remove) their keyboard bar exists. A small gesture to minimize that tall bar down would be enough.

iA writer is a terrible app. I don’t mean to be mean at all. I just feel obligated to leave a review for other people who wants to try iAWriter. So it has syncing issues, which means it will constantly loose your writings and if it saves any, it will make several copies of writings that you are trying to edit so every time you have to be very careful not to delete anything from the mess that it made in my cloud and look for changes you made and copy it. Worst experience ever. Never had this problem when I used Evernote and Note app. iAWriter just doesn’t save changes and doesn’t know how to do so. What’s the point of using an app at all? Save yourselves and get other apps like Note app. It doesn’t support markdown but Note app never loose anything.

UPDATE: Thank you for replying on my review. The cloud I am referring to is not just iCloud. I also mean Dropbox. Please don’t make it look like Apple’s doing wrong. I had so much troubles because of your app. Not because I am doing something wrong or Apple’s doing wrong but your app is so buggy.

I have been using Apple Notes, Pages, and Word for writing. I hate the black on bright white background. I needed change. I needed to get rid of the junk. I needed clarity. I guess, I just needed iA.

I use it on my iPad Pro with the Apple keyboard, iPhone X with a BT keyboard, and iMac. I love that it syncs quickly (although not as quickly as Apple Notes).

Here’s my beef with Information Architects GmbH. It costs me $5 to use iA Writer on *both* my iPad and iPhone. Five dollars. That’s it. But to install it on my iMac, they want $30? That’s six times more the price for the exact same app and functionality. Why is this? Because their competition charges $30 or more for it, so they play along. It’s just price gouging, and that’s why you only get 4 stars.

With that being said, I love iAWriter. It has given me new life to writing, and has features that I never knew I wanted. From my iOS devices to my MacOS devices, it is incredible. I just use iCloud sync (works great), and have tested out WordPress publishing (also works great).

For authors, it is critical to convey your ideas and thoughts with focus and ease. I write at home and work, day or night, desk or couch or bed. iA Writer is my primary tool and it is so easy to use.

I am very technically inclined and have no problem diving into new powerful apps, but when I want to write, I need just two things: comfort and lack of distraction. With iAWriter, I am able to write as I need and in the way that I need.

I need my page to be black with white text because I often write at night and don’t want to disturb my family or strain my eyes. The text is easily modified to my needs, and the tools provided within iAWriter are nondistracting and can be turned off until I need them. While iAWriter offers the most simple and direct interface, it has features and tools that are very powerful and useful.

An additional feature that I love is how it synchronises to the cloud, so I can write on my phone (Yes, I use my iPhone 7) and I can go to my laptop and there it is. The in-app hierarchical folder allows me to write chapters a book within the book series, without having to go to the operating system folder. Super useful!

I fully recommend iAWriter.

“Minimal markdown editors” are all over the place, and at this point are markedly unspecial. iA Writer, however, is noteworthy because of the perfect execution of the UI. It’s distraction-free, of course, but it’s also extremely well-organized and easy to use as an actual writing tool.

You can do things like write all of the chapters of a book in separate files, then link them together within one master file with a TOC, and reuse any of those sections wherever you need.

You can enter Focus Mode, which can fade out everything outside of the current line or current paragraph.

You can add tags in case folders just aren’t good enough.

You can customize those shortcuts on top of your keyboard for quick access to the stuff you use most often.

You can highlight nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions to easily see if you’re using too much of something.

You can do automation with webhooks, like putting your new contacts into a table.

There are tons of cool features, and it’s still easy and quick to use. These guys definitely care about good design, and always think of ways to make things better, which makes me really enthused every time iAWriter gets an update. Awesome job!

I’ve been using iAWriter for a month or so. I’m in an MBA program (almost done) and about to start writing my capstone project. I like iAWriter because it’s simple, large documents are quick to load, and it has some functionality for bloggers who prefer to write in Markdown and not be stuck using their blogging platform’s writing tools. I also love not having to add another subscription to my credit card every month.

I would like to request an Apple Watch app, even if it’s just read-only, because I have to refer to some quick documents from time to time while I’m in a meeting, class, or out and about, and if I don’t have to pull out my phone or iPad these days for tasks, I don’t.

iAWriter makes a lot of decisions for the users, and in my opinion those decisions are pretty good. I know iA was criticized for unclassy moves in the past but I do think iAWriter doesn’t get credit it deserves. Very intuitive and well designed. My only gripe is that it doesn’t handle academic writing very well. The references come out as endnotes rather than footnotes, for example. Even after studying their CSS template guide, I still have no clue how to make simple changes to the templates. (Their own MLA template is not usable for my purposes.) If they can make a simple interface for template-making and simplify things, iAWriter would become much easier to use in professional settings. Right now I use it as a kind of pretty scratchpad.

If what you want to do is...write, just sit down and write, this is the simplest, most intuitive way. Ever. Using iA Writer harkens back to the best days of the best typewriter you ever had: device, (paper) idea: write.
I use an iPad Pro, 10.5”, and the ease and sense of purpose and connection is stunning.
I also have iA Writer on the (wretched) iPhone and my MacBook Pro 13”. Again: stunning.
I appreciate the ease of sharing across devices, version history, export savvy and essential services this writing tool offers.
My one fear is that the developers will tart up the simple approach with bloated, unneeded “improvements,” and render what is a powerful, simple, straight-forward writer’s tool into a gaudy, encrusted dirigible that lifts on bloat and hets in your way.

I know $30 feels steep but hear me out.

If you’re like me, finding a good writing app is like trying to find your soulmate—a romantic idea but logically unlikely if not impossible.

I’ve cycled through many writing apps: Scrivener, Final Draft, you name it. The good news is iAWriter is The One.

The user interface is intuitive and helps to keep words flowing across the screen. This delivers.

I also like to go back into my work to do analysis with diction and some invasive editing. This delivers.

I had some technical difficulties on my end, not iAWriter ’s, and their support helped me resolve my problems without redirecting me to an FAQ and without using condescending language—they were compassionate, thorough, and helpful in a way that was worth well beyond $30.

The incredible customer service is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what you’re getting with iAWriter. I really couldn’t be more satisfied by my experiences with iAWriter and the people that support it; I highly recommend iAWriter for its effectiveness, versatility, and stellar customer support.

This is the best writing app / text editor on iAWriter Store right now. And every rev it gets better. iA Writer combines: a unique and growing set of powerful features that are only there if you need them; a simple, elegant interface; and a Files app system that makes the whole thing portable and private and allows for features like managing file revisions. Plus there’s no subscription. It’s an essential tool that’s in my dock on all devices and I use it for more than just writing. Sync works perfectly which is a lot more than what I can say for other premium apps by the way.

For the act of writing, there is no app I like more than iA Writer. The choice of font, the wide margins, the *white* space—all speak to me, indeed *sing* to me, welcoming me in to a space that is comfortable and warm and energizing. Is it heaven on earth in an app? No, not quite, but the developers have consistently rejected any temptations to bloat iAWriter . Are there bugs? Sure, from time to time—but not often and not major. Does iAWriter ever launch slowly? Not that I can recall. When I press iAWriter icon to call up iA Writer, within two seconds, I have a document at my fingertips, and all I need to do is begin typing. The feeling is amazing. You really should try it.

I tried pretty much all note taking and writing apps available, and I have finally decided to use IA writer. However, i am keeping my notes and writing system as platform agnostic as possible. So, at the moment, I am storing files in OneDrive. Going through iAWriter to get to the location where my note files are stored is a major UI bottleneck. There should be a way to bookmark a location so I can easily add new files in the given location, and search all files and sub files.

There are two other features that will make this the absolute best note taking and writing app:
- tags. There should be an easy way to add tags and to search through the tags available in the documents in the chosen location.
- Table of contents. I know that it’s possible to use {{TOC}} tag to display table of contents, but another app - MWeb goes a step further and shows the Table of contents in the sidebar. Having this feature in iAWriter would further improve the workflow of writing beautifully and in a much more organized manner.

I still pinch myself whenever I load up iA Writer, because iAWriter is that good. It’s the entire reason my iPad is my main device. And every time I open iAWriter after it updates, I’m greeted with the most incredible new features. We’ve gone from “simple” syntax highlighting to the newest feature that reaches through the screen and slaps you across the face if you type a literary cliche. In real-time. Every other writing app has the audacity to do some ridiculous monthly fee, but not iAWriter. I stopped counting the years I’ve been using iAWriter, and I probably paid 2 bucks for it. PLEASE let me donate to you. I would be more than happy to for what I’ve gotten out of iAWriter over the years. And if you ever switch to a subscription model I will end it all, because iAWriter is the only good left in this world.