iA Writer App Reviews

This app suffers a split personality. As a markdown editor, it encourages you to write in a free, open protocol you can format anywhere—in different apps, in HTML on the web, etc. But then it locks your writing away with proprietary file handling—either in a “library” hidden deep within your mac’s application support folders, or in a siloed iCloud folder, or via a live (and buggy) Dropbox connection. If I want to sync with iCloud or Dropbox, I can just save my documents in my Mac OS iCloud or Dropbox folders. There’s zero need for this “library” and its overwrought (and buggy) attempt to hide my documents in an iA Writer-specific sandbox. The “library” feels a little like iA Writer’s attempt to match a similar (but much better) system in The Soulmen’s Ulysses, but Ulysses is marketed as a manuscript-maker, a binder-like “book writing studio.” iA Writer has always been a far more generalized product, an ever-ready writing pad for anything and everything. iA writer devs: seriously, guys, quit overthinking it. (Admit it—after Writer Pro’s weird “workflow” states, “overthinking it” is something of a habit with you.) Writers strengths are simplicity and universality; reorienting its document model toward locked systems isn’t convenient or helpful.

Save your money and stick with the classic version, which is a great app. This new version is horrible and does not play well with the classic. If there was a way to get my money back I’d take it in a heartbeat. It’s so bad that it’s scary.

I absolutely loved the look, function, and conceptual premise of this application. I liked it so much, in fact, that I decided to pay for pro (I had been using classic). I am upset by the file handling. I feel like the new system violates the simplicity and ease of use previous versions had. Why this propritary system? Unfortunately, my disatisfaction with this change is enough for me to stop using iA Writer. I sincerely hope that you will reverse this change. I miss using iA Writer!

I haven’t used it enough for all the bugs mentioned here to emerge. Otherwise, especially considering the developers arrogant, condescending attitudes that imply it’s our way or the highway, they were responsive to user feedback and kept the app minimalist, added functionality, and maintained a stylish elegance. This said, first mentioned by another user, so far I rely on this app for short pieces and turn to Scrivner for the bulk of my work. All said, this is a unique app, bugs will be fixed, and it willl be a nice arrow in the quiver. My biggest qualm is the dogmatic take on fonts that results in paltry choices when it comes to typography.

I use iA Writer mostly to compose basic text on the go, which I then export to my Mac and then into Vellum. I really like the clean interface and ability to work on my iPhone, iPad and Mac. In addition, when I had a question, tech support got back to me quickly and courteously.

I have used this app on Mac, iPad and iPhone everyday for the last thirty days in a row. Tonight it became obvious what a pleasure it is to use. I spent the evening working on a document in both MS Word and Pages. After spending time writing in those applications I found mytself wanting to find a reason, any reason to open up iA Writer and write something. What I reaslized is that without noticing it in the last thiry days using this app for writing is such a pleasure its additctive.

I write a lot for work, and have been looking for a very long time for the perfect solution. I use Evernote for storing a bunch of stuff, and figured it might be a good place to start. But for all of its utility as a file repository, its not great for writing. This is due to the clutter and the surprising problems it has with formatting. I used Alternote, which syncs with Evernote, in order to preserve the powerful tagging and searching of Evernote with a cleaner interface. However, that was not ideal either due to what seemed like constant sync issues between the two apps. So I tried markdown editors like Ulysses, but found the options to be too overwhelming and the file organization to be unecessarily cluttered. But perhaps the biggest issue was the lack of an iPhone app (they do have an iPad app, but I need iPhone support mostly for reading rather than writing). I tried a few others, but finally came across iA writer. There is so much to like here, from the clean interface with night support, the focus mode (which I thought would was gimmicky at first but actually really like and use all the time) and the simple file organization. Best of all, the Dropbox sync support is much better than Evernote. I don’t use iCloud, but I imagine it works like Dropbox. All in all, this has earned the top spot for me among text editors, and is my new go-to.

I think this is by far the cleanest and simplest writing application. It looks good, feels great to write into and does most of its job well. The managent of files is wonky, and probably needs a rethinking holistically. Especially for writers that write in snippets and sections, rather than single large documents. The review process could also use an overhaul. Basically, this is the best writing application for writing. And same with it’s iPhone equivelent. But the next iteration is simplifying the realities that surround writing like document management and reviewing writing. Worth the price IMO.

Nice UI and great concept. I just keep loosing my data everytime I save it to dropbox. No reliable at all.

I really love writing with this app it’s simple clean and functional. I really like the focus and typewriter mode. Recently I had some crashing issues but the iA team were persistent in finding a solution with me through email. Thanks!

I’ve been using Typed for a while, but when 71Squared took over Typed from Realmac Software one of the alternatives suggested on their page was iA Writer. I figured I’d check it out, though I wasn’t really looking for an alternative. I hadn’t used iA Writer for a long time but knew there was a new version available and I was interested in the improvments they’d made. This is a solid app that does one thing well. It’s a great Markdown editor that offers real-time previews of your Markdown content. It’s well-designed, available on Mac and iOS, and makes use of iCloud for optional library syncing. I had two requests: I wanted the app to have a default setting for previews (so I could always view half-screen) and I wanted to create my own preview themes (so, for instance, I could view in GitHub’s style). I emailed these requests to the iA support team and received a prompt, courteous response thanking me for inquiring and informing me that similar features are on the roadmap. It seems like a little thing, but a short email goes a long way toward letting your customers know you’re investing in the product you’re selling. I’ll be sticking with iA Writer for a while and alternating it with Focused (the 71Squared-branded version of Typed) as I see where that app is going in the future.

I’ve been a user of IA writer since the original iPad version, and its become my “go-to” text editor for writing first drafts. The clean interface and speed make it easy to get going, and the syntax highlighting helps identify issues with overused words. Unlike many other markdown editors, IA Writer exports Microsoft Word documents with markdown heading levels translated to Word styles, which greatly helps shorten the process of conversion if you need Word output. The support is also terrific! Today I found my first issue with the app. The issue turned out to be a bug in El Capitan, not IA writer, but Iain Humm still provided a quick response, with workarounds, to get me back on track. If you write text, you owe it to yourself to try IA Writer!

This is probably the best writing app ever made. No extraneous features; pure writing simplicity and bliss. I never write reviews, but damn— I love this piece of software so much I will use it until I die. Thank you for helping me write books, articles, and personal letters IA team. You guys rock, and please don’t “add” new features— figure out how to do with less; “remove” features in the future, keep to your minimalist heart. Love, Eric Kim

They say if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water it will hop right out. If you put the frog in cold water and slowly raise the temperature the frog will sit in the pot and die. This application makes me feel a bit like a frog who slowly came to a feature-bloat boil in my word processing applications. I use iA even when making a fully formatted document including graphics. It allows me to focus on the writing part without distractions, then bring that into a more complex final document. Five stars. Two thumbs up. 100% on the tomato meter!

Search becomes disabled after linking Dropbox directory. Lame.

I’ve been using iA Writer on and off for the past several year. Over the last 2 years Ulysses had become my tool of choice. That changed when I downloaded V3.0.3 and the latest iPad and iPhone editions. There are many subtle improvements in the latest release. Syncing is better. Focus mode continues to provide the best writing experience. What really sold me on the current release was the fast sync and very good compatability between the OS X and iOS versions of the software. I also love the bottom menu selections for statistics, formatting and syntax highlighting. Well done and highly recommended.

There’s nothing out there quite like it! It is so simple yet so powerful it’s hard not to recommend. Just buy it and start writing with this wonderful app you won’t regret it!

I have tried many text writing apps (not word processors), and this by far is the best. It is lightweight, clean, intuitive and quick with all of keyboard shortcuts. It is not, by far, a word processor, but it is the perfect plain-text/md editor. I am a blogger, full-time student, and writer and this is the app I have been looking for. Simple, yet perfect.

Keep your momey. After several updates, it still does not work. Everytime when I click a key on my keyboard, a window pops up "The document “ [name]” could not be saved as “[name]”. You don’t have permission." To view or change permissions, select the item in the Finder and choose File > Get Info. Since I save the document on my desktop, I have full permission. Software engineers getting incapable these days.

Tested it today to wire an article, but only to find that the app is basically useless, because of poor usability and becasue I was unable to find how to save files as just file onto the disk or desktop, not into the cloud, which I have no need to. It has no preferences and configuration and menuas are counter intuitive. So, sorry guys, although I did not request a refund, I still have to pay for Word, until either Pages will start saving window option after closing and opening, or until either you or someone else will make a tool that will be better than Word.