# Author — Minimalist, powerful writing

> Minimalist writing companion app for iOS, syncing with macOS. (iPhone/iPad app by The Augmented Text Company LTD.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/author/id951792010 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [The Augmented Text Company LTD](https://appshunter.io/developer/459748478)
- Category: Productivity, Education
- Price: $19.99 with in-app purchases
- Rating: 3.00/5 from 5 App Store ratings · 131 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 4 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2017-09-02
- Data updated: 2026-08-19
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/author/id951792010/reviews.md

## What is Author?

The iOS companion to Author macOS.

## Key features

- Minimalist writing interface
- Powerful writing tools
- iOS companion app
- Syncs with macOS version

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: $19.99.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Eng | $1.99 | one-time |


## What do users think of Author?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- ✨ Clean, minimalist interface design
- 💡 Innovative concept mapping and mind mapping features
- 📚 Excellent citation and reference management
- ⌨️ Useful keyboard shortcuts and productivity features
- 🎯 Powerful outlining and document folding capabilities
- 📝 Ideal for academic and research writing
- 🔗 Seamless linking between concepts and documents
- 💾 Automatic saving and version history
- 🎨 Elegant typography and customizable background colors
- 🚀 Fast performance and smooth scrolling
- 👥 Responsive and helpful developer support
- 🔄 Good cross-device syncing (when working)
- 📖 Excellent for journaling and note-taking
- 🎓 Superior to Word for academic purposes

**Cons**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and data loss issues
- 📱 iOS/iPad app severely broken and non-functional
- 🔄 Syncing problems between devices
- 🎨 Limited formatting and customization options
- 📊 Poor image handling capabilities
- 🧮 Lacks LaTeX export functionality
- 📋 No markdown support
- 🖼️ Vision Pro app requires separate purchase
- 🌐 Localization bugs (Russian text appearing for US users)
- ⚙️ Steep learning curve for new users
- 🔍 Inadequate search and find-replace features
- 📐 Fixed text width on large displays
- 🎬 No typewriter scrolling mode
- 🗂️ Outline view takes user out of writing context

**Commonly reported bugs**

- App crashes frequently, causing data loss
- iOS app shows blank screen and won't open documents
- iPad app completely non-functional
- Text disappears or becomes greyed out during iCloud saves
- Vision OS app lacks cursor for text input
- Ask AI feature shows infinite loading spinner
- Unexpected Russian pricing text displayed to US users
- App doesn't launch or open on some systems
- Files not detected in Downloads folder
- Cannot open documents created in desktop version on iOS
- Automatic file conversion to Liquid format breaks iOS compatibility
- Text rendering issues (white text on white background)
- Table function broken - cannot write in cells
- App lags and deletes lines when typing quickly
- Highlight feature not working
- Citations not resolving automatically
- Markdown export only exports preamble
- Copy-paste functionality issues
- French localization not working despite being advertised
- App not compatible with iOS 18 and latest macOS versions

**Most requested features**

- iPad and iOS app that actually works
- Typewriter scrolling mode
- Variable screen width for large displays
- Complete LaTeX export with full file support
- Markdown support
- Better image handling and integration
- Find and replace functionality
- Dark mode for older macOS versions
- Inline predictive text support
- Nested list creation and editing
- Paragraph indentation options
- Photo support on macOS version
- Keyboard shortcut reference guide
- Table editing improvements
- Integration with reference management software (Zotero, EndNote)
- Local AI endpoints or BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) for privacy
- Better onboarding and UI guidance for new users
- Typeface options (Courier, American Typewriter, serif fonts)
- Line spacing options (1.5, double spacing)
- Color themes and dark mode options

## Recent user reviews (10 of 131)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/author/id951792010/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Amazing app!

*2026-04-20, version 14*

It takes some time getting used to, but I think it’s an amazing app. I like it a lot more than Word! It has a nice and clean lay-out, lots of useful keyboard shortcuts, and just lots of useful functions in general. I first bought this app for creative writing (which I hate doing in Word) but now I’ve found myself using it all the time for all different kinds of writing. I’d definitely recommend it!

### 5/5 — A labor of love I love

*2026-03-18, version 11.6*

I use it many hours everyday - for job interview preparation. An excellent tool able to record links, headings, key points. Frode is spot on. Author introduced me to new ways of thinking and connecting thoughts - job prep has evolved into research and knowledge of industry practices, logging data, identifying and exploring concepts. When I get a new position, I will have to credit Author. In anticipation, I have started building connected documents to support leading and managing. I plan to use it for executive level reporting. I have not used the VR capabilities, yet. What a wonder that will be. Thank you, Frode.

### 4/5 — Initial headache turned out to be a PEBKAC issue

*2026-03-08, version 11.6*

I made the mistake (and it was a mistake) of downloading this based on the App Store promise of “…Author is ideal for EVERYTHING from note-taking to academic writing.”

Everything is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. I wanted something to help with creative writing and fiction. For this purpose, I’d rate the application at about minus 3 stars.

However.

I stuck with it after realising my mistake and found that it is the ideal tool for my “day job”. For technical reports, research papers, training material, etc. it is absolutely fantastic.

It would be 5 stars if I could find a crib sheet for all of the keyboard shortcuts.

### 1/5 — More AI Nonsense

*2026-02-03, version 11.6*

Real writers don’t use AI, and this app puts the theft machine front and center.

### 2/5 — “Ask AI” is not working

*2025-12-29, version 11.5.1*

The “Ask AI” feature shows an infinite loading spinner and displays an unexpected price string: “199 p/месяц,” which appears to be Russian. As a US user, this raises concern and looks like a localization or billing bug.

Aside from this issue, the app is well designed. It would be significantly stronger if local AI endpoints or BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) were  implemented, as this would better support privacy and trust.

### 2/5 — Crashing

*2025-11-21, version 11.5.1*

I am sorry to write this, having paid for the app and wanting the great features to work. The app crashes - an example after asking it to save to iCloud it appeared to do so, although a chunk of more recent text was greyed out and then disappeared. The word count went from c.1200 to c.900. Whilst staring at the screen in disbelief at losing my work the app crashed. Using the latest version of Sequoia M4 Mac mini. Not a big loss this time, but feels now a risk.

### 5/5 — Love it

*2025-10-18, version 11.4*

It’s a great tool for organizing my thoughts and improving my writing. Totally worth it!

### 1/5 — No French

*2025-08-31, version 11*

It’s not translated in French as described.
Some buttons are not in latin-like language.

### 5/5 — Great for minimalist journaling, and probably a lot more

*2025-07-31, version 10.5*

I primarily bought Author to use as a minimalist, open-and-type journaling app. For this it’s been excellent. There are layers of features, for which I didn’t initially buy the app, that are well thought out and useful. 

I use it to record daily bird watching observations. I love the way that entries expand and contract. With a few shortcut keys, I can “zoom out” to a macro level of information that just shows me the names of the birds I listed for each day. Then, it expands back with a few shortcut keys and it feels like “zooming in” to read the details I recorded for that day. The text find feature is similarly helpful.

And, it’s a joy to use with a good mechanical keyboard. It just feels satisfying to type stuff.

### 5/5 — Citing is the heart

*2025-02-26, version 10.5*

I’m a PhD student, and I always wanted an app like this. When I saw it, I thought it was a dream come true so I buy the three apps, author, reader and liquid. After using them I can say that, I completely love the idea and the concept of the apps. I hope that this apps from augmented text continue evolving in order to someday become my main option to go when writing and recommend them to all my friends and colleagues (Hardware MacBook Pro M1).

## Frequently asked questions about Author

### What is this app?

This is a minimalist and powerful writing application designed for iOS devices. It functions as a companion to the Author app available on macOS, allowing for cross-platform content management.

### What are the key features?

The app offers a minimalist writing interface, powerful writing tools, and seamless syncing with its macOS counterpart. This ensures a consistent and efficient writing experience across devices.

### Is this app free to use?

The app is free to download and use, with in-app purchases available for additional features or functionality. The specific details of these purchases are not provided in the description.

### What devices is this app compatible with?

This app is designed for iOS devices. It is the companion app to Author macOS, suggesting it is intended for users who also utilize the macOS version.

### Who is this app for?

This app is ideal for writers, students, and professionals who value a clean and efficient writing environment. It is particularly suited for users who already use or plan to use the Author app on macOS.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.3 — 2025-12-09

Improved iCloud integration.

### 2.2 — 2025-12-04

Further improvements to sync & AI.

### 2.1 — 2025-09-26

Updated AI and interface polish.

### 2.0 — 2025-09-10

Updated to work better with Author for macOS.

### 1.2 — 2025-01-11

Compatibility improvements documents via iCloud for iOS 18.2 and 18.3.

## Apps similar to Author

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Breveto](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/breveto/id6446227851) | 4.5 (6) | Free | Productivity |
| [uFocus](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ufocus/id583995251) | 4.7 (34) | Free | Productivity |
| [iWriter Pro](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iwriter-pro/id892374380) | 4.7 (129) | $4.99 | Productivity |
| [Notebooks: Write and Organize](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notebooks-write-and-organize/id1490084838) | 4.7 (1,056) | $17.99 | Productivity |
| [Zavala](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zavala/id1546457750) | 4.8 (67) | Free | Productivity |
| [SideNotes Mobile](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sidenotes-mobile/id1607089308) | 4.2 (28) | $9.99 | Productivity |

## More apps by The Augmented Text Company LTD

- [Interatlas](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/interatlas/id501997258)
- [Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reader/id1179373118)
- [Baby Thoughts!](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/baby-thoughts/id1345284434)

All apps by The Augmented Text Company LTD: https://appshunter.io/developer/459748478

## Related topics

[author](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/author)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-19.*