# Novelist - Write novels — user reviews > 216 indexed App Store user reviews of Novelist by Alessandro Riperi, rated 4.40/5 from 202 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/novelist-write-novels/id1564737393/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/novelist-write-novels/id1564737393.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 143 · 4★ 26 · 3★ 14 · 2★ 6 · 1★ 13 ## What do users think of Novelist? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Amazingly different application - 🔒 Completely free, with no ads or in-app purchases - 👍 Well-organized all-in-one app for writing, plotting, outlining, and scheduling - 👍 Intuitive and easy to use - 👍 Helps with organizing and keeping things clean - 👍 Visually pleasing interface - 👍 Customizable metadata and tags - 👍 Useful for both planning and writing **Cons** - 🐛 Confusing menu options and backup/restore process - 🐛 Glitches when editing text, cursor behaves unexpectedly - 🐛 Crashes or freezes on some devices - 🐛 Syncing issues between devices - 🐛 Lack of font customization options - 🐛 Keyboard issues in dark mode - 🐛 Difficulty reordering scenes and chapters **Commonly reported bugs** - Backup/restore process can lead to data loss - Cursor and text editing issues - Crashes and freezes on some devices - Syncing problems between devices **Most requested features** - Ability to import/export in various formats (PDF, Markdown, etc.) - Improved syncing and cloud integration - More font and formatting options - Ability to add images/illustrations to the book - Collaboration/co-writing features - Spell check and grammar tools - Customizable keyboard in dark mode ## Newest reviews (17 of 216) ### 4/5 — I love it but one problem *2026-08-18, version 2026.1.17* I LOVE this app, BUT I wish that I was able to put pictures for my story’s I totally recommend but if you are a picture person (like me) I recommend something else I use this app for my chapter books like Potato’s story (about a cat that gets a owner and loves her, but she lives with a dog named Penny they both work together to find a new home.) and stranger thing (the BEST show on earth) if you haven’t watched it then WATCH IT it’s really GREAT anyway if the developers responds reads this PLEASE have a picture button so I can put pictures. And if you read this thank you for your time 😊. Toothless99nights99sunflower singing out but really thank you for your time 😊. ### 4/5 — Amazing, just one thing *2026-07-23, version 2026.1.13* This app is so customisable it’s like the better cousin of foretelling. I love being able to customise, and the learning curve although not intuitive is very easy to get used to. I understand not being able to set up a syncing system between devices due to the app being free and syncing being too expensive, but that’s really the only complaint I have, and it’s what is keeping me from using it more. ### 5/5 — Appreciation *2026-05-14, version 2025.1.10* I had to write a review about this app. It is amazing and so caring towards writers. I have been using this app for only few months but it is insane. I us it for writing books mostly and being happy knowing it's reliable even offline as many malfunction for the need to be online. I even use it for notes or planning and it's so essay to organize with, I even use it to organize my essays as I'm also a AP English student and needed this to help out. With it's built in features like schedules, categories, tags, scenes, search, view, sections and my favorite, color labels. It is overall a well made and amazing app to use especially with it's backup feature. The only real issue I do have with this app is, it doesn't have an automatic sync or account connection, which it absolutely makes up, for being free to use. Unlike other apps that get in my way, or cost way too much, or does the same thing but more expensive and not even worth the hassle, it's free. I appreciate what you guys do and I just wanna say, out of all the apps I would use or even had the money to use, I would still pick this. Because frankly, this is 100% better than any other one I've seen and paid for. So thank you! ### 5/5 — I like it- yeh… it cool *2026-04-15, version 2025.1.10* Yeh! This is totes yeh! Thats all I can say for now… thnx to the goat- YEH!!! ### 5/5 — PLEASE READ *2026-04-01, version 2025.1.10* Okay, so I’m 10 and I just got this a few hours ago. It’s a great app, and it has no subscription or in app purchases or anything. But I went to the normal mode and tried to make a bio for my main character bc I love those sort of things. Tell me why there’s like a bajillion things on there. What does Style mean?! Like, it’s detailed to the point to where if you JUST filled out bios for everything, you could make a GRAPHIC NOVEL. It’s insane. It should specify what certain things mean, and I took like an hour to figure out how to delete a copy of a character I accidentally copied. It should come with a mini dictionary for what all that stuff means. I hope the devs see this and respond. I should give this four stars but I want people to see it. Also the review Amazing app for all things words! Is phony. It’s SUPER DETAILED, and if you’re a human dictionary, or don’t mind checking definitions of things every five seconds, and like things AS DETAILED AND DESCRIPTIVE AS HUMANLY AND ROBOTICALLY POSSIBLE, this is the app for you. Also, you have to back up your own books every few minutes. ### 4/5 — Loved it! *2026-03-30, version 2025.1.10* I really enjoy the app, but I have one small gripe with it. It has no undo/redo button so if you accidentally delete a paragraph, page, whatever, you can’t get it back unless you backed it up. Also I can’t seem to select a sentence or anything without selecting all or just one word, but that’s probably just me nitpicking. Other than that it’s been a great tool for writing and I recommend! ### 5/5 — IM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS! *2026-03-07, version 2025.1.10* !!! It’s basically a perfect template for dumping scattered information about a project and making it look super organized. The sections, tags, customizability and other cool things. I haven’t experienced any major bugs or issues besides minor inconveniences like getting confused by what the buttons do based on the icons or accidentally deleting stuff 😅 I’ve also had some issues with syncing, but it might be a problem with my browser. (I will edit this review if something big comes up though) But anyway, I use novelist for so many project and I think more people should know about it. ### 5/5 — A Diamond Among CZ *2026-02-10, version 2025.1.10* Novelist is an amazingly different application. At a time when so very many apps are addicted to expensive in-app purchases or costly subscriptions, Novelist insists upon freely sharing it's high quality, above-average product! I say “freely sharing” as opposed to “freely giving away” because Novelist remains a part and fully invested in each downloaded instance, created account, and hopefully passionate user. Novelist doesn't give the product away, but chooses to SHARE the experience with each and every user. Novelist is an extremely well-organized all-in-one app for writing, plotting, outlining, and scheduling within the confines of your busy life. If you want the “freedom to create without limits,” (THEIR words, not mine!) then Novelist is THE app for you! COMPLETELY FREE, with NO ads or in-app purchases popping up to distract your writing flow. So: Download, Rate/Review, Share EVERYWHERE, and liberally repeat. Help support the app that supports YOU from the START! ### 4/5 — BE CAREFUL WITH BACKUPS *2026-02-08, version 2025.1.10* Be VERY VERY careful. The menu options are confusing. I just tired to backup my work from tonight to my files but instead i restored it to the previous backup. Basically instead of replacing my backup with the new stuff I wrote in last few hours i reverted it back to where left off last time. Just lost about 3500 words, and a few hours of world and character building notes and from what i can tell there is no way to undo this mistake and i am extremely bummed. If you ate going to save your progress make sure you choose the right option. If you choose to restore a backup i would recommend keeping and not replacing. My mistake but man this sucks ### 4/5 — So Far, GREAT! *2026-01-31, version 2025.1.10* I finally found an app that ACTUALLY is great, and easy to use. There’s only o e thing I’d like to see. Being able to insert images. But, otherwise, keep up with the work!! ### 3/5 — Glitches *2026-01-30, version 2025.1.10* I like the app and how simple it can be, but it often glitches when I try to edit something I already typed. I try to add a comma in a paragraph and he keeps adding it to the end of the text instead. It’s a little frustrating. ### 3/5 — 🫣 *2026-01-29, version 2025.1.10* This is very all over the place. Very confusing to use, no organized stuff, Im 9 and could make a better writing app. No offense, but please update this. If you don’t I will delete with alll mh book in here. Thank ### 3/5 — i HaTe tHiS sTuPiD aPp (as of right now) *2026-01-24, version 2025.1.10* I don't want to give this app a really low review because it helped me a lot with my writing, but I got annoyed at the pop-up saying "this book is not fully compatible with easy mode" so I was trying to delete my outline but not MY ENTIRE BOOK. I didn't know I could back the book up, so I didn't, and that took me EIGHT MONTHS and I can't remember all of it so my book is lost forever. And my reason for hating this app is that it made someone barely a teen cry in their room for thirty minutes because all of their hard work is gone and the app has NO RECENTLY DELETED FOLDER and NOTHING that openly says you can back things up. Please tell me if there is any way to bring my book back. Thank you. ### 3/5 — Quirky *2026-01-19, version 2025.1.10* It does things unexpected. I go to add a piece and when I touch it it totally deletes it. It doesn’t tell you that it deletes it just goes away and I’ve had to replace several pieces multiple times. It doesn’t tell you how the software interacts. It’s an explorer as you go type of software. I wish it had more features like plottr. It allows you to go in depth with a character, but what you think is consistent in a design that’s going to go to all the characters, doesn’t, expect one thing and get another. I had hoped for more from the software. The backup feature needs more tracking instead of relying on the writers memory as to when they backed up. I’ve over a decade in IT from programs to systems and this software has potential but it’s only getting started it’s got a long way to go to completion. ### 5/5 — OMG what??? *2026-01-06, version 2025.1.10* This is so great! I found it like twenty minutes ago but WHY DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS??? Just, pls pls pls try it! ### 5/5 — Amazing App for all things words! *2026-01-01, version 2025.1.10* I love this app so much! It’s simple, very easy to use, and it’s a place to write down anything. I like to use it to write before posting it to my small inside group, but I also find use in keeping notes since I normally have it open. This became my favorite app to use for the reasons above, and many more! I’d definitely recommend this app to any of my friends looking to get into writing digital works. ### 3/5 — Great but why the AI? *2025-12-30, version 2025.1.10* I love this app a lot but i am not a fan of the ai images that are used. As a creative it feels like a slap in the face. Heres a writing app but we are gonna support something thats taking your jobs! I hope you guys are able to find some actual artist or some stock images to use instead. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — I’m so sorry. *2026-07-09, version 2025.1.10* My apologies for the harsh review. That wasn’t right, but I hope it works better eventually. ### 1/5 — This honestly has to be the worst app I’ve ever used! *2026-03-31, version 2025.1.10* I have over a 127,000 words in my novel right now, and it types even slower than a laptop mini can run! This is very, very dissatisfying! ### 1/5 — Terrible support team *2025-12-21, version 2025.1.10* I have had a problem saving my book to my cloud. I asked support about it and have gotten 0 responses at al ### 1/5 — Sembrava il top *2025-11-16, version 2025.1.10* Tutto perfetto su iPhone, su iPad diversi problemi, non condivide il testo e rischi di perdere tutto. Altro problema non ce condivisione con altri device. Peccato. ### 1/5 — Will not sync *2025-10-04, version 2025.1.10* Doesn’t sync between devices anymore, even manually. Used to but no longer works. Support is nonexistent. Now I have to move all my work to another platform. Such a hassle. ### 1/5 — Will not sync *2025-09-24, version 2025.1.10* It used to sync but not automatically which was a hassle and now it wont sync at all. ### 1/5 — Aplicación muy buena pero… *2025-08-17, version 2025.1.10* La app me parece espectacular, y le pondría un 10, pero tiene un grandísimo fallo… Cuando utilizo un teclado físico, con independencia del idioma seleccionado para el mismo, (que ya he probado varios) no funcionan los acentos. Cuando intento acentuar una palabra sale una tilde previa a la letra acentuada. Esto, teniendo en cuenta la cantidad de palabras que se acentúan cuando escribes hace imposible utilizar la app. Espero se pueda solucionar. En mi caso utilizo un teclado oficial de apple “smart keyboard folio”. ### 1/5 — Buggy *2025-07-18, version 2025.1.6* I am using this to write my novel. I have a few chapters I want to send in for a review. Can’t be done. Which makes this useless. What’s the point of writing something if you can’t get it to a publisher?!!!! ### 1/5 — Almost Convinced! *2025-05-23, version 2025.1.6* App isn’t bad, it really isn’t. I have been using another app for about 2 years, and although it’s an amazing app, i wanted to try and switch stuff up, because why not? So I found this app! It looks pretty simple but it helps with organizing and keeping things clean, and, again, in a simple yet clean way! But the moment I came back to the app one morning to resume my work and found half of my stuff erased out of nowhere??? Absolutely not. I did not just try to trust an app and write some stuff down for it to only magically erase some of my work. Soo, as crisp as the app is, I’ll stick to my other app of two years. It’s as they say: The grass isn’t always greener on the other side… ### 1/5 — Unintuitive *2025-03-07, version 2023.1.16* Can’t figure out where to write. I have similar apps where I don’t need to watch tutorials to use. Needing to watch videos or ask support to use its primary feature is silly. Unintuitive app. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — WHY IS THIS SO UNDERRATED *2026-08-01, version 2026.1.17* I LOVE this app! It’s so helpful for writing, and organizing books and stories! More people should use this app. Granted, writing isn’t exactly an incredibly pursued career/hobby, but for those who wanna get into it should use this app! It pales in comparison to Apple Notes. Selecting fonts is much easier, organizing lore for every part of your story is easy, and this app is near perfect! Too bad I’m a poet and know you can’t achieve perfect. If I weren’t so smart, I would say this app is perfect. Instead, I’ll use some metaphors. If everything I ate was as good as this app, I would triple my weight in four hours. Thanks to everyone who worked on this project, and everyone who took time out of their day to build this convenience for me! P.S: I wouldn’t mind being able to give text color, though. Thank you! ### 5/5 — Awesome *2026-07-15, version 2025.1.10* I got an idea for a story and went looking for an app to write it in. I didn’t want to write it on my computer, but on my iPad, since I can take it wherever I go. I downloaded this app because it was free, and the reviews were so good. And I love, love, love the app! I had to leave a review because I have had so much fun writing in this app. I love how you can set up the events and characters in advance, then add them to a chapter or event for easy access. I am on book seven now and just have a question…what happens when you archive? Where does it go? I need to know the best way to store it once a book is published… ### 5/5 — Super Kind *2026-07-05, version 2025.1.10* Completely free, no add pop-ups and gives a lot of different planning options for your writing! This is a super helpful app honestly ### 5/5 — So rare to find a gem like this nowadays *2026-06-28, version 2025.1.10* Only been using the app for a short while but it’s blowing my mind because usually simple functions would be paywalled or something stupid, but this seems to be genuinely free and genuinely very useful. It’s so simple yet so customizable and the fact you don’t need to make an account for it makes it even better. Everything’s just there, perfect. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ### 5/5 — Great *2026-06-21, version 2025.1.10* It works great and I love that I can send it out. My only problem is that there are no different fonts and the tab but that doesn’t matter do much. It is exactly what I wanted when I got it though. ### 5/5 — Amazing! But one thing… *2026-06-17, version 2025.1.10* I have been using this app for like two months and it is so glorious, i love it and it is so good for all my 20+ story ideas! I love how you can set the cover and i love how it organized it is! But one thing i don’t like is that there is no pages, so i dont know how many pages i wrote so far, there is no pick your page size or numbering and that makes it hard since i like to print out my books. One more thing, whenever i use the arrow buttons on my keyboard to fix something it sends me back to the other letter/sentence and to fix that i have to exit out of the whole app and go back in, other then that it is an amazing writing app!!! I hope you found this helpful! Peace out ✌🏻 ### 5/5 — Yazzz *2026-06-13, version 2025.1.10* I legit love this app, it’s so useful for writing. It took me awhile to learn how to use everything but I know now and it’s so nice. To publish it, I just copy paste the text I write, put it on my docs app which sends it to my computer and then bam it works. Great app! 🥰 ### 5/5 — Super helpful! *2026-06-10, version 2025.1.10* I’ve been using this app for about half a year now and it’s been super amazing for my books! The way that it contains so many features like the events and goal setting and character metadata is really cool to me, it helped me develop a lot of my story. It can handle a lot of words unlike how i used to use Notes and Google Docs. The only issues I have are that A) you can’t change the font, which is just something that isn’t really important but i would like! and B) you can’t use the find/replace feature for all the sections *when you’re on easy mode, like me* but instead have to do the feature for each individual section. Although these are minor inconveniences, otherwise the app is really good. ### 5/5 — 非常好的写作软件 *2026-06-10, version 2025.1.10* 强烈推荐！页面干净简洁，结构完整。非常喜欢人物卡、事件、主题和正文界面分离这一点，还可以设置起承转合进度条。非常适合梳理大纲和公式化写作，感觉设计的思路很清晰。可惜没有中文版，好在界面字数不多，单词也不算特别复杂，值得一试。 ### 5/5 — I love this app *2026-05-25, version 2025.1.10* I like writing stories and I have looked at other apps and they all make me pay for more books or more pages or more characters but this one is free and I love it. 🩷 --- *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 2026-09-03.*