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Pretext

Pretext

Markdown & Plain Text Editor

1.5K ratings
207 reviews
🔧 Utilities
📊 Productivity

Archived App (Last seen on 14 Mar 2026)

This is an archived listing of the app previously available on the App Store.

Although the app is no longer distributed by Apple, you can still view its description, screenshots, version history, ratings, and metadata for reference.

Details

  • Released
  • Updated
  • April 25, 2018
  • January 26, 2020

Features

Developer

Sam Oakley
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Pretext screenshot #1 for iPhone
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Pretext screenshot #6 for iPhone
iphone
ipad
🧾$0.99
In-App Purchase↘︎
📌Ready
Reviews summary↘︎
⭐207
Reviews↘︎
🔄6+ apps
Alternatives↘︎
❓5 answered
FAQ↘︎
📦w/o updates
Updates frequency↘︎
🖼️Get Icon
Icons↘︎

About

A powerful yet simple editor for Markdown and plain text files. It offers syntax highlighting, HTML preview, and seamless integration with the Files app for easy document management. Customize your writing experience with adjustable fonts and a dark theme.

✓Markdown syntax highlighting
✓HTML preview and export
✓Files app/Document provider support
✓Comprehensive keyboard shortcuts
✓Customisable font size
✓Full undo/redo support
✓Dark theme option
Show original description

What users say

Summarized from real user reviews of Pretext. Based on 1.5K reviews and a 4.4/5 average, it highlights the 4 positives and 4 negatives reviewers mention most about this Productivity app.

Positive things

  • 🚀Efficient file editing
  • 👍Intuitive and clean interface
  • 🔒Integrates with cloud storage
  • 💡Useful for writing Markdown files

Negative things

  • 🐛Crashes and freezes
  • 🔍Limited file format support
  • 🤔Confusing workflow (e.g., having to save before editing)
  • 📝Lacks advanced features (e.g., search, font customization)
See all reviews

What's New in Pretext

1.1.0

January 26, 2020

Thanks for using Pretext! This update adds support for system Dark Mode* and Multi-Window (on iPadOS). If you encounter any problems, please get in touch at pretext@blork.co.uk, tweet @pretext_app, or post at /r/pretextapp. *Pretext's theme now follows the system setting for Dark Mode. The in-app purchase now unlocks fixed themes, if you always want light or dark enabled regardless of the system theme.

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In-App Purchases

$0.99

Dark Theme + App Icons

Unlock a dark theme and app icons

User reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

Too limited

Doesn’t handle tables. Doesn’t handle UTF-8 without a BOM.
GP2023yowGP2023yow

This is the best text editor app hands down!

LOVE IT!
18M5418M54

Gets work done but need some more feature

Almost perfect, but few issues I faced is when we are writting text in middle of text file and then switch apps and come back cursor automatically goes to bottom forcing us to again scroll to text where one was editing.
2. There should be functionality to search across the text, missing search feature.
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Pp NayakPp Nayak

Doesnt open grok markdown files

Advertises it, but does not open markdown files
deiongdeiong

Shouldn’t have to save before you start typing

I downloaded this to have a Text Edit equivalent on iOS, because I do a lot of copy/paste where I want plain text. Biggest flaw here is you have to create/save a file before you do anything, rather than just start typing and save (or in my case don’t) later. So this won’t work for me. I’ll stick with Notes for now.
Show more
MeztrakkerMeztrakker
See 202 more reviews

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User experience

🐞

Reported Bugs

4 issues

Crashes when opening large text files

Bug

Corrupts files in some cases

Bug

Unresponsive close button

Bug

Issues with keyboard and cursor handling

Bug
✨

Requested Features

4 requests

Add support for more file formats (e.g., .css, .html)

Feature

Implement a search function

Feature

Allow customization of font and text settings

Feature

Improve handling of cloud sync conflicts

Feature

FAQ

What does Pretext do?

Pretext is a Markdown and plain text editor for iOS devices. It provides features like syntax highlighting, HTML preview and export, and seamless integration with the Files app, allowing you to edit documents directly from iCloud Drive and other document providers.

What are the key features of Pretext?

Key features include Markdown syntax highlighting, an HTML preview and export function, comprehensive keyboard shortcuts for efficient editing, quick-tap formatting options, and support for the Files app for direct document access and saving. It also offers customizable font sizes and full undo/redo capabilities.

Is Pretext free to use?

The core functionality of Pretext is available for free. However, certain customization options, such as the dark theme and icon, require an in-app purchase to unlock.

What devices is Pretext compatible with?

Pretext is designed to work seamlessly on all iOS devices. It is particularly well-suited for the iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard due to its comprehensive keyboard shortcut support.

How does Pretext handle file saving?

Pretext integrates with the Files app and document providers like iCloud Drive. This allows you to open files directly from your Files app and save changes back to their original location without needing clunky import or export steps, ensuring you maintain full control over your files.