Minipad vs Writerly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Minipad
A straightforward text editor designed for users of all ages, including children. It offers a distraction-free writing environment for creating stories, notes, and exploring language. Features include customizable font sizes and secure deletion to prevent accidental data loss.
- Focus on writing
- Sort entries by date or title
- Adjustable font sizes
- No spell check or autocorrect
- Accident-prevention delete
- Voice dictation and emoji support
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Made for people of all ages — and great for kids! — Minipad is a simple text editor for creating stories, editing notes, trying words and discovering the alphabet. Minipad has a minimal feature set to help writers to focus on writing. • Entries are sorted with the newest ones first (or sort by title or last changed first) • Typography is clear and the default font size is purposely large • A slider in the options bubble allows for 5 different font sizes • No spell checking and no autocorrection distractions • Deleting stories needs extra taps to help prevent accidental deletes • Try voice dictation or emojis on the iOS keyboard to make silly stories!
Writerly
This app guides aspiring and experienced writers through creative writing with advice, exercises, and AI-powered tools. It offers features to spark creativity, brainstorm ideas, research, and develop characters, acting as a constant writing companion.
- AI Toolkit for research and brainstorming
- Character development tools and exercises
- Daily writing prompts
- Techniques to combat writer's block
- Sensory detail guidance
- Built-in timer for exercises
- Home screen widgets
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Want to write? Start thinking like a writer! Writerly will show you how. Writerly is for everyone interested in creative writing. From first steps to advanced topics, Writerly is loaded with advice, exercises, ideas and prompts to help you develop as a writer, whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro. Our new AI Toolkit unleashes the power of Apple Intelligence to bring you tools to spark your creativity, brainstorm your ideas, help you research books and novels, and create characters and writing exercises - it's like having an always-available creative writing friend! Writerly includes a huge amount of unique content that has been extensively tested and trialled by professional authors and creative writing students. So have fun, get inspired and get writing! Key features: - Available for your Mac, iPhone and iPad! - Learn how to observe the world like a writer - AI Toolkit (for research, exercises, brainstorming and more) - Like having an always-available creative writing friend! - Techniques to combat writer's block - Discover techniques to unlock your creativity - Unique 'generators' for Appearance, Mood, Character, Journeys and much, much more - Warm-up exercises - Meet your characters (like speed dating with your characters!) - Ways into Character (in-depth character development tools, techniques and exercises) - A Year of Prompts (a writing prompt for every day of the year) - How to work with sensory detail - Core character development exercises - Built-in timer for exercises - Widgets (daily prompts and character generation right on the home screen) - Progress tracker
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Minipad at none against Writerly's 4. Minipad also leads on update cadence (every 4 months vs every 10 months) and review sentiment (86% vs 76%). Writerly's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.3). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Writerly sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Minipad asks for nothing beyond the download.
Writerly holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 402 and 111 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 86% of Minipad's written reviews are positive against 76% of Writerly's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Minipad ships an update every 4 months, Writerly every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Minipad | Writerly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (402 ratings) | 4.6 (111 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.5% of reviews — better | 76.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 402 — better | 111 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 10 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 79 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alexander Davidson | Russell Archer |
Customer experience
Minipad
Writerly
Bugs and requests
Minipad
Reported bugs
2 issues- Reported issues with data loss and deletion of stories
- Some users unable to export or share their writings
Requested features
5 requests- Add spell check and autocorrect
- Implement formatting options (italics, bold)
- Include a search feature
- Allow organizing notes/stories into folders
- Provide an option to change font size and style
Writerly
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Minipad
No in-app purchases
Writerly
- A Year of Prompts$0.99
- Ways into Character$1.99
- Meet your Characters$1.99
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- AI Toolkit$2.99
Questions
Is Minipad free?
Is Writerly free?
Which has better reviews, Minipad or Writerly?
Do Minipad or Writerly have ads?
Which is updated more often, Minipad or Writerly?
Other comparisons
