Simpletext vs Write Only 2
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Simpletext
This app offers a minimalist writing experience, focusing solely on plain text. It provides a distraction-free environment with beautiful typography and native performance across Apple devices. Ideal for those who want to concentrate on their words without unnecessary features.
- Zero clutter interface
- Beautiful typography with professional fonts
- Plain text only support
- Fully native Apple app
- Supports custom fonts
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The Simplest Writing App for Mac, iPad and iPhone There are many writing apps for you to choose from today, so why bother with yet another one? Because Simpletext is simpler. Its single-minded commitment to simplicity means you’ll get a no-frills writing app that works well and looks great, forever. Simpletext started as a passion project because I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Most apps were trying to do too much and ended up bloated with features I never needed. So I built Simpletext based on a simple premise — what if there’s an app that refuses to do more, choosing instead to do just one thing, and do it well? For Simpletext, that one thing is writing. Why Simpletext? Most people would say Simpletext is lacking in features, and they’re right. In fact, Simpletext began the opposite way — by listing down everything I didn’t want in a writing app. The goal is to create a dumbed-down writing app that inspires you to do nothing else but write. In order to achieve this, I designed Simpletext around four cornerstone principles: 1. Zero Clutter Simpletext is unobtrusive. It provides a blank canvas to write with absolutely nothing to distract you from writing. There’s no visual clutter — the intent is to create a quiet space that helps you connect with your voice, get into the flow, and simply write. With zero clutter, Simpletext lets your words take centre stage. 2. Beautiful Typography Simpletext comes with three professional fonts for you to choose from, handpicked to provide the finest writing experience. They are: (1) Akkurat Mono by Lineto (Monospaced); (2) Graphik by Commercial Type (Sans Serif); and (3) Tiempos Text by Klim Type Foundry (Serif). And if you have a personal favourite font, you can use it in Simpletext too. 3. Plain Text Only Simpletext supports only plain text, which is fast, lightweight and platform-independent. It will never have formatting options, so your files will never be filled with unnecessary attributes. Plain text also ensures your files are always accessible on any device, now and in the future. 4. Fully Native Simpletext is a fully native app developed in Swift and runs natively on Apple silicon. It uses only Apple’s framework and UI components, just as they were intended to be used without any custom workarounds. This approach results in less code, less bugs and better overall performance. Here's What Others Have to Say “I just wanted to thank you for developing Simpletext. It’s perfect. I’ve enjoyed its simplicity and smoothness for quite some time, but now that I can use my favourite font in it (Sina Nova, free on Fontspring) it has truly become not just the best app to write in, but my favourite app period. Thank you for creating and maintaining it.” - Bart “This app does everything it says on the tin. It is not meant to do a lot, but what it does it does very well. It is well designed and suits well those who want to focus on writing and avoid dealing with formatting, proprietary file types and hidden saving locations. It produces and edits .txt files, which will probably be around for as long as there are computers, and saves them in plain sight. Five stars.” - Fernando “I’ve tried all sorts of writing apps but Simpletext is definitely the best of all. So grateful for your dedication and those productivity tips in the blog post are so good. Simpletext is such a joy to use.” - LWL Art Studio “A writing app that is as simple as stated, beautiful to write with and opens and closes wherever you want. Simple tweaks are easily accessible, if required, and only add to the minimalistic perfection. Good job.” - Tuntle Get Back to Basics In a world full of feature-rich, subscription-based apps, I wanted to create something that goes back to basics. Simpletext is intentionally simple, yet it has everything you need. It’s an app I use every single day. I hope you will too. Best wishes, Yeow Jin P.S. Simpletext comes with a promise — find out more at simpletext.app/promise
Write Only 2
This app encourages creative writing by providing a distraction-free typing experience. It mimics a typewriter, saving your work as a permanent PDF with exact formatting. An accessory keybar and fixed cursor aid in reducing errors and improving focus.
- Distraction-free writing interface
- Typewriter simulation
- Permanent PDF saving
- Fixed cursor for reduced errors
- Accessory keybar for common keys
- iCloud Drive sync
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Write Only is dedicated to creative writing rather than busy editing. It helps you focus more on putting words on paper. Using it is like sitting in front of a typewriter and watching words flow out of your finger tips. Everything you put down on the page is permanent. All the typing is saved as a PDF file, including the positions, the font size, and the colors that the texts come out with. No matter where and when you are going to view these pages, they will be kept exactly same as the time you typed them. Fixed cursor sits right above the keyboard, therefore your eyes will be close both to the text you're typing and the fingers, and that can help to reduce typing errors. You can start typing on the page at any place by tapping on that location and use any margin you want by moving the page. It is very easy to type aligned texts. An extension keybar includes frequently used keys like ' or ; that are difficult to access in iOS' default keyboard. Write Only is good for writing the first draft of any work, especially poetry, diary or journal. When you come back to your writings years later, the shapes of the text and the errors you made will help you recall the moments of the writing. FEATURES - Sync with iCloud Drive - Beautiful typewriter font. - Minimal interface. - Saved as a PDF file that you can print to paper. - Accessory keybar contains frequently used keys missing in the default keyboard. - Two text colors: black and red.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Write Only 2 at $0.99 against Simpletext's $14.99. Write Only 2 also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). Simpletext's advantage is rating (4.1 vs 2.5) and review sentiment (73% vs 40%). On ads, in-app purchases 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
Simpletext costs $14.99 and Write Only 2 $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Simpletext holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simpletext has 23 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of Simpletext's written reviews are positive against 40% of Write Only 2's.
| Parameter | Simpletext | Write Only 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $14.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (23 ratings) — better | 2.5 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 73.3% of reviews — better | 40.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 23 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yeow Jin Gan | 潮激 李 |
Customer experience
Simpletext
Write Only 2
In-app purchases
Simpletext
No in-app purchases
Write Only 2
No in-app purchases









