Comparison

uFocus vs Recto Writer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

uFocus

A distraction-free writing app designed for creative expression. It supports plain text files, offers advanced Markdown and Fountain syntax for various writing needs, and provides tools to enhance focus and productivity.

Highlights
  • Unobtrusive interface
  • Text statistics
  • MultiMarkdown support
  • Fountain screenplay support
  • Highlighting options
  • Typewriter scrolling
  • Customizable themes
Read full description

uFocus is a distraction-free writing environment that supports plain text files and allows you to keep them organized inside libraries. It allows everyone to express their creativity in the most simple way. • Unobtrusive interface: the navigation bar disappears while writing. • Swipe to show the sidebar. Here you can link your favorite libraries and quickly access your documents. • Show text statistics including character and word count and reading time. • MultiMarkdown: easily add headings, quotes, ordered and unordered lists, links, images, italics, bold, footnotes, citations, glossaries and acronyms. You can then export your documents to HTML or PDF. With CriticMarkup and Live Edit Mode you can easily mark removals, additions and substitutions, add highlghts and comments, and accept or reject them. • Fountain: create screenplays with the Markdown-inspired markup syntax and print or export them as PDF with industry-standard formatting. • Highlighting: you can stay even more focused by fading out all the text but the current sentence or paragraph. • Typewriter scrolling: automatically scrolls the text when you get on a new line. • Sound mode: experience the ultimate feeling of a typewriter. • No deletions mode: disable deletions and replacements if your greatest temptation is always to edit your text instead of writing. • Fullscreen: focus on your words and hide everything else. • Choose between three different editor widths, four font sizes and a light, dark, sepia or amber theme, or create your own theme. • Print single files or entire directory hierarchies. If you have any requests, suggestions or bug reports, you're welcome to visit the website through the Support link.

About

Recto Writer

Features
Read full description

Recto is a word processor for people writing books. Arrange your projects on your bookshelf. THE OUTLINE IS THE BOOK For pantsers and plotters alike, arrange your outline or infer it from your book. Your outline is always there for you to quickly glance at and jump to that section of your book. FRONT MATTER THAT KNOWS WHAT IT IS Keep your book's blurb, back cover description, and other information in one place so it's easy to export to EPUB. YOUR WORDS STAY YOURS No proprietary files or storage systems. Every book is stored as Markdown so you can open it in any editor. All files are kept in your own iCloud. WHEN THE DRAFT IS DONE Export to EPUB, Word, PDF, Markdown, HTML or plain text. WHAT ELSE IS IN HERE Kill Your Darlings, except you can also keep them and reuse them later in this book or the next book. Placeholders, for the fact you will look up later. Drop a flag and keep writing. Daily word goals, timed sprints, and a chart of the last thirty days. Find and replace across the whole book, spellcheck, typewriter scrolling, five reading typefaces and three styles of drop cap. FREE Recto is free. There is no trial, no subscription and no in-app purchases lurking in the shadows to steal your lunch money. If it becomes part of how you work and you want to say thank you, there's an opportunity to send me a tip. But it's not necessary. You can also email me and just say hi. WITH THANKS Recto is a native rewrite of NEO, the word processor Hugh Howey wrote and released under the MIT License. The outline, the scene breaks, and the idea that a writing app should get out of the way are all his. Recto shares none of his code and all of his intent.

Screenshots

uFocus4 screens
Recto Writer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Recto Writer at every 3 days against uFocus's monthly. uFocus's advantage is device support (5 vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

uFocus ships an update monthly, Recto Writer every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
uFocus versus Recto Writer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteruFocusRecto Writer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (36 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews91.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings36 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNicolas KickPrashant Sridharan

In-app purchases

None

uFocus

No in-app purchases

None

Recto Writer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is uFocus free?
uFocus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Recto Writer free?
Recto Writer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do uFocus or Recto Writer have ads?
Neither uFocus nor Recto Writer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, uFocus or Recto Writer?
uFocus ships an update monthly, and Recto Writer every 3 days. Most recently, uFocus was updated on October 23, 2026 and Recto Writer on October 26, 2026.

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