Comparison

uFocus vs iWriter Pro

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

iWriter Pro

A minimalist text editor with robust Markdown support and distraction-free writing. It offers iCloud sync, live syntax highlighting, and various export options for documents.

Highlights
  • Clean and minimal interface
  • iCloud sync
  • Live Markdown syntax highlighting
  • HTML Preview
  • Typewriter mode
  • Document Browser with tags
  • Export to HTML, PDF, EPUB, DOCX, and more
Read full description

# iWriter Pro is elegant and minimalist text editor with built-in Markdown support. Distraction-free and subscription-free. ## Features: - Clean and minimal interface. - iCloud sync across iPad, iPhone, and Mac¹ devices. - Text editing with live Markdown syntax highlighting. - HTML Preview for Markdown and MultiMarkdown documents. - Typewriter mode² with focusing on line, sentence, or paragraph. - Powerful Document Browser³ with tags support. - Integrated counters for words, symbols, sentences, and paragraphs. - Fast and responsive editing even for large files. ## iWriter Pro supports: - Highlighting and rendering of LaTeX equations. - Flowchart and Mermaid diagrams. - Source code highlight in HTML preview. - Exporting documents as HTML, PDF, RTF, EPUB, LaTeX, and DOCX. - Keyboard shortcuts⁴ for text formatting and quick navigation. - Search and Replace in your documents. - Light and dark layouts (auto-switching included). - Automatic number/bullet/task list formatting. ¹ - iWriter Pro for Mac is available as a separate purchase on the Mac App Store. ² - Typewriter and Focus modes are available only on iPad. ³ - Editing files in Dropbox, Google Drive, and other 3d-party storage providers is not guaranteed. ⁴ - External keyboard is required.

Screenshots

uFocus4 screens
iWriter Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: uFocus at Free against iWriter Pro's $4.99. uFocus also leads on review sentiment (92% vs 68%) and update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). iWriter Pro's advantage is ratings volume (130 vs 35). On rating, 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

uFocus is free to download; iWriter Pro costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for uFocus against 4.7 for iWriter Pro. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 35 and 130 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 92% of uFocus's written reviews are positive against 68% of iWriter Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

uFocus ships an update monthly, iWriter Pro every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
uFocus versus iWriter Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteruFocusiWriter Pro
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.7 (35 ratings)4.7 (130 ratings)
Positive reviews91.5% of reviews — better68.1% of reviews
Number of ratings35130 — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNicolas KickSerpensoft Group

Customer experience

uFocus

All ratings35 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews142 reviews
Positive91.5%
Neutral1.4%
Negative7.0%

iWriter Pro

All ratings130 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive68.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative27.5%

Bugs and requests

uFocus

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

iWriter Pro

Reported bugs

31 issues
  • App crashes and freezes frequently
  • Data loss or corruption during editing/syncing
  • iCloud and Dropbox sync issues
  • Exported DOCX files are not fully compatible
  • Autocorrect option is confusingly named
Show 26 more
  • Cannot rename documents outside of iWriter folder
  • List indentation can be problematic
  • Markdown menus on keyboard have delayed response
  • Automatic dark mode not working after update
  • Mermaid plugin not working with iOS 18
  • Preview barely works
  • App not being updated to fix bugs
  • Developer does not respond
  • Multiline LaTeX not supported
  • App crashes on iPad Pro 2020 after update
  • Conversion to DOCX has restrictions
  • No preview section in settings for plugins
  • Photos cannot be inserted (folder access permission issue)
  • Cannot read images from hidden folders
  • Line breaks in exported documents turn into spaces
  • Formulae not working
  • Occasional rendering bug where text doesn't fill screen
  • App crashes immediately upon opening
  • Google Drive sync issues and inability to open/save files
  • iCloud synchronization consumes too much battery
  • App deletes work for no reason
  • Dropbox connection is poor and leads to conflicts/data loss
  • Font compatibility issues in document names
  • App is very basic and doesn't work well with other Markdown editors
  • Impolite developers
  • App is unstable

Requested features

22 requests
  • Add table support (Markdown)
  • Allow reordering of shortcuts
  • Cycle visibility on headings using Tab
  • Add Mark Set and cut region
  • Wordpress export
Show 17 more
  • Syntax highlighting
  • File tree or explorer in sidebar
  • Regex search
  • Auto dark mode
  • Select and open a folder
  • Obsidian support (hyperlink function)
  • Chinese support
  • Add math input
  • Passcode lock feature
  • Change font color
  • Hybrid/mixed editor/preview mode
  • Automatic backup to Dropbox/other cloud storage
  • Add file opening options in preview mode
  • Enter title edit mode immediately after creating a new file
  • Change shortcut keys from moving cursor to indent
  • Customizable paste symbols
  • Full-text search

In-app purchases

None

uFocus

No in-app purchases

None

iWriter Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is uFocus free?
uFocus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is iWriter Pro free?
iWriter Pro costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, uFocus or iWriter Pro?
uFocus and iWriter Pro are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 35 and 130 ratings respectively.
Do uFocus or iWriter Pro have ads?
Neither uFocus nor iWriter Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, uFocus or iWriter Pro?
uFocus ships an update monthly, and iWriter Pro every 3 months. Most recently, uFocus was updated on September 21, 2026 and iWriter Pro on September 24, 2026.

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