Comparison

Fox Writer vs Folio Writer

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

Head to head
About

Fox Writer

Features
Read full description

Fox Writer: The Ultimate Writing Tool for Creators App Overview Fox Writer is a powerful writing tool designed specifically for literary creators, aimed at addressing the common pain points of the writing process. Whether you’re a novelist, scriptwriter, or content creator, Fox Writer offers a range of robust features that help you seamlessly manage every stage of your creative journey—from brainstorming to drafting, ensuring that no idea is left behind. Key Features: - StoryTree Organize your creative ideas and structure your story outline quickly. With the visual mind-mapping feature, Fox Writer helps you clearly map out your story structure and keep track of plot developments, ensuring no important detail is missed. The multi-layered structure display allows you to easily manage complex plots and multi-threaded stories. - Relationships Effectively manage the relationships between characters, helping you clarify their interactions and conflicts. With a simple and clear relationship map, you can view the dynamic changes of each character, ensuring consistency in their development and avoiding confusion or contradictions in your story. - Foreshadowing Track all the foreshadowing you plant in your story, whether in plot details, dialogue, or events. Record this information in Fox Writer to remind you when to bring them back or expand on them, ensuring your story remains tight and cohesive, while avoiding the loss of critical details. - Timeline Manage your story’s timeline and track the progression of events. Fox Writer helps you plan the timing of key events in your story, from character birthdays to fictional holidays, preventing timeline inconsistencies and adding a layer of realism to your narrative. And much more to explore... ==================================== Subscription & Trial Information: Free Trial Reminder: Fox Writer offers a 5-day free trial. After the trial period ends, you will need to subscribe in order to continue using the app. Once the trial expires, you will still be able to export your documents, story trees, and relationship maps, and your creative content will not be lost. Subscription Plans: Fox Writer for iOS offers the following subscription options: - Monthly Subscription: $2.99/month, renewal period is 1 month - Every 3 Months Subscription: $6.99/3 months, renewal period is every 3 months - Personal Yearly Subscription: $24.99/year, renewal period is annually, not available for family sharing - Family Yearly Subscription: $39.99/year, renewal period is annually, available for family sharing Prices may vary depending on the region and timing; the final subscription cost will be shown at the time of payment. Note: Subscriptions and prices for Fox Writer on iOS and macOS are not shared between platforms. The current subscription plan is only valid for the platform on which it was purchased. Auto-Renewal & Subscription Renewal: - Subscriptions automatically renew within 24 hours before the current cycle ends, and the renewal fee will be charged to your iTunes account. - You can manage your auto-renewal settings through your iTunes account. To cancel, make sure to do so at least 24 hours before the current cycle ends. - Subscription fees are non-refundable once confirmed. Any unused portion of the free trial will be forfeited upon purchasing a subscription. Privacy Policy & Terms of Service: Privacy Policy: https://somefox.gitbook.io/fox-writer/english/privacy-policy Terms of Service: https://somefox.gitbook.io/fox-writer/english/terms-of-service Please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for more details. Contact Us: If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out to us: Email: writer.help@foxmail.com

About

Folio Writer

This writing studio allows you to work on long-form projects like books and manuscripts on your iPhone and iPad. It supports plain text formats like Markdown and Typst, syncing seamlessly with its Mac counterpart. Features include a special keyboard bar, project organization, and citation management.

Highlights
  • Plain-text writing (Markdown, Typst)
  • iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Files integration
  • Special Markdown key bar
  • Typewriter scrolling and sentence focus
  • Binder for project organization
  • Snapshots for version control
  • Project-wide search
  • BibTeX citation support
Features
Read full description

Folio Writer is a plain-text writing studio for long-form work — scholarly manuscripts, books, and novels. This is its iPhone and iPad edition: the same projects, the same files, in your pocket. Open a project from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, any Files location, or your Folio Cloud account, and pick up exactly where you left off on the Mac. Everything you write is a plain Markdown or Typst file you own — no lock-in. WRITE ANYWHERE — FREE A Markdown key bar puts #, *, links, code, and $math$ one tap away. Typewriter scrolling and sentence focus for drafting on the go. Live word count and writing targets for each document, the whole draft, and each session. Hardware-keyboard shortcuts on iPad. YOUR WHOLE PROJECT — FREE The full binder: browse, open, rename, reorder by dragging, indent and outdent, and create new documents. Project-wide search with filters — label:, status:, type:, tag: — and saved searches as Collections. Version history: every save is kept and restorable, so nothing you write is quietly lost. Comments, and the Review Inbox for suggestions from co-authors. CITATIONS & PREVIEW — FREE Insert citations from the project's BibTeX files by author, year, or key. Preview the rendered document — headings, tables, images, and LaTeX math — right on the device. SYNC WITH THE MAC AND FOLIO CLOUD — FREE Opens the exact same .folio projects as Folio Writer for Mac, byte-for-byte. Conflict-safe syncing: edits from two devices merge when they don't overlap, and a losing copy is always preserved. Sign in to Folio Cloud and every project your account owns is listed; create projects in the cloud, share by link, co-edit live, and protect encrypted projects with a recovery passphrase. FOLIO PRO — ONE PURCHASE FOR MAC, iPHONE, AND iPAD Pro adds the finishing tools: Preview Manuscript — the whole draft assembled in binder order with its title page. Suggesting — propose edits as tracked changes, then Accept or Reject each one from the review bar, and mark a document as reviewed. Snapshots — named copies to compare side by side and roll back, change by change. Insert Template, with starter snippets for figures, tables, equations, and more. Compile to PDF, Word, or Typst through Folio Cloud, right from the device. Pay once, unlock both platforms. Folio Pro is the same one-time purchase as in Folio Writer for Mac: buy it here and Pro unlocks on your Mac; buy it on the Mac and it unlocks here. It follows your Apple ID — tap Restore Purchases if it hasn't appeared. Every Pro feature is free to try for 7 days. Prefer to pay by the month or year? Pro ($1.99 a month) and Premium ($3.99) are also available as subscriptions, which unlock the tier here and on the Mac for as long as they run and come with complimentary Folio Cloud storage (1 GB or 3 GB), so your projects sync to every device and open in any browser. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No analytics, no trackers. Your manuscripts never leave your own devices except through the cloud service you choose, and Folio Cloud projects are end-to-end encrypted. In-App Purchases (display names) Folio Pro — one-time, universal purchase shared with Folio Writer for Mac Folio Pro Subscription — monthly / yearly (Pro here and on the Mac + 1 GB Folio Cloud storage) Folio Premium Subscription — monthly / yearly (Premium here and on the Mac + 3 GB Folio Cloud storage) Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://foliowriter.app/privacy/

Screenshots

Fox Writer4 screens
Folio Writer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Folio Writer at every 4 days against Fox Writer's monthly. On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Fox Writer sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Folio Writer sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fox Writer ships an update monthly, Folio Writer every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Fox Writer versus Folio Writer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFox WriterFolio Writer
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB6 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developer志文 李Bin Chen

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Fox Writer

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Subscription$2.991 Month
  • Every 3 Months Subscription$6.993 Months
  • Personal Yearly Subscription$24.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Family Yearly Subscription$39.991 Year
8 purchases

Folio Writer

Subscriptions4
  • Cloud Pro Monthly1 Month trial$1.991 Month
  • Premium Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium Yearly$39.991 Year
One-time4
  • Pro Lifetime$19.99
  • Pro to Premium Upgrade$19.99
  • Premium Lifetime$39.99
Show 1 more
  • Unlock Pro Features$39.99

Questions

Is Fox Writer free?
Fox Writer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Folio Writer free?
Folio Writer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Fox Writer or Folio Writer have ads?
Neither Fox Writer nor Folio Writer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fox Writer or Folio Writer?
Fox Writer ships an update monthly, and Folio Writer every 4 days. Most recently, Fox Writer was updated on October 4, 2026 and Folio Writer on October 24, 2026.

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