Textn. vs SFD
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Textn.
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Textn. is a minimal, focused plain text editor built for people who just want to write. Write notes, journal entries, drafts, memos, and ideas in pure plain text. No formatting clutter. No distractions. Just you and your words. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Lock the entire app with Face ID or Touch ID. Your documents stay on your device and are never sent to any server. PLAIN TEXT. ALWAYS. Every document is stored as a plain .txt file. Open them anywhere. Import and export with ease. No lock-in. FOCUSED WRITING A clean, distraction-free editor with a beautiful reading experience. Choose between light and dark appearance. Instantly switch from the app toolbar without opening Settings. MULTI-TAB WORKFLOW Keep multiple documents open at once with a fast tab bar. Switch between notes in a tap. IPHONE AND IPAD Optimised for both. The split-view sidebar on iPad keeps your document list always at hand. Write more. Worry less.
SFD
This app helps you overcome writer's block by forcing you to write a first draft without the ability to edit or reread. It uses timed bursts and nudges to keep you moving forward, allowing you to flag sections for later revision.
- Forward-only writing
- Timed writing bursts
- Cursor nudges for stalls
- Flagging sections for revision
- Plain text export
- Offline functionality
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Writing apps help with the easy half — outlines, fonts, folders, word-count trophies. The hard half is producing a bad first version of something, and that's all SFD does. SFD is forward-only. You write in a burst, the earlier lines dim and scroll away, and you can't go back to fix them. You can't edit a draft into existence, so SFD won't let you try until it's out. How it works: — A go is a timed burst. You write. You don't reread. — Stall for a few seconds and you get a shove — a nudge that gets blunter the longer you stare at the cursor. — Hit a line you hate? Drop a later and keep moving. Your flags become a punch-list for when you revise. — A finished part is a chunk. A stack of chunks is the Pile — your whole first draft. — When it's done, send it out as plain text, to wherever you actually revise. Drafting is free. Every go, every later, every export — no account, no trial clock, no nagging. THE BIG MONTH is free too: 50,000 words of a novel's first draft between November 1 and 30. SFD shows your words today and how many a day finishes it, lights up a November calendar on every day you write, marks 10,000, 25,000 and 50,000, and gives you a BIG MONTH 2026 stamp and finisher card you can only earn that November. One thing costs money: SFD Habit Tracking, a 99-cent one-time unlock for the habit layer — the streak map and year wall, the month goal, the quiet reminder, stamps, share cards, and the home-screen widget, which carries THE BIG MONTH in November. The scoreboard, not the game. If you bought SFD back when the app itself cost money, the habit layer is yours automatically. What SFD won't do: format, outline, sync, collaborate, or write the draft for you. You write the bad version. A chunk has to get written; inside that, anything goes. Your words stay yours. Every chunk is a plain-text file on your device. No proprietary format, no servers. SFD makes no network calls at all — it can't lose your words and it can't trap them. Get the first draft out. You can make it good later, somewhere with a real keyboard.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Textn. at none against SFD's 1. On price, update cadence, 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. SFD sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Textn. asks for nothing beyond the download.
Textn. ships an update every 9 days, SFD every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Textn. | SFD |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Joseph Tuazon | Daniel James Kinney-Spears |
In-app purchases
Textn.
No in-app purchases
SFD
- SFD Habit Tracking$0.99








