Amethyst Writer vs Braid
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Amethyst Writer
A minimalist writing app designed for novelists, offering a private and distraction-free environment to craft stories. Organize your work, preview your manuscript, and export your finished novel with ease, all on your mobile device.
- Scene-by-scene or chapter writing
- Organize work into Parts and Acts
- Add front matter
- Full manuscript preview
- Search across all writing
- Project organization for characters/locations
- Absolute privacy and local storage
- Automatic iCloud backups
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Simple. Private. Always with you. Amethyst is a minimalist writing app for novelists. We give you the tool and remove the friction, so you can just write. Built mobile-first, so there is nothing standing between your idea and the blank page. Write any time the idea strikes, preview your novel with beautiful formatting, and export your finished product. All on the go. Your readers are waiting: • Write scene by scene, or open a whole chapter and write straight through. • Organize your work into Parts and Acts. Reorder your outline whenever the shape of the book changes. • Add front matter — title page, dedication, epigraph — when you're ready for it. • Preview the finished manuscript end to end in a single view. • Search across everything you've written. • Keep characters and locations in Projects, so you stop losing track of eye colors and birth dates. Amethyst is built for novelists by novelists: • Absolute privacy. We don't collect personal information. No account, no login, no telemetry, no keystroke tracking. • Every word is written to local storage the moment you type it — no connection needed, ever. When you're connected, Amethyst backs up automatically. • Quiet metrics. Daily and weekly word counts, streaks, and your most productive days at a glance. Set a goal app-wide or per novel — or ignore all of that and just write. • Your words, exportable. Send a draft out through the iOS Share Sheet, AirDrop, or Files, to a beta reader, an editor, or a publisher. Nothing is locked in. Your data is yours: Amethyst never sends your novels or projects to third parties, and Shinano Labs will never sell or share your usage data. Your backups are store securely in your own iCloud storage, always available but always private. You can delete your account securely at any time (though we'd be sad to see you go!). Shinano Labs never has access to your writing or your profile data. Your stories deserve a home that respects your time and your privacy. Start your next chapter today. LEGAL STUFF • Privacy: https://www.shinanolabs.com/privacy-policy • Terms: https://www.shinanolabs.com/terms-of-service • Our Stance on Generative AI: https://www.shinanolabs.com/our-position-on-ai
Braid
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Whether it’s your first story or your tenth novel, Braid helps you write it. Never written a book? Braid shows you how, one step at a time. Been writing for years? The tools you rely on are all here, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. NEW TO WRITING? START HERE • Open a finished sample book and see how a novel comes together • Pick a story structure, and each part tells you what belongs there and where it lands in the book • Build Chapters turns your plan into chapters, ready to write • A free Writing Guide: short lessons on character, setting, point of view, dialogue, plot, pacing, revision and getting unstuck, each with something to try in your book • Pacing notes flag a character who vanishes too long, or a point of view that runs on • Name Ideas: names from 55 traditions, matched to each character’s age and your story’s year AND THE TOOLS SEASONED WRITERS LOOK FOR OUTLINE • 14 story structures, including Three-Act, Hero’s Journey, Story Circle, Kishōtenketsu and Mystery, or start from scratch • Plan scenes on each block; change structure anytime without losing a word WRITE • A clean chapter page that flows from scene to scene • Bold, italics, headings and lists, as in Word, in chapters, notes and your Story Bible, kept when you export • Your choice of text size, line spacing and first-line indent, and a ruler on Mac and iPad for margins and tabs • Definitions and synonyms for any word, offline • Characters and places beside the page, to tag in a scene or drag into your text • Deep Focus: a full-screen page with typewriter scrolling • Spelling and grammar checks that learn your characters’ names, and Read Aloud SEE YOUR WHOLE BOOK • Character Weave shows who carries each scene • Interwoven Outline tracks point of view across chapters • Relationship Map shows who shares scenes with whom • A Story Bible for characters, places, plot threads, world and themes, with full character sheets and photos • Corkboards for the book and each character • Series: books in a series share one Story Bible IDEAS AND RESEARCH • Ideas & Notes: every idea, note, character and place together, with an Inbox for new ideas • Catch ideas by typing, speaking or handwriting; voice notes are transcribed • Notebooks with columns, tables and photos • Save web pages, videos, articles, PDFs, photos and quotes, with MLA, APA and Chicago citations REVISE • Snapshots: save versions of your book, compare any two side by side, and go back • Continuity check finds names spelled two ways, and eye and hair colors that change FINISH AND SHARE • Export in Standard Manuscript Format as PDF or Word, or as a book-style reading copy • Export your Story Bible too • Import a draft from Word, RTF, text or PDF, with chapters and characters set up • Reader feedback: send chapters to readers or an editor, see their comments on the right scenes, and accept or decline changes ON EVERY DEVICE • Your books sync through your own iCloud account • Apple Watch: record an idea from your wrist and follow your writing sprint countdown PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts, no ads, no tracking. Your writing stays on your devices and in your iCloud. BRAID PRO Braid is free for one book, with Story Blocks, Character Weave, research, Ideas & Notes, snapshots, Deep Focus, the Writing Guide and Markdown export. Braid Pro adds unlimited books, Word and PDF export, manuscript import, reader feedback, writing sprints, a writing soundtrack and Apple Watch capture. Braid Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription (the yearly plan starts with a 2-week free trial), or as a one-time Lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel them in your App Store account settings. Your writing is never locked: you keep every book, and Markdown export is always free. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://keesnap.com/braid-privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Amethyst Writer at every 3 days against Braid's every 10 days. Braid's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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. Amethyst Writer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Braid sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Amethyst Writer ships an update every 3 days, Braid every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Amethyst Writer | Braid |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 10 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 34 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Damien Anthony Lavizzo | KeeSnap Corp |
In-app purchases
Amethyst Writer
- Amethyst Plus - Monthly$0.991 Month
- Amethyst Plus - Yearly$12.991 Year
- Amethyst Plus - Lifetime$19.99
Braid
- Braid Pro Monthly$5.991 Month
- Braid Pro Yearly14 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Braid Pro Lifetime$99.99








