ghostWriter Markdown vs Folio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ghostWriter Markdown
A plain-text writing app designed with accessibility in mind. It allows users to create, organize, and export documents in various formats, with features like voice control and outline navigation.
- Accessibility-first plain-text editor
- Organize documents and chapters
- Compile work into finished exports
- Supports multiple export formats (HTML, EPUB, PDF, Word)
- VoiceOver integration
- Native Find and Replace
- Outline navigation for headings
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ghostWriter Markdown is an accessibility-first, plain-text writing app for notes, articles, documentation, and full manuscripts. Write individual documents, organize chapters, and compile your work into a finished export. VoiceOver was at the center of the design from the first line of code. Created by a blind developer, ghostWriter gives screen reader users and anyone who loves plain text a clean, native place to write. So what's Markdown? Markdown adds structure using ordinary punctuation. A number sign makes a heading. A dash makes a list item. Your document stays readable as plain text, and you can render it to see the finished formatting. You don't have to know Markdown to start. Insert Actions adds common elements, the Markdown Reference provides examples, and the included ghostWriter Help Manual explains writing, organizing, and exporting your work. Writing Made Easy: • A native editor that keeps Markdown punctuation visible and you in control of the source • Insert links, images, headings, quotes, code, lists, tasks, tables, and rules • Automatic continuation for bullets, numbered lists, and tasks • Indent and outdent with tabs or spaces • Native Find and Replace, dictation, braille input, and text selection • A configurable Status Bar with line and column position, word, sentence, and character counts, heading level, and selection counts • Automatic saving, plus collision detection if the same document is open on separate devices • Start in the Library, a new document, or your last document Useful Navigation: • Use Outline to jump to document headings • Move through headings with a three-finger horizontal VoiceOver swipe while editing • Jump to Line in long documents • Search document names and contents • Return to your remembered editing position in each file Keep Files Organized: • Create, rename, and move nested folders • Pin documents you keep coming back to • Sort by name, created, modified, or last opened, or arrange files and folders manually • Restore removed files from Recently Deleted • Import Markdown, plain text, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations into Markdown Build Your Manuscript: • Compile documents from nested folders into a single export • Choose which files to include and arrange chapters for each compilation • Keep research and notes nearby while excluding them from compilations • Track word, sentence, and character totals for individual files or whole folders • Control heading structure when combining documents Render and Share: • Render Markdown as structured HTML with semantic headings, lists, tables, and links • Export individual documents or compilations as Markdown, plain text, HTML, EPUB, PDF, Word, PowerPoint, eBraille, or BRF • Customize Word exports with your own JSON stylesheets, optional title and subtitle styles, and a supplied Large Print stylesheet Your Files, Your Devices: • Ordinary Markdown files, visible in the Files app • On-device storage or iCloud Drive syncing across iPhone, iPad, and Mac • Open and edit your files in other apps that read text • No proprietary format and no dependence on ghostWriter to keep your work Accessibility: Developed toward WCAG 2.2 Level AA and tested with VoiceOver as a primary interaction method. • Native controls with familiar roles and behaviors • Dynamic Type, including accessibility text sizes • System, monospaced, rounded, and serif editor typefaces • Light, dark, and system appearance • Voice Control, Switch Control, and hardware keyboard support • Optional keyboard shortcuts for common actions • Reduced-motion support Privacy: No accounts. No sign-in. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. No data collection. No AI tools. There is no server behind this app. Your documents stay on your device or in your own iCloud, and they never travel anywhere you don't send them. Made by a blind developer who got tired of tools that treated screen reader support as an afterthought.
Folio
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Folio is a notebook app with 30+ ready-made templates for everything from groceries to habits, payments to reading lists — built from the ground up to be fully accessible with VoiceOver. Every notebook carries its own fields, statuses, and reminders, so you're never stuck with one rigid format. READY-MADE TEMPLATES • Finance: Payments, Expenses, Subscriptions, Debt/Credit • Content: To Read, To Watch, To Listen • Special Days & Travel: Birthdays, Places to Go, Packing • Routines: Habits, Chores, Maintenance, Plant Care, Pet Care, Exercise • Processes: Applications, Project Tracking, Awaiting, Orders, Loans • Personal Tracking: Inventory, Meal Plan, Courses, Goals, Attendance, Vaccinations • Shopping, To-Do, and a completely blank notebook to start from scratch DESIGN IT YOUR WAY • Customize each notebook's fields, statuses, and order with the Field Designer. • Build your own templates, then use or remove them from the template picker. • Organize notebooks into folders, pin the ones that matter most. DATES, REMINDERS & RECURRENCE • Add a date, time, and reminder to any item. • Set daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or completion-based recurrence rules. • Overdue items automatically surface to the top. FULL VOICEOVER SUPPORT • Folio was designed from day one for VoiceOver users — every screen and action is announced clearly. • Status changes, delete/undo, and list updates are announced instantly. • Haptic and sound feedback are fully customizable in Settings. HISTORY & ARCHIVE • Save a snapshot of completed lists to history and review them anytime. • Deleted notebooks and items wait in Trash for a while before you decide. ICLOUD SYNC, NO ACCOUNT NEEDED • Folio doesn't ask you to create an account — it just uses the iCloud account already on your device. • Your notebooks sync automatically across your devices; nothing is stored on Folio's own servers. Your first 2 notebooks are free forever, fully editable — no payment info, no time limit. Need more? Unlock unlimited notebooks, custom templates, folders, and full JSON backup with monthly, yearly, or one-time Lifetime Folio Pro; plain text and CSV export are always free. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ghostWriter Markdown at none against Folio's 3. On price, ads, device support 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. Folio sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. ghostWriter Markdown asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | ghostWriter Markdown | Folio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Marco Salsiccia | RECEP GUR |
In-app purchases
ghostWriter Markdown
No in-app purchases
Folio
- Folio Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
- Folio Pro Yearly$29.991 Year
- Folio Pro Lifetime$69.99





