iA Writer vs Penstar mobile
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iA Writer
This writing application provides a clean, distraction-free environment to focus on your words. It offers features like Focus Mode to dim distractions, plain text writing with HTML preview, and customizable keyboard layouts. Organize and export your documents in various formats.
- Distraction-free writing environment
- Focus Mode for sentence/paragraph highlighting
- Plain text writing with HTML preview
- Document search, sort, and cloud syncing
- Customizable keyboard layouts
- Export to WordPress, Medium, Word, PDF
- Inverted light-on-dark mode
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“Leaving life’s mess for an ideal realm of words.” —The New Yorker “My favorite iOS app for writing in Markdown, without question, is iA Writer. iA Writer is just beautiful. To me, it’s the gold standard for Markdown syntax styling... an elegant champagne flute. That’s iA Writer for me.” —John Gruber “iA Writer creates a clean, simple and distraction-free writing environment for when you really need to focus on your words.” —The New York Times “iA Writer is an example of how powerful simplicity and accessibility can be.” —The Guardian “iA Writer is all about textual production—writing this phrase, this sentence, this word at this moment.” —WIRED 4 x Best of App Store Winner # The Simple Writing App iA Writer removes distractions. Giving you a calm, focused, writing space, so you can express yourself clearly. # Focus Focus Mode dims everything but the current sentence or paragraph, helping you stay in the flow. # Start Don’t worry about the format. First, write in plain text. Then preview in HTML. # Organize Search, sort, and quickly swap between documents from different clouds. # Customize When you tap and hold a key in the command keyboard, you’re given the chance to choose your own layout. Rearrange your keys, or pick new ones from the extensive list. # Search You can open documents and launch frequent actions in no time with the new Quick Search. It lives in the keyboard so it’s always close at hand. # Work iA Writer includes an inverted light-on-dark-mode, perfect for working day and night. # Clean Spot superfluous adjectives, weak verbs, repetitive nouns, false conjunctions and clean your text of the usual rumble. # Shape Customize your templates and export to WordPress or Medium, HTML, Microsoft Word (.docx), or PDF. # 100% Text Embed links, pictures, tables and text files in plain text and see them in preview. # Get in Touch - Visit ia.net/writer for more information - Visit ia.net/writer/support for support and feedback
Penstar mobile
This app allows you to access and manage your notes and calendars from your Penstar eNote device. It provides convenient access to your digital notes and schedule anytime, anywhere.
- Access eNotes on mobile
- Sync calendars
- Anytime, anywhere access
- Note management
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Anytime, anywhere, whenever you want! Supports the notes and calendars you write on your Penstar eNote
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Penstar mobile at Free against iA Writer's $19.99. Penstar mobile also leads on iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). iA Writer's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 3.2) and ratings volume (1.5K vs 6). On update cadence, 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
Penstar mobile is free to download; iA Writer costs $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
iA Writer holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iA Writer has 1.5K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of iA Writer's written reviews are positive against 57% of Penstar mobile's.
iA Writer ships an update every 2 weeks, Penstar mobile fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iA Writer | Penstar mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.5K ratings) — better | 3.2 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 73.1% of reviews — better | 57.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.5K — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #33 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 70 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Information Architects AG | Penstar Innovation Inc. |
Customer experience
iA Writer
Penstar mobile
Bugs and requests
iA Writer
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when opening certain files
- Sync issues leading to data loss
- Formatting problems when exporting to other formats
Requested features
6 requests- Improved cloud storage integration (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)
- Enhanced file management and organization tools
- Better text selection and cursor control
- More customization options for appearance and layout
- Integrated outline/table of contents view
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- Collaborative editing features
Penstar mobile
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
iA Writer
No in-app purchases
Penstar mobile
No in-app purchases
