iA Writer vs Hair Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iA Writer
A distraction-free writing environment designed to help you focus on your words. It offers features like Focus Mode, plain text writing with HTML preview, and robust organization tools. Customize your writing experience and export to various formats.
- Distraction-free writing environment
- Focus Mode for enhanced concentration
- Plain text writing with HTML preview
- Document organization and search
- Customizable keyboard layout
- Export to various formats (Word, PDF, HTML, WordPress, Medium)
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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
Hair Notes
This app helps hair stylists quickly record client details, including color formulas, haircut photos, and preferences. It's designed for fast use between appointments, offering a simple, offline notebook experience.
- Client color formulas and history
- Haircut reference photos
- Before-and-after images
- Contact information storage
- Client preferences and allergies
- Searchable client records
- High-contrast interface
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Built for the chair, not the back office. You don't need another app trying to run your salon. You need to remember what you put in Sarah's hair eight weeks ago. That's what Hair Notes is for. Open a client. Check the last formula. Snap a photo. Write a note. Move on. The whole app is built around the 30 seconds you actually have between clients. For every client, keep: • Color formulas and color history over time • Haircut reference photos • Before-and-afters • Contact info: add manually or pull from your Contacts • Preferences, allergies, the stuff you'd forget • Follow-up notes for next time Designed for how stylists actually work: • High-contrast interface readable in salon lighting • Searchable client records • Recent clients pinned to the top • Fast enough to open, use, and close between sections What Hair Notes is not: It's not a booking app. It's not a payment processor. It's not trying to charge you $40 a month to run a salon you already run just fine. It's a notebook. That's the point. Pay once. $3.99. Done. No account. No subscription. No salon software contract. Your data lives on your device. You own it. We don't see it, sync it, sell it, or hold it hostage. Built by an indie team. Made for stylists who'd rather spend their money on color than on software.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Hair Notes at $3.99 against iA Writer's $19.99. Hair Notes also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (100% vs 73%). iA Writer's advantage is ratings volume (1.5K vs 2) and chart position (#36 vs unranked). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
iA Writer costs $19.99 and Hair Notes $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Hair Notes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iA Writer has 1.5K ratings behind it against 2, 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 100% of Hair Notes's.
iA Writer ships an update every 2 weeks, Hair Notes every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iA Writer | Hair Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 | $3.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.5K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 73.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.5K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #36 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 70 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Information Architects AG | Jerrod Eoff |
Customer experience
iA Writer
Hair Notes
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
Hair Notes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
iA Writer
No in-app purchases
Hair Notes
No in-app purchases









