Comparison

WriteOn vs Pieces Minimalist Writing

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

WriteOn

This app helps writers manage and track their creative writing projects, from novels to short stories. Set word count and date targets, monitor daily progress, and organize chapters. Share your achievements on social media or back up your work securely.

Highlights
  • Manage multiple writing projects
  • Track daily word count and project progress
  • Organize individual chapters
  • Set target dates and word counts
  • Backup and restore projects
  • Customizable day/night modes
Features
Read full description

WriteOn lets writers use their iPhone or iPad to write their novel, short story, or other writing project and track their progress at the same time. Notebook computer too heavy to lug around? Want to write a scene or chapter while you're out and about sans computer? Have unexpected down time while waiting on someone else? Going to a write-in after work or school and don't have the room to lug your notebook computer? Writing on the go has never been easier! Whether you're writing flash fiction or a novel, on your own or as part of a challenge like NaNoWriMo or the 3-Day Novel Contest, WriteOn can handle your writing needs. Have multiple writing projects going on at the same time? No problem! Have multiple writing projects each with many chapters? Still no problem! But that's not all! WriteOn lets you track your writing progress on each project. Name your project, set a target date and a target word count and the app will calculate how many days you have left until your target date and how many words you need to write each day to meet your goal. The statistics screen tells you at a glance how much you've written, how many days you've written, how many words you wrote each day on average, and the percentage complete for your project. WriteOn also lets you see all the word count for each individual chapter for your project on the Chapters screen. See at a glance which chapter may need beefing up, or which chapter can use a bit of trimming :) Want to send a copy of your project to your friend or loved one? Go right ahead and send it via email! Tweet about your daily writing progress. Or post on Facebook with your daily word count. Keep your various social streams informed. Rub your progress in their faces even! Now, you can also try out the free version of WriteOn, WriteOn Lite, and then transfer your work from WriteOn Lite to the Pro version with a single tap. It's just easy to try out WriteOn to see if it is for you and to continue working with the additional functionality provided by the paid version of WriteOn. WriteOn also has an option which allows you to switch between customizable day and night modes. You can set the text colour and the background colour you want for each mode and switch to the appropriate one - for instance, when you're working at night while a loved one sleeps next to you. Additionally, WriteOn Pro allows you to backup all your projects via e-mail, to DropBox or any other iOS app which supports receiving data from another app. You can later restore these backups by simply tapping on the attachment on e-mail or selecting the backup file in another app and selecting the option to open the file in WriteOn. Your writing projects are always safe with WriteOn! Features: - Manage all your writing projects in one place. - Backup all projects via e-mail or a service like DropBox and later restore them again. - Be able to manage individual chapters for each writing project and know the word count for each project. - Write on iPad or iPhone and be even able to share data between multiple devices by transferring backups from device to device. - Switch between day and night modes to write under any light conditions at any time of day. - Session totals, daily word count totals, and statistics are automatically calculated. - History shows you how many words written for each writing session. - Statistics will show you the total amount you've written so far, remaining words to write, how many days you've written, your average words written per day, how many days remaining until your target due date, how many words you need to write each day to reach your writing goal, and so on. - Send a copy of your project to yourself or others via email in .txt format. - Social sharing for sharing daily word counts via email, twitter, Facebook, and other social sharing sites. - Built-in FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). - Built-in feedback for bugs and feature requests.

About

Pieces Minimalist Writing

This app provides a distraction-free writing environment with a minimalist interface. It offers robust formatting options and ensures your work is stored securely on your device. Ideal for writers who value simplicity and creative control.

Highlights
  • Distraction-free writing environment
  • Rich text formatting
  • Quick-type punctuation keyboard
  • Word count
  • Buttonless simple design
  • iCloud Backup
  • .rtf file sharing
Features
Read full description

Pieces is a minimalist writing app that lets you focus on writing without distractions. Pieces also gives you great flexibility to format what you write, so you can realise your creative vision. Built to be a simplistic digital version of a note-pad and pen, Pieces gives you the freedom to think and write in a beautiful minimalist environment. Stored on your device forever, in a beautiful standardised type face. Never at risk of dog eared pages or ink smudges, Pieces works especially well to archive your more treasured pieces of writing. Features - Quick-type punctuation keyboard - Word count - Buttonless simple design - Minimal battery consumption - Minimal memory usage - Pieces saved with every letter typed - iCloud Backup - .rtf file sharing - Rich text formatting - Extensive font selection - Folders If you have feedback on how to improve the app or want to suggest new features, please get in touch by tapping 'Feedback' in the app menu, or leave a review in the App Store. For our Terms and Conditions in the Licence agreement please see: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

WriteOn4 screens
Pieces Minimalist Writing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pieces Minimalist Writing at Free against WriteOn's $4.99. Pieces Minimalist Writing also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.3) and review sentiment (74% vs 50%). WriteOn's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Pieces Minimalist Writing is free to download; WriteOn costs $4.99 up front. Pieces Minimalist Writing sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. WriteOn asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pieces Minimalist Writing holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pieces Minimalist Writing has 142 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of WriteOn's written reviews are positive against 74% of Pieces Minimalist Writing's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

WriteOn ships an update monthly, Pieces Minimalist Writing every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on June 10, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
WriteOn versus Pieces Minimalist Writing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWriteOnPieces Minimalist Writing
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating3.3 (3 ratings)4.6 (142 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews74.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3142 — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.6
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPink Zombie Studios Inc.Timothy Whiting

Customer experience

WriteOn

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative25.0%

Pieces Minimalist Writing

All ratings142 ratings
Positive93.0%
Neutral0.7%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive74.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative22.0%

In-app purchases

None

WriteOn

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Pieces Minimalist Writing

Subscriptions3
  • Full Access$0.991 Month
  • Pieces Unlimited7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Pieces Unlimited7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlimited Pieces$7.99

Questions

Is WriteOn free?
WriteOn costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pieces Minimalist Writing free?
Pieces Minimalist Writing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, WriteOn or Pieces Minimalist Writing?
Pieces Minimalist Writing is rated higher. WriteOn averages 3.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Pieces Minimalist Writing averages 4.6 from 142 ratings.
Do WriteOn or Pieces Minimalist Writing have ads?
Neither WriteOn nor Pieces Minimalist Writing shows ads.
Which is updated more often, WriteOn or Pieces Minimalist Writing?
WriteOn ships an update monthly, and Pieces Minimalist Writing every 2 months. Most recently, WriteOn was updated on June 10, 2026 and Pieces Minimalist Writing on September 21, 2026.

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