Author vs Zavala
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Author
This app serves as a companion to its macOS counterpart, offering a minimalist and powerful writing experience on iOS devices. It allows users to create and manage their written content seamlessly across platforms.
- Minimalist writing interface
- Powerful writing tools
- iOS companion app
- Syncs with macOS version
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The iOS companion to Author macOS.
Zavala
This app offers a modern approach to outlining, providing a full suite of features. It supports gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and multiple windows for efficient organization and content creation. Easily import and export in various formats, sync across devices, and customize your outlining experience.
- OPML Import & Export
- Markdown Export
- iCloud Syncing & Sharing
- Nested Tags
- Image Embedding
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Drag and Drop
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Zavala is a modern take on a traditional outliner. It is a full featured app. It takes full advantage of your device by leveraging gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and multiple windows. Other features: * OPML import & export * Markdown import & export * HTML import & export * iCloud syncing * iCloud sharing with other iCloud users * Encrypted outlines and encrypted iCloud sync * Nested Tags for organizing Outlines * Support for embedding images * Print support * Drag and drop * Text formatting * Links * Completed items * Notes * Customizable fonts and sizes * Backlinks * Shortcuts support * Web clipper share extension * Typewriter scrolling * Automatic row numbering including Decimal and Legal numbering
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Zavala at Free against Author's $19.99. Zavala also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). 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
Zavala is free to download; Author costs $19.99 up front. Author sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Zavala asks for nothing beyond the download.
Zavala holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zavala has 70 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Author's written reviews are positive against 88% of Zavala's.
Author ships an update every 2 months, Zavala every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Author | Zavala |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.0 (5 ratings) | 4.8 (70 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 71.5% of reviews | 87.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 70 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The Augmented Text Company LTD | Vincode, Inc |
Customer experience
Author
Zavala
User reviews
Author
From 5 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Clean, minimalist interface design
- 💡 Innovative concept mapping and mind mapping features
- 📚 Excellent citation and reference management
- ⌨️ Useful keyboard shortcuts and productivity features
- 🎯 Powerful outlining and document folding capabilities
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and data loss issues
- 📱 iOS/iPad app severely broken and non-functional
- 🔄 Syncing problems between devices
- 🎨 Limited formatting and customization options
- 📊 Poor image handling capabilities
Zavala
From 70 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and intuitive UI
- 🚀 Fast and lightweight
- 🌟 Excellent outliner functionality
- 🆓 Free and open source
- ✨ Elegant and clean design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Sync issues reported
- 🐛 Occasional crashes
- 🐛 Glitchy behavior
- 🐛 Formatting issues
- 🐛 Incompatible iCloud database
Bugs and requests
Author
Reported bugs
20 issues- App crashes frequently, causing data loss
- iOS app shows blank screen and won't open documents
- iPad app completely non-functional
- Text disappears or becomes greyed out during iCloud saves
- Vision OS app lacks cursor for text input
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Ask AI feature shows infinite loading spinner
- Unexpected Russian pricing text displayed to US users
- App doesn't launch or open on some systems
- Files not detected in Downloads folder
- Cannot open documents created in desktop version on iOS
- Automatic file conversion to Liquid format breaks iOS compatibility
- Text rendering issues (white text on white background)
- Table function broken - cannot write in cells
- App lags and deletes lines when typing quickly
- Highlight feature not working
- Citations not resolving automatically
- Markdown export only exports preamble
- Copy-paste functionality issues
- French localization not working despite being advertised
- App not compatible with iOS 18 and latest macOS versions
Requested features
20 requests- iPad and iOS app that actually works
- Typewriter scrolling mode
- Variable screen width for large displays
- Complete LaTeX export with full file support
- Markdown support
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Better image handling and integration
- Find and replace functionality
- Dark mode for older macOS versions
- Inline predictive text support
- Nested list creation and editing
- Paragraph indentation options
- Photo support on macOS version
- Keyboard shortcut reference guide
- Table editing improvements
- Integration with reference management software (Zotero, EndNote)
- Local AI endpoints or BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) for privacy
- Better onboarding and UI guidance for new users
- Typeface options (Courier, American Typewriter, serif fonts)
- Line spacing options (1.5, double spacing)
- Color themes and dark mode options
Zavala
Reported bugs
9 issues- Broken sync between iPhone and Mac
- iCloud database incompatibility
- Unable to format using toolbar
- Lost outline after update
- Sidebar not available
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Cannot open outlines from Document Provider
- App crashes on M1
- IME input ignored in body text (Japanese)
- Abstürze beim Anlegen des ersten Dokuments (M1)
Requested features
15 requests- Continue releasing macOS builds for older versions
- Legacy database option for iOS apps
- Cross-platform support
- Ability to change tag and outline list order manually
- Support for hiding notes
Show 10 moreShow fewer
- Typewriter scroll mode
- Due dates on the right of the note
- Font color change
- Multi-select for dragging
- Copy and paste lines
- Option to use system fonts
- Full screen document view with swipe gesture
- Adjust line spacing
- Improve drag and drop behavior on Mac
- Sync via Nextcloud
In-app purchases
Author
- Export & AIFree
Zavala
No in-app purchases
