1Writer - Markdown Text Editor

I used Editorial for many years and though I tried many other writing and note taking apps before and after that, 1Writer is the one I use every day and trust the most with my writing and notes. Another app worth a look in this space is the new app Tot from Icon Factory which is a fun, simpler take with similarly high standards. But 1Writer is far more powerful and flexible, and allows me to use iCloud to edit my notes on the Mac in my preferred text editor which is usually Sublime Text these days. Having access to the raw files in a normal filesystem matters to me, and 1Writer strikes the perfect balance for me of being quick to capture an idea with sane, customizable defaults, and fully featured enough to go back and find then edit that idea later. The switch between editing and previewing markdown can be quirky to get used to but it's handled well here. Plus the in-app browser experience was recently simplified to great benefit. It's nice to see the app keep improving so considerably and steadily.

After bouncing around the world of Markdown editors on iPad, I eventually began oscillating between iA Writer and 1Writer. iA has some nice features depending on your use case (better templating, typewriter mode, all that good stuff), but I would have weird issues with it at times. Its Dropbox support is already pretty wonky compared to most other apps, and eventually completely stopped working for me a couple months ago. 1Writer has been bullet-proof, though. It does exactly what it says, and does it well. There are small quality-of-life things like being able to close your current file without opening up another one. I don't know why, but it's just nice to be able to do that. It's been easy to use, and I even poked around in their Javascript tools to create a small action that copies my current Markdown document, and opens up my blog CMS so I can "export" it to Wordpress. Not as clean as iA, but gets the job done. I recommend it as a really good place for anyone to get started with Markdown on their iOS devices.

I’m a writer and I’ve been through a number of text editors for iOS. When my last favorite one wilted and died due to lack of support, I set out to find a really good one. Various sources steered me to 1Writer, and I discovered I’d already bought it in the past but never used it. I reinstalled it, set it up to sync with Dropbox, and have been happy ever since. My previous text editors would often not allow me to create new files unless I was online or had a data signal (because I had them set to sync with Dropbox), but 1Writer doesn’t give me that trouble. The one thing I really miss from my last, now dead, text editor was the option to “select line” when you touch and hold and get the usual “select” and “select all” options. Often, it would be convenient to select a line or paragraph without having to drag the beginning and ending markers hither & yon using a touch screen. So pleeeeeeeeease add that, okay? Thanks!