Top 5 iPhone Apps for Writers

Unless a writer has their iPhone fitted with a comfy bluetooth keyboard (and I’m sure some do), most writers don’t do a lot of actual writing on their smartphone. That’s not to say, however, that a writer can’t produce a substantial amount of writing if they put the right iPhone apps for writers to good use.

The task of your smartphone isn’t so much to help you during the writing process; in fact, once you sit down to write, your phone could actually prove to be somewhat distracting. Instead, your phone should allow you to be productive and capture ideas when you’re not sitting down in front of your laptop.

This can happen by:

• Providing reference material so that you can research when you aren’t actually writing.
• Giving you the ability to take quick notes and jot down ideas on the fly.
• Allowing you to collect and organize ideas and media and send them to other services.

Providing reference material so that you can research when you aren’t actually writing. Giving you the ability to take quick notes and jot down ideas on the fly. Allowing you to collect and organize ideas and media and send them to other services.

An app that is good for writers will do at least one of these three things, which should ultimately make you more productive and focused by the time you sit down to actually write your material.

These iPhone apps for writers can help you do that in several different ways, and are thus beneficial for any writer at any stage of their career.

1. iThesaurus

Having a good pocket thesaurus should be the first instalment of a writer-friendly smartphone. The iThesaurus app has an ad-free version that costs money, but the basic app is free. It provides access to over 140000 words and also provides definitions for those words in addition to synonyms.

2. Dragon Dictation

Dragon dictation is a piece of software that allows you to speak and will then write down whatever you’ve said, doing so with an incredible amount of accuracy. You definitely need to annunciate, but for the most part, you can speak naturally and count on the app to pick up most of what you said. This is a great tool for getting down quick thoughts and ideas and articles, or even writing segments of paragraphs.

3. DraftPad

Draft Pad is a glorified notepad app, but is helpful because it gives you a nice big plain sheet of paper (on your screen) without any functional complexity or visual distractions. You can also send your text to other apps or web services like email, Twitter, Facebook or export it for use in your blog.

4. Evernote

Evernote is a tremendously popular app that allows you to stay better organized across all of the devices that you use. The app is a great tool for organizing your ideas, increasing your
productivity and getting down ideas on the fly. This is all accomplished by allowing you to take notes, capture images and catalogue everything in a searchable database.

5. Office Plus

Office Plus is how most mobile devices allow you to open and edit Microsoft Office documents. Though the “Plus” suggests that you would have to pay for the app, it is free before giving you some in-app purchasing options. Office Plus allows you to edit Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents with a surprising amount of functionality right from your phone. It’s an obvious must
for writers using the Microsoft Office system.

While there is yet to be an iPhone app for writers that embraces the entirety of the writing process, these apps are a great starting point for any writer on the go. They can help with research, organization, and outlining ideas, which can only increase productivity, and easily assimilate into any writer’s routine.

Disagree with this list? What iPhone apps for writers do you use? Just pop the name of any we have missed in the comments.

Categorised in: Writing Tools