Writing apps are among the most useful apps you can have on your iPhone or iPad, but they’re not always the first apps you think of. Maybe it’s because most people don’t write full-length works on their iOS devices. Maybe it’s because they’re contented with in-built apps. whichever the case, there’s no genuine reason to not look into the rich world of iOS writing apps considering how many fantastic options are available today.
The app store offers a variety of writing apps, from basic note takers to more advanced word processors, each with its own distinct feature set. Some, like Apple Pages And Microsoft Word, lets you format your text as you write.
If you are a student, screenwriter, novelists, or wordsmith, you are going to find something that suits your needs from this list of the best Notepad apps for iPhone and iPad in 2025.
Best Notepad Apps for iPhone and iPad
Our best picks:
Scrivener
There are very limited definitive “best overall apps” in particular fields. We even put a lot of effort not to make such statements. However, Scrivener is considered by many to be the definitive writing app for iPad and iPhone.
There are multiple things that makes Scrivener stand out from the pack, but the major draw is its versatility. Scrivener is designed to help you write everything from screenplays to book reports. No matter what you write, you’ll have access to its impressive features that let you edit, analyze dictate, and pretty much anything you may ever need from notepad app.
Scrivener allows you to write in any order, in segments as large or small as you like, which you can rearrange effortlessly. It allows you to store your research files and project notes along with your writing. At the end of the process, Scrivener can gather together all the pieces of text that make up your project, putting them into a single Word document or PDF.
I highly recommend this app to any writer who own an iOS device.
IA Writer
There’s no shortage of notepad apps out there packed with features, bells, and whistles, but sometimes, you just need something simple. When you want to write free from distractions, IA Writer is exactly what you need.
Yes, this Notepad app only looks simple. Its plain text format provides a blank slate for whatever writing you need to get done, but it’s also packed with tons of Great text editing features that let you manage your work efficiently.
The app’s ($29.99) price tag is certainly going to raise some eyebrows. However, it’s worth every penny for serious writers who find themselves easily distracted.
Ulysses
Another popular app with writers is Ulysses. It’s a fantastic , simple markdown editor which can sync to Dropbox and can export to several formats, however, it’s expensive for what it does. There are other, cheaper alternatives which offer much of the same functionality. Having said that, Ulysses works in ways that may prove very helpful to some users. Specifically, it’s a fantastic tool for exporting and writing in various formats. It’s also a wonderful Markdown editor for those who are in need of one.
If you’re looking for an overall writing app, Ulysses may not be your absolute best option. Again, we recommend Scrivener for that.
With all that in mind, the fact that Ulysses is a subscription-based service means that you might want to make sure you can take advantage of its top features. For the right person, however, this is just one of the best writing apps for iPhone and iPad out there.
Google Docs
This may sound obvious, but we’re not sure it is. Many people search for the best, simple document app when it’s starting them right in the face. Google Docs offers much more than the document service that is included in your Gmail account. It’s not the most feature-rich service in the market, however, that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that Google Docs is available, easy-to-use, reliable, and bundled with tons of essential functions. Best of all, almost everyone uses Google Docs. That makes it an especially great choice for any shared documents you’re working on.
Day One Journal
Day One Journal isn’t the most versatile writing app out there. And yes, it’s not trying to be. It’s trying to be the digital journal you didn’t know you needed in your life.
Day One Journal makes it easy to keep track of your life/adventures. Yes, that means writing down your thoughts/activities/whatever, however, Day One Journal offers more than that. It even lets you mark locations, organize daily photos, and save audio moments.
For those who would like to get back to writing on a daily basis, this is a smart way to start. It just happens to offer many more functions than that.
Rev
Anyone who has ever tried to transcribe an interview may already know it’s not a cup of tea. Even having a fantastic audio recorder results in a surprising amount of work for those who want an accurate transcription in a short time.
Rev is a high-quality audio recorder, but it offers extra features worth checking out. The app gives you the ability to upload your recordings to the service. From there, you can request for audio to be transcribed at a fee of $1 per minute. Rev even offers a less-than-12-hours delivery time.
I highly recommend this app to any writer who does interviews. Even as a straight audio recorder, it’s a pretty good one.
Grammarly Keyboard
Anyone can make a mistake. Even the best writer makes errors now and then. That’s why any editor will ask you to double and triple check your work for errors.
What Grammarly does is it simplifies that process. In addition to spell checking, Grammarly
can also help perfect your writing by identifying common mistakes. From grammatical corrections to style suggestions, Grammarly helps reduce your mistakes by catching them the first time around.
Grammarly keyboard isn’t quite as expansive as the desktop version, however, it’s a fantastic way to keep an extra eye on your everyday writing and ensure it’s free from mistakes.
Bear
Even the best notepad apps can be rather…boring sometimes. While that makes them feel professional, it doesn’t necessarily bring excitement while using them.
Bear writing app
adopts a rather different approach. Its user interface is designed to be bold and intriguing. Its various themes accommodate a range of styles. It even allows you to add little sketches to your writing as well as emojis.
We wouldn’t recommend Bear for professional writing; but it was not designed for that in the first place. It’s designed for people who want to add a little style and flair
to their daily writing. All in all, it’s a great way to make writing enjoyable again.
Pages
For some reason, Apple’s Pages never really hit the level of popularity that Apple expected.to be honest, we don’t know the reason.
Pagesmay not be as popular as Google Docs, however, it includes more fantastic features. Actually, Pages calling card is its ability to let you create outstanding documents.
With tons of templates and customization options, Pages makes it easy to ensure almost any type of document looks unique.
If you haven’t used Pages, give it a try today. You may just be amazed by how much you can accomplish with it.
Terminology
Text editors aren’t the only tools that can make your writing process a breeze.
Terminology Dictionary
is a dictionary, thesaurus and research tool. A dictionary is included, but it can also look up your search term on other websites and apps, which makes
it easy to find definitions and information from a wide range of sources.
You may have not held a dictionary or thesaurus in ages, but it’s a good practice to use one daily. A good dictionary and thesaurus improves a writer’s command of language
and helps ensure they sound like they know what they’re talking about.
Well, Terminology is about as good as a modern dictionary/thesaurus gets. In fact, it goes a little deeper than that. Terminology is a great research
tool for your writing and just about anyone else’s. The latter feature is made possible thanks to Terminology’s text search capabilities.
Just like Grammarly, Terminology is simply an fantastic companion app for any writer.
TextExpander (Legacy)
There are certain tools in life worth possessing just because they resolve a common, but frustrating, issues. For many writers,TextExpander is a good example of such a tool.
TextExpander does a great job of ensuring that you don’t have to type the same phrase over and over again. For example, if you want to fix a keyword
into an article, you can use TextExpander to make sure that phrase appears by just entering a few letters.
We understand that this app will not be necessary for everyone, however, it’s definitely going to be quite benefitial to some writers.
Writing Challenge
Every writer knows the feeling: you’ve just sat down at the keyboard, ready to write your next article. All of a sudden, your mind turns blank. What appeared
like a brilliant idea in the previous night now seems impossible to put into words. Or perhaps you have no ideas at all and you wonder how you’ve ever managed
to write anything. Unfortunately, your iOS device can’t write your articles, essays, stories or blog posts for you. That’s where the Writing Challenge app kicks in.
The most challenging part when it come to writing is typically getting started, and that
extends to thinking of the right idea to write about on a blank page.
Well,Writing Challenge app can help with the latter. The app provides you with a series of prompts that may remind some of a Mad Lib. The main objective is to conduct a basic
story using these prompts.
However, these prompts probably won’t be the basis of the next great novel, but can help you to easily get started with writing rather than just staring
at a blank page. The app is also very enjoyable to use.
Drafts 5
Draftsis another popular writing app for iOS. When opened, it presents you with a blank document or “draft”,
so you can start typing immediately you launch it. It works very well as a basic note taker, for those times when you want to note down that idea or bit
of information before it drifts away from your mind, and it’s easy to use for that purpose. But it also has powerful automation features. If you’ve used Workflow, “Actions”
in drafts are the same. It does not let you create folders or sync with dropbox, however, you can set it up to export your text precisely where you want it. If you have a text
file in Dropbox that you use as a journal, for instance, you can set up an action to append your current text to that file, with the date at the top. It
can send your text to multiple places simultaneously, for instance, posting to WordPress or a social network and making an archive of your post in Dropbox or iCloud.
Notebooks.
Drafts is good for taking quick notes and storing temporary pieces of text, but for sustained work on multiple projects you need an app that can use multiple
folders and sync to dropbox, to make sure your work is safely backed up and accessible on other devices. For that, I recommend
Notebooks.Don’t be fooled by the name. this app is not just a note taker. It allows you to write plain text or HTML documents, in as many “books” or folders as you want, and can even sync
it all to Dropbox. It features some handy keyboard shortcuts for use when editing, for inserting markdown characters and date and time stamps. When you’ve
completed writing, you can convert your document to HTML or PDF, or put all the notes from one book or folder together into a single ebook. In addition to being
a very powerful text editor, it can display most types of files, save web pages, has task management features and can even serve as a basic voice recorder.
Final Draft Mobile
You’ve probably heard of Final Draft. This legendary program has long been the favorite service among screenwriters looking to get started on a new project. Actually, countless great scripted programs can be traced back to someone opening Final Draft.
Well, Final Draft Mobile packs almost everything that its desktop colleague is famous for. In addition to helping your screenplay look professional,
Final Draft also helps you better understand the screenplay format.
There are other notepad apps that do screenplays and more, but if you’re serious about writing a script, then I highly recommend this app.
iMindMap
Every great piece of writing starts with an idea. Whether it be a phrase, a character, a setting, or whatever, everything you write starts with a single idea. It starts becoming tricky when you try to figure out where that idea goes from there. iMindMaphas a solution for that. The app lets you essentially map your brain and creative process. From a simple foundation, you can create rich flowcharts that showcase the evolution of a concept. For a writer who has problems keeping it all together, iMindMap presents you with a great way to turn a clutter of ideas into a cohesive structure. Give it a Try next time you want your brainstorms to turn into projects.
And that covers everything about best Notepad apps for iPhone and iPad. We hope we are able to help you one way or another. For more articles like this, please check our website.
