The default Notes app has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years and has become quite easy to recommend, but when I want to jot something quickly, I turn to iA Writer. iA Writer strips out everything that might distract you from your writing, leaving only your words rendered in the highly readable iA Writer typeface, which is custom designed for the app. Fewer features, by design.
iA Writer is available for iOS, Mac, and Windows, with the two former using iCloud for syncing your files across devices. Unlike so many apps these days, iA Writer is a one-time-per-platform purchase without any annoying pop-ups trying to upsell you on monthly subscription plans. I’ve been using the current iteration of the Mac app since 2013. That’s a good value right there.
I wrote a blog post about how Obsidian replaced iA Writer for me back in May 2025. While that’s true to a large extent, I still rely on iA Writer for jotting down notes that I don’t necessarily want to keep long-term. Obsidian is for the stuff I want to save and keep track of.
