iA Writer is a deliberately minimal writing app built around plain text and Markdown. It is designed for drafting, editing and thinking with fewer formatting controls competing for attention, rather than acting as a full desktop-publishing suite.
What it does Focus Mode highlights the current sentence or paragraph while fading surrounding text. Style Check flags filler and familiar weak phrasing locally on the device, leaving editorial decisions to the writer. Authorship tools distinguish typed text from pasted material, helping keep track of outside or AI-assisted contributions; they are not proof of authorship or a universal AI detector. Preview formatted Markdown and export to PDF, Word or HTML. Supported versions cover Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad.
Pricing — checked 21 October 2026 (USD) One-time purchases are $49.99 for Mac, $29.99 for Windows and $49.99 for the iPhone/iPad app, with payment required per platform. Mac and Windows offer a seven-day no-card trial. Regional store prices can differ. A purchase covers the current version, not guaranteed lifetime upgrades: minor updates are free, while major updates may cost extra. Direct Mac/Windows purchases have a 20% education discount. Android is no longer sold or supported.
Their story iA launched Writer for iPad in 2010 after working on newspaper apps and testing its stripped-back writing interface with designers and typographers. The company describes itself as fully bootstrapped. Writer has expanded across platforms while retaining its focus on portable text and intentional constraints, rather than adding every feature found in a word processor.
Sources: Product · Pricing · Origins · Legacy apps