The Writer is a mobile text editor for note-taking and drafting, available on iOS and Android.
Product velocity
Dormant
Daily rank 🇺🇸
—
Productivity
Sentiment
4.0
29k reviews
Nemesis
Novelist
The App DNA
What makes this app unique?
Users hire The Writer for a low-stakes, distraction-free environment to capture thoughts and manage basic documents on the go.
For Mobile users seeking a text editor for note-taking, drafting, and document management.
What does it look like?
Key features
Isolates the current sentence for writing.
Text-to-speech engine for notes.
Side-by-side document viewing on Android.
How much does it cost?
Freemium model anchored at $0.99/month, utilizing feature-gating for advanced formatting and export tools.
Velocity
Dormant developmentopaqueShow more...
The app has effectively ceased development, with the most recent release occurring on July 21, 2025. Given that the last update was over 10 months ago, the project is classified as a zombie. There is no evidence of active maintenance, feature development, or live operations.
Who built it?
Abdullah Alioski
3 apps tracked · Productivity
Куран на Македонски
Dabdoob - Snakes & LaddersUser Sentiment
What do users think recently?
How are ratings & reviews evolving?
Not enough recent reviews to extract reliable themes yet.
Read the full review analysisCompetition
Competitive landscape for The Writer - Vulpi's Text Editor
How's the Productivity market?
The Writer maintains a niche presence in the Productivity category, but the lack of updates since mid-2025 limits its ability to compete with active rivals like Novelist.
Read the market outlookThe rivals identified
By Alessandro Riperi
Novelist directly targets the long-form creative writing demographic that The Writer aims to capture, specifically competing on structural organization and project management for authors.
- Offers a dedicated story plotting board that provides visual structure for complex narrative arcs
- Includes built-in goal setting and tracking features to help writers maintain consistent daily output
- Provides a more specialized environment for book-length projects compared to general text editors
LivingWriter: Write AnywhereContender
Jokebook - Stand Up ComedyContender
Easy Write - Writing AssistantContenderUnlock the head-to-head verdict: where this rival wins, and where it loses.
Access the full report for freeThe Analyst's Read
Key takeaways for The Writer - Vulpi's Text Editor
Where is it heading?
The writing-utility market is consolidating around AI-integrated platforms that offer structural project management. The Writer's lack of updates leaves it exposed, so the PM must pivot from maintenance to feature parity to prevent total user migration to rivals like Novelist.
- The 10-month development silence signals a shift to maintenance mode, which accelerates churn as power users migrate to active, AI-enhanced alternatives.
The SWOT
- Distraction-free focus mode lowers entry barrier.
- Split-screen support enables multi-document workflows.
- AI-assisted grammar checks could bridge gaps with Easy Write.
- Visual story-plotting boards would counter Novelist's retention.
Next best moves
Ship structural project management tools because Novelist's plotting board is the primary migration driver -> reduce power-user churn.
The counter-intuitive read
The Writer's stagnation is a feature for casual…
Read the full takeFeature gaps
Story plotting boards (available in Novelist but absent here) +2
Since the last report: The app's competitive outlook has declined due to continued development stagnation, prompting a shift in strategy toward addressing structural feature gaps that drive user churn.
Bottom line
The Writer serves as a functional, distraction-free editor for casual drafting, but its lack of active development makes it a high-churn risk against specialized rivals, so the PM should prioritize a feature-parity roadmap to prevent further migration to Novelist.
Unlock 2 critical frictions, 2 market threats and the analyst’s take.
Access the full report for freeFAQ
Is The Writer suitable for professional novelists?
How does The Writer compare to Novelist?
What are the limitations of the free version?
What is a good alternative for AI-assisted writing?
Sources
Report last updated