Report updated May 12, 2026

TL;DR:Story Tracker wins the freelance writing niche by centralizing submission history and market guidelines, but its reliance on manual data entry and local-only storage creates a retention ceiling that modern cloud-native tools are actively exploiting. Users feel Excited, praising simplified submission tracking provides writers with a clear overview of their active literary market outreach but frustrated by lack of cross-device synchronization prevents users from maintaining consistent submission records across their mobile and desktop hardware. Story Tracker maintains a loyal niche through its specialized submission database, but the lack of cross-device sync creates a critical retention risk against modern writing tools, so the PM should prioritize cloud infrastructure to secure the professional user base..|TL;DR:Story Tracker wins the freelance writing niche by centralizing submission history and market guidelines, but its reliance on manual data entry and local-only storage creates a retention ceiling that modern cloud-native tools are actively exploiting. Users feel Excited, praising simplified submission tracking provides writers with a clear overview of their active literary market outreach but frustrated by lack of cross-device synchronization prevents users from maintaining consistent submission records across their mobile and desktop hardware. Story Tracker maintains a loyal niche through its specialized submission database, but the lack of cross-device sync creates a critical retention risk against modern writing tools, so the PM should prioritize cloud infrastructure to secure the professional user base..
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Story Tracker is a well-regarded productivity app that is a paid app. With a 4.4/5 rating from 24 reviews, it maintains solid user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate simplified submission tracking provides writers with a clear overview of their active literary market outreach, though lack of cross-device synchronization prevents users from maintaining consistent submission records across their mobile and desktop hardware remains a common concern.

What is Story Tracker?

Story Tracker is a productivity utility for freelance writers to manage literary submissions and market guidelines on iOS.

Writers hire the app to mitigate the risk of simultaneous submission errors and track income across multiple literary markets.

Current Momentum

v3.6 · 32mo ago

Zombie

Last updated 969d ago. 5 versions tracked.

AI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.

Active Nemesis

Story Planner for Writers

Story Planner for Writers

By Bartolome Masco Lopez

Other Rivals

Obsidian - Connected Notes
Ulysses Mobile
Drafts

7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸

Productivity

No ranking data

Rating Pulse 🇺🇸

Recent User MoodAI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.

What makes this app unique?

What Does It Look Like?

How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?

Loading...

What Are The Key Features?

Submission TrackingStandard

Logs status, dates, and response times for stories, novels, and articles across multiple markets

Market DatabaseDifferentiator

Stores guidelines, editor details, and submission status for magazines, publishers, and competitions

Database PortabilityDifferentiator

Supports CSV import/export and WiFi-based database transfer to desktop versions of the app

How much does it cost?

Paid
  • Full version at $7.99
  • Lite version with 5-item limit

Paid model at $7.99 with a functional Lite version acting as a conversion funnel for power users.

Who Built It?

Andrew Nicolle app icon 1
Andrew Nicolle app icon 2
Andrew Nicolle app icon 3
Andrew Nicolle app icon 4

Andrew Nicolle

(531)

Providing specialized digital cataloging tools for plant and hobby enthusiasts. Enabling collectors to track development and maintenance history.

Portfolio

9

Apps

Free 6Paid 2
Lifestyle88%
Productivity13%

Who is Andrew Nicolle?

The publisher operates a niche, long-tail strategy by focusing on highly specific database applications for hobbyist collectors. By maintaining a consistent, manual-entry architecture across different plant species and creative projects, they have established a predictable product ecosystem that requires minimal feature iteration. The primary strategic tension lies in the reliance on legacy manual-input workflows, which may face pressure from automated, AI-driven plant identification and tracking competitors.

Who is Andrew Nicolle for?

  • Hobbyists
  • Collectors
  • Specifically in the bonsai
  • Orchid
Maintenance

Portfolio momentum

With only one release in the last six months and a majority of the portfolio classified as abandoned, development is currently in a maintenance phase.

Last release · 79d agoActive apps · 3Abandoned · 5

What do users think recently?

Low confidence · 30 reviews analyzed

How did the latest release land?

Overall
4.4/ 5
(24)
Current version
4.4/ 5
0.0 vs overall
(24)
Main signal post-update: simplified submission tracking provides writers with a clear overview of their active literary market outreach.

What is the recent mood?

Excited

Recent user voice shows a excited sentiment. Users appreciate simplified submission tracking provides writers with a clear overview of their active literary market outreach and responsive developer communication fosters user loyalty and encourages long-term adoption of the submission management tool, but report lack of cross-device synchronization prevents users from maintaining consistent submission records across their mobile and desktop hardware and limited sorting and filtering capabilities hinder the ability to manage large volumes of market responses effectively.

Limited review volume (30 reviews). Sentiment analysis will deepen as more data lands.

What is the competitive landscape for Story Tracker?

How's The Productivity Market?

Market outlook for this category

Available very soon

The rivals identified

The Nemesis

Story Planner for Writers

Story Planner for Writers

4.7 (1.2K)

Bartolome Masco Lopez

This is the only direct competitor in the qualified pool that focuses exclusively on the writer's workflow for tracking and planning stories.

Head to Head

The target app should defend its niche by doubling down on submission-specific automation, while the nemesis captures the broader creative planning market.

What sets Story Tracker apart

  • Focuses on the specific pain point of submission management and tracking publication status for freelancers.

  • Offers a streamlined, lightweight interface for users who only need to track external submission deadlines.

What's Story Planner for Writers's Edge

  • Integrates deep narrative planning tools that allow writers to manage the creative process alongside submissions.

  • Provides a comprehensive ecosystem for story development that keeps users engaged throughout the entire writing lifecycle.

Peers

Uses local-first markdown files to ensure long-term data portability and ownership for serious writers.

Supports complex bi-directional linking to map out research, character relationships, and world-building notes.

Ulysses Mobile

Ulysses Mobile

4.5 (2.6K)

Ulysses GmbH & Co. KG

🚀

A premium writing environment that serves the same professional writing audience but focuses on composition rather than submission tracking.

Features a distraction-free writing environment with advanced export capabilities for various publishing formats.

Utilizes a sophisticated library management system that handles large-scale writing projects more effectively than simple trackers.

Drafts

Drafts

4.8 (10.5K)

Agile Tortoise

An essential utility for writers that captures text instantly, acting as a high-velocity input layer for any writing workflow.

Employs a powerful automation engine that allows users to route text to any other app or service.

Optimized for rapid text capture, serving as the starting point for drafts before they reach submission trackers.

The outtake for Story Tracker

Strengths to defend, gaps to attack

Core Strengths

  • Centralized market database creates high switching costs
  • Responsive developer support fosters long-term user loyalty

Critical Frictions

  • No cloud-based sync mechanism
  • Manual data entry requirement
  • Limited sorting and filtering for large submission volumes

Growth Levers

  • Integration with external submission platforms
  • Expansion into automated market data updates

Market Threats

  • Rising popularity of general-purpose knowledge management tools
  • Lack of automated sync eroding competitive parity

What are the next best moves?

highInvest

Ship cloud-based synchronization because user complaints cite lack of cross-device sync as a primary friction point → reduce churn.

Top complaint theme in sentiment analysis.

Trade-off: Deprioritize the planned UI refresh for the market list.

mediumPivot

Add granular sorting and filtering because users struggle to manage large volumes of market responses → improve retention.

Frequent request in user feedback.

Trade-off: Pause work on the desktop import/export utility.

A counter-intuitive read

The app's manual data entry requirement is a feature, not a bug, as it forces writers to curate their submission history, creating a higher barrier to switching than automated tools.

Feature Gaps vs Competitors

  • Real-time cross-device synchronization (available in Ulysses Mobile but missing here)
  • Automated submission platform integration (available in Drafts via automation engine but missing here)

Key Takeaways

Story Tracker maintains a loyal niche through its specialized submission database, but the lack of cross-device sync creates a critical retention risk against modern writing tools, so the PM should prioritize cloud infrastructure to secure the professional user base.

Where Is It Heading?

Stable

The literary productivity market is shifting toward cloud-native, automated workflows that reduce the administrative burden on writers. Story Tracker remains stable due to its niche focus, but it is increasingly exposed to churn as users migrate to tools that offer better data portability and sync, so the PM must modernize the infrastructure to remain relevant.

Lack of cloud sync prevents consistent records across hardware, which compounds the frustration of manual data entry for power users.

Responsive developer communication fosters user loyalty, which maintains a stable base despite the lack of modern infrastructure features.

Disclosure

Independent intel to help builders create better apps.

AI-powered analysis with editorial review, built from publicly available sources. See methodology.

Marlvel.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Story Tracker, its developer, the app publisher, Apple, or Google Play. All trademarks, logos, and screenshots referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

Hope this helps & keep building! · Found an error?

What's new in this report

The product remains in a zombie development state, but new intelligence provides clarity on user friction points and competitive positioning.

improved

Market Database Repositioning

added

Database Portability

added

Lite Version Disclosure

added

Sentiment Data Integration

Cite this report

Marlvel.ai. “Story Tracker Intelligence Report.” Updated May 12, 2026. https://marlvel.ai/intel-report/productivity/story-tracker

Agent Markdown (.md)·

Data licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0