i’ve been using the app for about a week, it’s really helped me to journal and just write out my thoughts more often. i love it for in app writing… however i’d definitely add an extra star for a feature that allows more seamless copy/paste of the text without it giving weird breaks in sentences/words when pasting onto a word document. also the print option in the app has a similar issue, all my text runs right to the edge of the page, so the formatting doesn’t quite work when printing through the app, either.

I built a wooden writerdeck docking station for my phone so I could use my phone like a typewriter. The writing experience of typing is very different than that of standard word processing software. The moving text, as your cursor placement is stationary, mimics the flow of putting thoughts directly into words. It’s linear like speaking. I was using the Hanx writer app but it just kept crashing. Then I tried Retrotype. It’s not as realistic as Hanx, nor does it have as many of the typical word processor functions like Hanx (inserting text, auto return without cutting off the word, cursor control by arrow keys). But it is a serious recreation of the essence of the typing experience. And it doesn’t crash continuously. So I have switched to Retrotype. 5/5 stars!!!

If you were looking for a replacement for the app HanxWriter, created by Tom Hanx which is now no longer functional/being supported you will be sorely displeased with this app. While it does have a very snappy animation depicting the keys of the typewriter impacting the “paper” it lacks greatly in the sound design department, in which it lacks the oomf and depth of actual typewriters, and is mostly the reason I even got into these apps in the first place. It is also what I believe what another critical commentator meant by this app “lacking the typewriter feel”. A lack of fonts and non of either being locked to specific typewriter designs I feel also contributes to this. I hope that in the future if this developer intends to still further improve this app, they need to work on improving the sound design as a no.1 priority.

I like how the app limits you like a typewriter does (e.g. you can only delete one letter at a time). This prevents the horrific cycle of keyboard vomiting and then mass deletion. Please keep these limits in place! :) My BIGGEST CRITIQUE is that the app does not allow you to change font type, even in premium. I'd love a more typewriter-y font selection.