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"Mac App of the Year 2025" — Apple
"App of the Day" — Apple
"Editors' Choice" — Apple
"A-Plus Apps for Students " — Apple
"Mac Essentials" — Apple
Essayist allows you to write APA, MLA, Chicago & Harvard Style essays with ease. From in-text citations and footnotes to references and page setup, Essayist takes care of everything. It greatly simplifies the academic writing process.
AUTOMATIC FORMATTING
Essayist formats everything for you. Upon starting a new essay it sets up the title section/page, margins, font, line spacing, alignment, page headers/footers, etc. It formats your references, in-text citations, footnotes/endnotes, figures, tables, table of contents and more.
UNIVERSAL REFERENCE MANAGER
Store and manage references in a universal reference manager backed by iCloud. Search for, add, and store references in one place and use references across multiple essays. Create separate collections (folders) within the reference manager to organize and manage references. Add references quickly and easily using Google Scholar, Essayist’s built-in search, by pasting a URL or manual entry forms. Once added, references are automatically formatted and added to your essay’s references/works cited list.
CITATIONS (IN-TEXT CITATIONS, FOOTNOTES, ENDNOTES)
Add in-text citations and footnotes/endnotes with ease. Simply tap the insert citation button and select the reference you wish to cite. An in-text citation/footnote/endnote is automatically created for you
GENERAL FOOTNOTES
Add general footnotes to any essay.
EQUATIONS
Essayist supports equations backed by LaTeX.
CITATION STYLES
Essayist supports: AMA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, Harvard, MLA & Vancouver.
EXPORT
Export your work to PDF or Word.
MINIMAL INTERFACE
A simple interface helps you write without distractions.
ABSTRACT, APPENDICES & TABLE OF CONTENTS
Add an abstract, appendices and a table of contents to your essay.
FIGURES & TABLES
Easily add figures and tables with all the required information (caption, title, numbering, notes, etc.).
REGULAR UPDATES
We are working hard to make Essayist the best academic writing app it can be. If you have feature requests or encounter issues, please don't hesitate to contact us at contact@essayist.app
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- iOS & macOS versions (universal purchase)
- Built-in Universal Reference Manager
- Pre-defined & customizable paragraph styles (Block Quote, Headings, etc.)
- Import BibTeX
- Various reference types (News Article, Magazine, Website, Dictionary, etc. …)
- Two paper sizes: US Letter & A4
- Two font choices: Times New Roman & Arial
- Word Count & Page Count
- Multiple background choices
- Spell Check, Auto Completion & Auto Capitalization
- Dark mode
- Designed for Accessibility
PRICING
Essayist Pro requires a subscription. Choose between a monthly and a yearly subscription.
Terms of Use: https://www.iubenda.com/terms-and-conditions/82031685
Privacy Policy: https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/82031685
The simplest way to compose an A+ essay. Choose your citation style and the app will format your work to match. Then use the built-in source manager to look up–and properly cite–your references.
Just short of perfect, but the glitch is significant
Golubsfly
This is an excellent app all things considered. I wish it was around when I was in college. It would be perfect in my mind but for one thing…..exporting. There is an export feature - and it exports, it just does so without carrying over any of the formatting.You can fix it in one of two ways. Get rid of the feature, and do not claim that essayist can export to word or docs with formatting, or make it work. This is an app that costs money. The export feature as it currently functions might as well not be there at all. If you do not need to export, if you are happy to simply do the entire project on essayist it is perfect. Problem is most professors are not using is, so yes…fix the export feature please. It does hurt the value of the product in my mind.
Developer Response
Hi. We are happy to hear you like Essayist! Regarding export: Exporting to Word should work with all formatting intact. I have myself noticed that the preview in Word on iOS can have a glitch and sometimes look like the formatting is off, but once the file is saved and you are in editing mode it’s all there. Please contact us at contact@essayist.app so we can better assist you. Kind regards,Till
Just a few things I wish I could do
Death'sHeadHM
I really enjoy essayist, as it makes citing my sources pretty darn easy, though I wouldn’t say its a lot easier than pairing a citation machine with Word. A citation machine retrieves most, if not all, of my information for me, with usually just a couple edits to perfect it. With essayist, I have to look for all of that information myself (I know I’m being picky here). I also wish that I could change the spacing of my lines while writing my essay instead of making sure I choose the right format in the first place (I know still nitpicking, but I edit my format usually as I go or at the end of my essay). I don’t hate this app, but these are just the things that I’ve missed about my usual word/citation machine duo.
Developer Response
Hi. We are happy to hear you like Essayist and thank you very much for your feedback! It really helps us improve Essayist. If it's not too much to ask, we would appreciate further details as to what kind of sources you had trouble finding, so we can improve the feature. We can be reached at contact@essayist.appThank you!Till
Great but slightly short of perfect…
youraverageappleuser
Essayist is an absolute time-saver while writing academic papers. You don’t have to deal with the annoyances of word, plus it’s significantly cheaper if all you use in M365 is word. I love the bibliography features, plus the ability to save PDFs of my sources is pretty darn cool. Where I have an issue is the fact there is no grammar tools if you aren’t running an M-powered iPad. I feel relying on Apple for their AI writing tools isn’t a great idea, since, being an app aimed at students and academics, locks key features behind expensive hardware upgrades. Don’t get me wrong, this app is still awesome. It’s just disappointing that grammar features are missing.
Developer Response
Thank you for your review! We’re so glad to hear you’re enjoying Essayist and finding it helpful for writing academic papers. We understand your frustration with the missing grammar tools and reliance on specific hardware. Please know we’re actively exploring alternatives to improve this experience. Your feedback means a lot—thank you for helping us make Essayist better! Kind regards, Erin
Essay Writing Just Got Easier:
This update addresses a reported issue with PDF export. Thank you for emailing us!
If you have feature requests or experience an issue, please email us. We usually respond very quickly and it really helps us improve Essayist.
Version 1.17.8
The developer, Essayist Software Inc., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Purchases
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
The developer indicated that this app supports the following accessibility features. Learn More