Citations
Lightweight reference creation
Free
Citations is a citation creation tool that helps you format website citations in MLA, APA, Chicago, IEEE, and Harvard formats for your school papers in just a few taps.
Citations’ user interface was designed to be simple and easy to use. Just pick a format from the sidebar, fill out the fields, and tap one button to format the website citation properly. The entire process is seamless and quick, with zero latency or load times. It’s designed beautifully for Apple platforms following Apple Human Interface Guidelines and has support for the latest Apple technologies.
Citations runs without an internet connection, too. This means you can cite your sources wherever you may be without worrying about page load times. It works, always.
And the best part: Citations is free forever, with no ads, trackers, analytics, or paywalls. It’s made to help you do your best work, and that’s it. It prioritizes simplicity, beauty, and versatility. It’s privacy-conscious in every way — your citations are yours and yours only.
Citations isn’t a reference manager, it’s purely a citation creator that generates citations quickly, so its user interface feels un-cluttered and intuitive. It puts privacy and simplicity above all else.
Citations is made by an independent developer, with no VC backing, tip jars, or creepy upsells. Beautiful, simple, powerful, and made to help students — that’s Citations. Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro.
more Just a few minor bugs I'd like to see fixed for the later updates. Swap the Clear and Create buttons, the flow should follow a checklist with Create at the end of the list. Allow for different font settings, I had to reformat everyting I copied. Eliminate the punctuation for fields that are left blank. Gov websites don't have authors so punctuation for the author should show up. When I'm in Apple dark mode and copy the finished text, it copies in WHITE the default should be BLACK, pasting it in word makes it look invisible on a white background. It's minor fix stuff but It would be helpful in a future upadate. Thanks for the app.
Just a few minor bugs I'd like to see fixed for the later updates. Swap the Clear and Create buttons, the flow should follow a checklist with Create at the end of the list. Allow for different font settings, I had to reformat everyting I copied. Eliminate the punctuation for fields that are left blank. Gov websites don't have authors so punctuation for the author should show up. When I'm in Apple dark mode and copy the finished text, it copies in WHITE the default should be BLACK, pasting it in word makes it look invisible on a white background. It's minor fix stuff but It would be helpful in a future upadate. Thanks for the app.
I’ve been writing essays a lot more often recently and this app has become indispensable! I no longer have to go to random websites or manually type out MLA citations anymore. My only gripe is that the app doesn’t state what edition it’s using for the citations, and that there is no history of saved citations. Apart from that, pretty good!
I’ve been writing essays a lot more often recently and this app has become indispensable! I no longer have to go to random websites or manually type out MLA citations anymore. My only gripe is that the app doesn’t state what edition it’s using for the citations, and that there is no history of saved citations. Apart from that, pretty good!
It's free! That's amazing, thank you! The one thing I miss would be a feature to allow me to cite books and other type of media as well, rather than just website articles.
It's free! That's amazing, thank you! The one thing I miss would be a feature to allow me to cite books and other type of media as well, rather than just website articles.
Only thing missing is the ability to create citation formats you want to use, like SBL, or to edit existing formats to get the desired.
Only thing missing is the ability to create citation formats you want to use, like SBL, or to edit existing formats to get the desired.
This update brings support for iPhone Duo.
1.3.1 Oct 10
Citations 1.3 is a major update to the app. Here’s what’s new.
- App Intents support. You can now create citations using the Shortcuts app or Siri AI in iOS 27. These shortcuts are also available in Spotlight for easy access. The Generate Citation App Intent exposes the full functionality of the app programmatically.
- Added a Copy button to the iOS and iPadOS app, replacing the tap-and-hold gesture to copy a citation. You can also now copy your citation with a keyboard shortcut: Shift-Command-C.
- You no longer must enter author names that will be truncated with “et al.” when using MLA or Harvard. Explanatory text in the forms explains this. You can still fill them in if you plan on switching formats.
- The app will now force English dates in citations for users with devices not set to English.
- The app handles month abbreviations more accurately for users with devices set to non-Gregorian calendars.
- Added keyboard shortcuts to add and remove authors (Command-Plus and Command-Minus) and toggle the publication date field (Command-D). You can now create a citation with just your keyboard.
- Dropped iOS 18 support; the minimum version is iOS 26.
- Reduced the size of the app.
This update also fixes numerous bugs:
- Formats that abbreviate months now don’t place a period after “May.”
- The abbreviation for September (“Sep.” and “Sept.”) is now correct when using IEEE or MLA.
- The app won’t add a period to input that already ends with a period.
- New windows on iPadOS now correctly obey your selected theme.
- If your input only contains whitespace, the app won’t let you create a citation.
- The Clear button is now disabled when a citation is displayed.
- The copyright date footer in the About Citations screen is now localized.
- Cleaned up the Welcome to Citations, privacy policy, and About Citations screens for better Dynamic Type support.
- The app closes the Finished Citation screen when switching formats to prevent errors.
1.3 Sep 14
This release includes important updates to improve the reliability and accessibility of Citations. Here’s what’s new.
- You can now copy a citation using a keyboard shortcut: Shift-Command-C. This shortcut works when the finished citation is displayed. On iPadOS, it is also displayed in the menu bar. This shortcut doesn’t interfere with Command-C, the system copy command.
- User input is now trimmed of whitespace automatically before creating a citation. This means that if you have spaces or tabs before or after text you enter, they will be automatically removed when the citation is created. You will no longer have to do this manually.
- The Clear button now resets the Date Published field.
- The beginning of each word in the Website Title field is now automatically capitalized.
- Reduced the size of the app by a few megabytes.
- The author’s first name and last name fields have now been modified to improve autocorrect’s reliability.
- Buttons throughout the app have been updated for better VoiceOver accessibility.
- Support for large Dynamic Type sizes has been improved in the Welcome to Citations screen and privacy policy.
- Auto-capitalization and autocorrection have been disabled in the URL field.
- Added a VoiceOver label to the Create button to clarify how to enable it.
- Reduced the number of VoiceOver swipes necessary to progress through the Welcome to Citations screen.
- Added an explanatory tooltip to the No Publication Date toggle for clarification on iPadOS.
- Modified some verbiage in the Welcome to Citations screen for clarity.
- Removed the VoiceOver label for the Citations icon in the About screen.
- For power users: The fields now support adding custom Markdown, such as links, italics, and boldface. Just enter the Markdown in the text field, and it will be properly rendered and copied to your clipboard.
- Many, many changes internally to help the app run more reliably years into the future. These changes will help me add more features quickly, too. (Nerds: I completely rewrote the citation formatting engine.)
This update was quite a lot of work to put together, so if you find Citations useful, feel free to leave a rating. Thanks for using Citations!
1.2.3 May 31
This update to Citations brings numerous minor bug fixes and performance improvements. Here’s what has changed:
- The Welcome to Citations screen for new users has now been updated for iOS 26 and handles larger text sizes more gracefully.
- Updated the Clear button so it resets the Date Published checkbox — this was a snag I’m happy to address finally.
- Fixed typos in the Chicago and MLA formats.
- Improved VoiceOver compatibility with buttons on iOS 18.
- Improved VoiceOver support in the Welcome to Citations screen; it will no longer read out the icons.
- Fixed an issue in the Finished Citation screen that would cause the text to truncate occasionally on small devices with large text sizes.
- Made significant code improvements to improve the reliability and performance of the app in various scenarios.
As always, every update takes work to put together, so if you’re enjoying Citations, I’d appreciate a rating in the App Store. Thanks for using Citations!
1.2.2 Mar 7
This update includes significant changes to the way citations are formatted. Here’s what has changed:
- The APA format has been significantly overhauled to conform to the APA 7 guidelines. Many citations will look different — this means the app is aligned with the latest style guidance from the American Psychological Association.
- APA no longer truncates citations with more than three authors using “et al.” This is in keeping with the latest guidance. MLA now does, in accordance with MLA 9.
- The IEEE format has been significantly overhauled. When a publish date is available, a news article citation will be created. When a publish date is unavailable, a generic website citation will be created instead with the date retrieved, which will be set to the current date.
- When a publication date is not available, the Chicago and MLA formats will include the date retrieved, which will be set to the current date. This is in keeping with the latest guidance. The retrieval date has also been added to all versions of the Harvard format. The APA format does not have a date retrieved field.
- The APA, IEEE, and Harvard formats now account for users mistakenly entering the author’s full first name as opposed to their first initial. They will always get the first initial, regardless of what is entered. It is now less likely that one will create an incorrect citation in these formats. As a reminder, if your citations look incorrect, be sure to fill out all available fields and deselect the ones you aren’t using.
- All formats include numerous fixes, like author names not being included or missing/misplaced punctuation. They’re significantly more reliable and correct.
These updates make Citations significantly more reliable for high school and college students completing bibliographies. If you notice any discrepancies, please let me know via the in-app support email.
If you find Citations helpful for your work, please let me know by leaving a review with your thoughts. And if you need any help or have questions or concerns, please feel free to email me using the address in the app’s About menu. Thanks for using Citations!
1.2.1 Feb 20
In this update, Citations has been redesigned for iOS and iPadOS 26. The app fits in with others on your device and looks gorgeous, with design updates to every screen in the app. In addition, this update includes:
- Support for the menu bar in iPadOS 26.
- A new Liquid Glass app icon with support for all the new customization modes. Citations looks amazing on your Home Screen.
- New keyboard shortcuts on iPadOS to select formats.
- New keyboard shortcuts on iPadOS to clear and generate a citation. They’re also now listed in the menu bar.
- State restoration across formats. This means that if you want to switch formats without losing the data you’ve already entered, you can. Previously, the app would clear the fields if you navigated to another format.
- Full support for multi-window mode in iPadOS 26.
- Major bug fixes and speed improvements, including a rewritten data model.
This update took a lot of work to put together, so if you’re enjoying Citations, please feel free to leave a review. Thanks for using Citations!
1.2 09/13/2025
- Added dark mode and tinted icons on iOS and iPadOS.
- Changed the split view column visibility behavior on iPadOS. Now, both columns — sidebar and citation input — will appear in the portrait orientation by default.
- Modified the symbols in the sidebar.
- Dropped support for iOS 16.
- Modified verbiage throughout the app.
1.1.1 09/16/2024
- Added support for Apple Vision Pro. The app is specifically designed for visionOS; go try it out if you have one!
- Changed quotes throughout the app from straight quotes to curly quotes for typographic accuracy. This includes quotes in citations; when you copy one, it’ll now use the correct smart quotes.
- Redesigned the About screen with new contact details and links.
- Fixed minor bugs and tweaked code for a better experience.
1.1 02/02/2024
Hello, everyone! I’m sorry it’s been a while, but I’ve been busy making sure runs smoothly on Apple’s latest devices and operating systems. Here’s what’s new this time around:
- Fixed a bug in iOS 17 that would make text entered in the MLA format view persist even after choosing a different format.
- Fixed a bug in iOS 17 that would sometimes result in navigation titles not animating properly.
Pretty minor update, but I’ve got tons more coming in the near future — keep your eyes peeled. As always, reviews really help out. If you’ve been enjoying Citations, please rate it! Thanks.
1.0.6 12/04/2023
Fixes a really bad crash that would sometimes occur when a citation was created. Sorry about that, it should now be fixed!
If you’re enjoying Citations, feel free to leave a review. It really helps!
1.0.5 03/28/2023
This update fixes a crash that would sometimes occur when navigating to the formats field, and adds tooltips when you hover over some buttons on macOS.
1.0.4 03/28/2023
In this update:
- Fixed an issue where the welcome view on macOS would sometimes dismiss immediately after opening.
- Added a keyboard shortcut to generate a citation on iPadOS and macOS. Shift + Command + C will allow you to quickly generate your citation, and the escape/enter keys will let you easily exit the sheet on macOS. You can also just press the first letter of the format you wnat to toggle between formats. For example, just type C for Chicago, A for APA, and H for Harvard.
- Added a keyboard shortcut to show the clear confirmation dialog— Shift + Command + Delete. You won’t actually be able to use a keyboard shortcut to clear the fields and get past the alert due to the style of the button (it’s destructive, preventing any accidental keyboard shortcut presses as that would be very bad if it happened by accident). I recommend keeping your mouse cursor next to the clear button and just using keyboard shortcuts to navigate through the app. This, of course, works on both Mac and iPad.
- Added a link to the feedback form directly in the help menu.
- Made minor under-the-hood efficiency improvements and App Store changes.
If you’re enjoying Citations, please rate it if you can to help support development. I'm working hard to make Citations feel more Mac-like in it's nature, and I think I've achieved that. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or other suggestions, feel free to send them through the feedback form inside the app. Thank you so much!
1.0.3 03/27/2023
This update brings support for iPhone Duo.
more Version 1.3.1 Oct 10
Data Not Collected The developer does not collect any data from this app.
