Ulysses Mobile 4+

Best Writing Interface for The Long Haul

I love Ulysses and have been using it for years to write fiction and creative nonfiction. Now, I personally love the use of Markdown because it exports so well and, from a creative perspective, ensures no distractions get between me and the act of writing. Ulysses isn’t for final drafting or academic writing, and I’m thankful that they’ve stuck to doing what they do best. I love the syncing feature and have found that being able to write on my phone has increased output significantly. (I can finally take advantage of all of those end-of-errands brainstorms that occur in my car after its parked in front of my house.) Previously I was using Pages to keep all of my writing accessible on my desktop, laptop, phone, etc. but Ulysses is so much more stable and conducive to use on multiple screens that I will continue to pay for it ad infinitum. The value of this product is continually apparent to me and I fully support the subscription based model; these developers earn their dough!

just not for me

I want to preface this by saying I use this app for fiction writing purposes, and this app seems more geared towards the academic. As someone using this app for casual writing, it isn’t worth paying for. I like the simplicity and the dark mode, but that’s kind of where the positivities end. I mostly write on mobile with a bluetooth keyboard, and the “keyboard shortcuts” listed on the site don’t seem to work the way they do on desktop, ex - once my keyboard is connected, it takes away the on screen features that allow me to back out of a sheet or check its stats, and the “shortcut” does nothing, forcing me to disable bluetooth to get those features back. This is a really cumbersome defect when I want to go back and forth between chapters to cross-reference details. Also, I do not understand why the sheets get placed out of order the way that they do. Even though I’m writing chronologically, the chapters are all jumbled around and I have to go hunting for the current one every time I open a project. I’ve tried moving them to be in order but they don’t stay way, and it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with which ones got looked at/edited most recently or whatever.

I don’t really want to ding on this app just because it’s not for me, just saying if you’re a casual writer who’s only needs are “something to type on with an auto-save feature”, there are free options that will suit your needs just as well.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your review! When it comes to sorting your sheets in Ulysses, you have various options. You can sort them by title, creation date, modification date, or even arrange them manually. You can find detailed instructions on how to do this on our help site at help.ulysses.app › Sheets & Groups › Sorting Options.
As for keyboard shortcuts, most of them are the same on both Mac and iOS/iPadOS. However, there are a few shortcuts that are exclusive to each platform. If you're using Ulysses on your mobile device, you can find a list of shortcuts specifically designed for it on help.ulysses.app › Keyboard Shortcuts.
If you encounter any issues with the shortcuts or have any specific shortcuts you'd like to request, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly at help@ulysses.app. We're here to assist you! — Andrea

Helpful or hindrance?

We are already a family of published writers, my mom writes everything in longhand and I fell into using MS Word as my word processor. With today's world events I decided to get a MacBook Pro laptop and dedicate it to the sole function of being my writing typewriter- no other apps installed but one, my writing page. I gave both Ulysses and Scrivener fair and equal auditions. As a writer my opinion is neither of them is necessary and both of them are too fussy and end up getting in the way more than being useful. My advice is to use a word processor like Word, Pages or similar in its least obtrusive mode for your first and subsequent drafts and when you are ready for and serious about publication have the final draft reviewed, edited and formatted by a professional service or only THEN buy a software tool to assist you. Between Scrivener and Ulysses the former has the edge of offering the writer a more comprehensive toolkit but it's learning curve is daunting. Ulysses loses by their ridiculous decision to be a subscription product. Why? How much could they possibly "improve" a word processor year over year? Plus the fact that they burned me by billing my Apple account for a full year without my knowledge or approval after I already determined I didn't want it and deleted it. It seems they are more interesting in grabbing my wallet than being of any use to me as a writing tool.

Developer Response ,

We are sorry you feel that way. What type of editor a writer prefers is a very personal choice eventually. However, there is a crucial difference between a markdown editor (like Ulysses) and a “What You See Is What You Get“ editor (like Word, Pages, or Scrivener): Ulysses distinguishes between writing the text itself and formatting it during export to enable a distraction-free writing environment. Furthermore, you get incredible organizational opportunities, fully customizable export, the ability to set writing goals and to publish blogs in an environment that allows you to fully focus thanks to a simple and intuitive interface. As to our subscription-based business model, please be assured that we did not take the decision to move to subscription lightly. Not only was it necessary so we can keep developing the best version of Ulysses possible, it was also a necessary step for us to survive as a company. You'll find more details why we switched to subscription here: ulys.app/move Regarding you being billed by Apple for a yearly subscription: We are sorry about this! We are merely utilizing the standard App Store trial provided by Apple which can be canceled anytime up to 24 hours before the trial period expires. The yearly subscription comes with a 14-day trial which should be more than enough to check out our app. We opted for a free download with in-app purchases so we can offer a fully-functional trial in the App Store and there is no other way to realize this. A list of available subscription options is also displayed in the app's description (under the heading “Subscriptions“). Should you have any questions about the subscription options or using Ulysses in general, please contact us via help@ulysses.app. —Andrea