can you write essays on a ipad

Can You Write A Book On An iPad? Yes, With The Right Tools

Is it possible to write a book on an iPad?

The short answer is yes, you can, but it might not be the choice for every author.

However, if you want the convenience and advantages of being able to write anywhere, anytime, it could be for you.

An iPad is a wonderful tool, but can it replace your laptop for writing a book?

In This Article

Getting ready to write a book with an iPad

Out of the box, any new iPad is not quite ready to use for long-form writing.

But it doesn’t take much to get it working for you.

The only proviso is that you use a full-size iPad. The screen size of the iPad Mini is too small for most writing tasks.

If you already have an iPad Pro or iPad with a retina screen, you should be able to use it without any problems.

There are two necessities when you plan to write a book on an iPad. You’ll need a physical keyboard and a book-writing app.

Other considerations are if you want to sync with your laptop and what reference tools you wish to use.

Writing a book is a long-term project, so you want to ensure your work is backed up securely.

You also want to make writing on an iPad a comfortable, pleasant, and practical way to work.

Here are some of the areas you need to address before you start.

Let’s start with the obvious one.

1. Choose your physical keyboard

The on-screen keyboard (sometimes called a virtual or soft keyboard) is fine for tapping out a short message or doing a Google search.

But when you’re writing a book, it’s painful.

I was on a long-haul flight a long time back and decided to fill the time using my iPad to tap out a couple of chapters of a book I was writing.

With only the on-screen keyboard, I mastered the art of typing with my thumbs. It was slow, frustrating, and full of typos.

Luckily, today, you have plenty of choices when it comes to keyboards for an iPad.

Depending on your needs and use, you can choose from a range of keyboards.

You might want a simple one incorporated into a cover or one with backlit keys or Bluetooth connectivity.

But most of all, you want a keyboard that is comfortable and easy for you to type.

Prices range from around $30.00 to two or three hundred dollars, so choose carefully.

2. Deciding on your writing app

Microsoft Word and Apple Pages are probably the two most popular word processors for writers and authors.

Both of these work exceptionally well on an iPad.

If you currently use premium writing software such as Scrivener or Ulysses, most offer iPad apps.

Whatever program you use to write 0n a laptop, you can usually find an app for it. There are so many writing apps for iPad that I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding one that suits you.

3. Storing, saving, and backups

You don’t want to risk losing a word of your hard work.

There are lots of choices for saving and backing up your files on an iPad.

The most logical is the Apple iCloud Drive. But you can also use Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive.

With the Files app, you can save your work on your iPad or to the most popular cloud drives .

You can be confident that when you write, even without wifi, your work will be saved on your iPad and synced when you are in wifi range again.

4. Do you need a note-taking app?

You have lots of choices for note-taking apps.

If you have a favorite, you will probably find an app for it.

But for me, the default app on an iPad, Notes, works just fine.

5. A dictionary and thesaurus

Apple doesn’t provide a default iPad dictionary or thesaurus app like a Macbook.

You can find a few free apps on the App Store, such as dictionary.com.

But if you want a fully featured app that will work offline, you’ll have to go for a paid app.

Cambridge, Oxford, and Merriam-Webster offer some good choices.

6. Grammar and writing checkers

If you are used to using online writing checkers on your laptop, it’s not so easy on an iPad.

If you are a premium user, yes, there is a Grammarly app for iPad.

But the biggest drawback is that apps like this won’t work when you are not connected to wifi.

Some word processors can do basic checks while offline, but there are not too many.

Check your preferred writing app to see what is available offline.

7. The pros and cons

If you want to write a book on an iPad, you will need to have a bit of give and take.

There are some great advantages, but also a few weak points.

Pros of writing on an iPad

Portability . It’s light and easy to carry with you anywhere.

Touch screen. Quicker and easier than using a mouse or trackpad.

Battery life. Most iPads give you around 10 hours of working charge.

Apple pencil. Ideal for taking quick notes or editing.

Price. The standard iPad and iPad Air are much cheaper than a Macbook laptop.

Cons of writing on an iPad

Window sizing. You can use split-screen on an iPad, but you can’t resize or move windows like a laptop.

Smaller keyboard. Most iPad keyboards are compact, so it can make typing a little slower.

File system. Copying and moving files is not as easy as on a laptop.

Software features. Most iPad apps have fewer features than the equivalent software on a laptop.

Can you write a book or novel on an iPad?

Yes, you can, for sure.

If you want the portability and flexibility to write when traveling, in a cafe, on a park bench, up a mountain, or in the middle of a forest, it’s the perfect writing tool.

But when it comes to heavy-duty grammar checking and editing a final draft , I think most writers would prefer to use a laptop or PC.

As long as you sync your files between the two, you’ll have the best of both worlds.

Related reading: The Best Phone Apps For Writers Who Want To Write On The Go

About The Author

Derek Haines

More articles.

11 Helpful Writing Tips For New Writers And Authors

10 Writing Tips And Tricks To Help You Improve Your Writing Accuracy

How To Write Well – 10 Writing Tips For A New Writer To Follow

1 thought on “can you write a book on an ipad yes, with the right tools”.

Thanks. This is a good starting pint for me. I used to scratch poems on napkins and notebooks a long time ago. I’ve been thinking about starting up again, but I am a dinosaur. Seeing the pros and cons without being sold something definitely helps.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

To prevent spam, all comments are moderated and will be published upon approval. Submit your comment only once, please.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Privacy Overview

A practical guide to writing on the iPad

Apple didn't design the original iPad for writing. It was a device for reading or viewing media, not creating it. Over the years it has become a great portable writing tool. Many writers find it is better than a laptop.

Here we look at why the iPad could be the best option for you. We examine which iPad or keyboard to choose and outline the best iPad writing app.

On this page:

Why is the ipad a great writing tool, which ipad should you choose for writing, ipad keyboards, magic keyboard, smart keyboard folio, magic keyboard folio, smart keyboard for ipad, writing on an ipad with apple pencil, pencil-based note taking apps, goodnotes 5, keyboard-based writing apps, apple pages, microsoft word for ipad, microsoft word for the web, google docs, collabora office, markdown editors, recommendations: ipad writing apps.

From the outset it was clear the iPad could do more than display media.

It has evolved to the point where it can do everything a laptop can. Today’s iPads can be better than laptops for many creative tasks.

The iPad has clear advantages for people who need to write:

Long battery life . Sure, you can find laptops that will go the best part of a day between charges. Apple's MacBooks with the M1 or M2 processor sip electricity. You'll struggle to find a Windows laptop which beats an iPad for battery life.

Measure-for-measure, an iPad will last longer between charges than a conventional computer.

Focus . While you can now open side-by-side screens or use Stage Manager, iPadOS lends itself to doing one thing at a time. There is no clutter. With the iPad you can focus on writing without other apps distracting you. Turning off notifications and concentrating is easier. This is why you can see the iPad as the closest modern equal to a portable typewriter.

Portable . The iPad is more portable than any laptop. It can go places laptops don’t. The iPad Air weighs in at 460 grams. It will fit in a large pocket. The iPad Mini weighs 300 grams and is smaller again.

Robust . There are no moving parts on an iPad. No hinges. This makes it more robust than a laptop.

Work while standing . You can work on an iPad when you are standing. It is possible to type on the screen keyboard using your thumbs. I’ve done this at stand up press conferences and while waiting in queues to board planes. This means you can write in more places, more often. Yes, you can do that on a phone, but it’s not the best writing experience. It is not easy to write standing up with a laptop. The same applies if, say, you are sitting in a cramped cramped on a crowded flight or in a train. At a pinch you can tap out words holding the iPad in vertical or portrait mode when there’s no room for a keyboard. Being able to use the taller portrait orientation is an overlooked bonus. There are subtle ergonomic problems with writing across a wide screen. A wider column makes errors harder to spot. A narrow width is easier to proof-read. If you write words to print on paper, the display mirrors how your words will look on the finished document. In my experience, the smaller iPads work better when you are standing, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is more unwieldy.

Great screens . iPads have glorious, well-lit high resolution screens. Higher resolution means your eyes don’t tire as fast. You can work for longer stretches and concentrate for longer. Y

No waiting . An iPad is always ready to go the moment you switch on. Yes, modern laptops can do the same, but you can always start writing in seconds on an iPad.

You don’t need a high-end iPad for writing. Apple sells the 9th generation iPad with a 10.2 inch screen for NZ$649. It has everything you need to write. It is powerful enough to handle almost every writing app and has a screen you’ll have no trouble living with.

Likewise, the iPad mini, New Zealand prices start at NZ$1000, will fit in a pocket and can handle basic writing tasks. An iPad mini is realistically the smallest practical device for serious writing while on the move.

Writing on an iPad Pro with a suitable keyboard is not that different from writing on a laptop. The larger screen is easier to read than other iPads, especially if you have poor eyesight, but they all display your text clearly.

If writing is your focus, your model choice will determine which keyboards you can use. If use an Apple Pencil for note-taking, the iPad model determines your choices.

iPads come with a range of storage options. Upgrading storage isn't practical, which means you need to be careful when buying.

Base level iPad storage options start at 64GB. Smaller models can store up to 256GB, although the iPad Pro goes all the way to 2TB of storage.

By 2023 standards, 64GB is not a lot of storage. You can get by, but the moment you decide to keep music or video libraries on your iPad you'll bump up against limits.

Go with the 256GB model if your budget can stretch that far. At the time of writing that will add NZ$300 to the device price. Often you'd do better trading down to an iPad with more storage than buying a more powerful device that runs out of storage.

It's easy to overbuy storage on an iPad Pro. You are unlikely to need 2TB unless you need to keep vast amounts of video and audio files with you all the time. A 512GB model will be enough for most iPad Pro buyers. Remember, you can offload rarely used files to cloud services.

Consider other tasks when choosing Given you can use every iPad for writing, let the other tasks you plan for the device determine your choice.

Even when you add a keyboard, iPads are smaller, lighter and more portable than most laptops. Apple’s MacBook Air gets close. The nearest non-Apple competitor would be a Microsoft Surface tablet.

If money is no object, you can choose the iPad that you find comfortable to read. If it is an object, pick the iPad you can afford.

Do I need a Sim-card iPad?

Few writers need Sim-card equipped iPads that can connect to cellular networks.

You’ll find Wi-Fi is available in many of the places where you will want to write. Where it isn’t, you can tether your iPad to your phone and connect that way.

Tethering works with both iPhones and Android phones. The experience is better and smoother if you have an iPhone, but don’t get hung up on this point, it isn’t a deal breaker. Android phones work fine.

Cellular adds around NZ$220 to the price of a Wi-Fi iPad. Spend the money saved on storage or a better keyboard.

A keyboard isn’t essential if you own an iPad. You can do a lot without one and there is always the Apple Pencil and handwriting recognition . Apple’s new Scribble feature can change the way you think about your iPad .

But this post is about writing on an iPad. A keyboard makes that easier.

There is no shortage of iPad keyboards to choose from. Any iPad will work with any Bluetooth keyboard, but only a handful of keyboards are made to fit exactly to each iPad model.

When you buy an iPad, chances are someone will attempt to sell you a keyboard as an add-on. It makes sense to buy the keyboard at the same time. If the salesperson is knowledgeable, they can help you get the right keyboard for your iPad. They can also help you get the one that suits you best and let you look closer at your options.

Apple keyboards are the obvious choice. But not always and not for everyone. Choose the keyboard you feel comfortable with. That’s from both an ergonomic point of view and from a budget point of view.

Whether you choose an Apple keyboard or an alternative, match it with your iPad. Keyboards double up as protective covers. A better fit means better protection. This sounds obvious, but I've come across people who run into trouble with the wrong iPad keyboard.

The other thing to watch is that not every Apple iPad keyboard is available for every model. Buying at the same time as the iPad from a retailer who knows what they are doing can save you problems later.

At NZ$620 a pop, Apple’s Magic Keyboard is an expensive, Rolls Royce option. You can use it for writing on an iPad Air or an iPad Pro. It doesn't fit the less expensive iPad models.

It’s a good keyboard but it is not perfect.

You might expect that when you use it at a desk or on a flat surface it differs from the laptop keyboard experience.

That's not the case. The top part, that's the iPad, is heavier than the keyboard. Together, the iPad plus Magic Keyboard, weigh more than a MacBook Air .

There are two hinges, the second one allows you to adjust the viewing angle.

The keys are excellent for typing. I'm a touch typist and can run into problems with some tablet keyboards. This one is touch-typeable from the moment it's opened. Keys are backlit, something that doesn't happen on the less expensive Apple keyboards. And there is a touchpad, which works exactly as you'd expect.

The Apple Smart Keyboard Folio is a less expensive alternative. There are models for iPad Pros and iPad Airs. Prices start at NZ$390.

This is the keyboard I choose when I’m on the move. It has the best balance of function and price. Again, it gives the iPad a laptop feel. Yet it is more flexible and feels less robust than the Magic Keyboard.

It doesn't offer backlighting and there is no trackpad. My Smart Keyboard Folio is now coming up to four years old and is showing signs of wear and tear. It doesn't last anything like as long as the iPad.

If you have a 10th generation iPad, not the Pro, not the Air, then the NZ$530 Magic Keyboard Folio is the top choice. It's not as flexible for positioning as the iPad Magic Keyboard, but the keys and the trackpad are as good. I found it easy to touch type.

Apple's Smart Keyboard is compatible with the iPad, 3rd generation iPad Air and 10.5 inch iPad Pro. Prices start at $320. It's the most basic Apple iPad keyboard, but covers all the bases and gets the job done. I found it harder to adapt my touch-typing technique to the Smart Keyboard, but got there soon enough.

Not all Apple keyboards are available for all iPads. If you buy a more expensive iPad, you'll need a more expensive Apple keyboard.

A word of warning. Apple iPad keyboards flex more than you might expect if you are typing on your lap. When used this way they are not as solid as laptops.

Logitech iPad keyboards

Beyond Apple's own keyboards, Logitech is the best alternative. You could argue some models are better than their Apple equivalents.

There's a wide range to choose from. Again, different keyboards work with different iPad versions. The difference between Apple and Logitech keyboards is price. You can save up to a third of the price for similar functionality.

On the whole Logitech keyboards work as well as Apple models. All keyboards mentioned here double as protective covers for iPad screens. Logitech keyboards do this a little better than Apple's keyboards. The Logitech keyboard plus iPad combinations are thicker than the Apple ones and the function keys differ.

Brydge makes hard shell keyboards that turn your iPad into a laptop. You end up with something that feels like a MacBook. I haven't seen the recent Bridge keyboards, but when I borrowed one for review, it was heavier than Apple's. The keys were smaller. Of all the keyboards mentioned here I found the Brydge keyboards harder to type on. Yet they could be perfect for you.

All keyboards designed to work with iPads offer a degree of protection. That’s important if you are mobile. iPads are not fragile. Yet once you start moving the potential for dropping them or other damage increases.

Sometimes I use a first generation Apple Bluetooth keyboard and a mStand tablet from Rain Design to hold the iPad. It’s a simple and elegant approach. There are many other options. Any store that sells iPads will have a selection.

As mentioned earlier, you can write on an iPad using an Apple Pencil and handwriting recognition. There are two Pencils, Apple calls them the first and second generation models.

Which one you can use depends on your iPad model. Each iPad only supports one Pencil generation. The first generation Pencil costs NZ$200 and the second costs $280.

The main difference between generations is how the Pencil charges. The second generation Pencil is flat and magnetised on one side. It connects to the side of the iPad for charging.

First generation Pencil charge through the blunt end, which looks clumsy, but works fine in practice. On the down side, you have to remove the cap and it is easy to lose that cap. The older Pencil was round, which means it can roll off a table or desktop, the flat side on the second generation Pencil stops that from happening

Apple's free Notes app comes with every iPad. It's great for taking short handwritten notes and has text recognition built in. It's a good place to try the Pencil before spending money on a third-party app.

To use immediate handwriting recognition in Notes chose the pencil tool marked with an A.

The alternative is use another pencil tool, then highlight and choose to convert the word.

Both approaches are fast on even a modest iPad. The technology is forgiving, I have terrible handwriting and it gets about 95 per cent of what I write.

GoodNotes is a great third-part alternative to Apple Notes. It uses a notebook metaphor. You can write a limited number of notes in one of three "notebooks" for free, then you need to pay a one-off US$15 for unlimited use. Paying also unlocks the handwriting recognition feature.

Text recognition is as fast as on Apple Notes and, without extensive testing, the accuracy appears to be on a par with Apple's.

GoodNotes is a better choice than Notes if you plan to use your iPad more for handwriting than typing. There's a strong search feature and note organisation and sharing is a strength. It won the Apple 2022 iPad App of the Year award.

GoodNote's main competitor is Notability from Ginger Labs. You can download the app for free but that doesn't include handwriting recognition and only allows a limited number of edits. To get the full app you need to buy an annual subscription.

Ginger Labs is coy about the price of the subscription, you don't get to see the price until you install the app. I don't like that.

The price appears to change from country to country. When I checked on my iPad, the subscription was $21, although it isn't clear if that is NZ dollars or US dollars. Either way that makes Notability more expensive than Goodnotes. The price is hard to justify.

Noteful is like Goodnotes and Notability, but doesn't have handwriting recognition.

In use, there's a delicious minimal user interface. The app uses the notebook metaphor. It offers something called "layers". That's an idea familiar to people who use photo editing or graphic design software. Searching for notes is harder work in Noteful than in its rivals.

Like Ginger Labs, the company is coy about disclosing its price until you have the app loaded on your iPad. You need to pay a one-off US$5 to unlock all the features, which is reasonable, but transparent pricing would be better.

If you have a Microsoft Office subscription, OneNote is an option. It has good basic handwriting recognition. But it is more clumsy than the alternatives and impractical for anything more than the shortest phrases.

There's a wide range of word processors, text editors and other writing apps for iPad. You'll recognise the names of a few, they are iPad versions of popular apps for PCs and Macs. This guide is not comprehensive, but it covers the important options and the ones you are likely to come across.

Pages is not the best-known, the most popular or the perfect writing tool, but comes free with every iPad and Mac. It's the iPad writing app you'll see first.

It is part of Apple's own productivity software suite: iWorks. Alongside Pages, iWorks includes Numbers, a spreadsheet and Keynote, a presentation manager.

Apple and everyone else describes Pages as a word-processor, which is true. Yet unlike other word-processors, Pages focuses on page design.

In a sense it sits somewhere between Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign although it has far fewer features than both. That said, you could write and layout a print magazine or a book with Pages.

Page design works better than you might expect on an iPad. While you'll get better results with a large screen iPad Pro, working on an 10-inch iPad is possible. Pages is ideal, a better bet than Word or Docs, if you plan to create Apple Books or PDFs.

Apple's Pages could be all the word processor you need. It will open documents created with Word or Google Docs and you can send Pages documents in the Word format. Round trips work fine almost all the time. I've seen problems with earlier versions of Pages, not with the current Pages 12.

You can deal with corrections and Track Changes between Word and Pages documents.

Presenter mode

There’s one Pages feature I love, even if it is not my first choice for writing on the iPad. Presenter Mode turns the iPad into an autocue. When I’m on a long radio broadcast, presenting live or doing similar work I use it as a prompt.

Pages has better cloud support than Word, but you will need an Apple iCloud account to make use of this. While Pages' online collaboration is superior to Word, Google Docs is better again.

Apple's Pages templates are better than Microsoft's basic Word templates. If you are new to word processing, Pages is easier to learn and master. That said, if you have learned Word elsewhere, there may be some unlearning to do before you get on top of Pages.

Pages isn't the best writing tool for everyone. Yet it is a solid option that is free and simple. At the very least, you should give it a try before spending money on another iPad writing app.

Microsoft's Word is good on an iPad. If you know Word from a laptop or desktop, Windows or MacOS, you'll be immediately at home.

All the important features for everyday folk are here. The app is the most feature rich iPad word processor. Word power users might miss advanced features, they are not the target market.

Add a decent keyboard to your iPad and the Word experience is on a par with that laptop or desktop. I'd argue the experience is better. Because there are fewer features the user interface is less cluttered, easier to navigate.

While the interface will be familiar and easy to use if you know Word, it won't challenge newcomers. There are points where it doesn't act like other iPad apps, especially when storing or retrieving files. Then there are the needy messages from Microsoft

Microsoft designed Word on the iPad to work with its own OneDrive cloud service. The chances are you'll need a Microsoft subscription to use the app and storage comes as part of that subscription. It's possible to access files stored on the iPad or in iCloud direct from Word, but that's not the first choice. Microsoft has added an impressive array of alternative cloud storage choices.

Another way Word departs from the standard iPad user interface is the way it relates to the keyboard. There are keyboard shortcuts you may know from the Mac or PC that work, others don't. You'll find out with practice.

Word remains the most feature rich and complete iPad word processor. If you use Word on a laptop or desktop it will be familiar. The interface doesn't always act like a standard iPad app, but there's nothing that is likely to be a barrier for most people.

The app is a free download. The software remains free if your iPad's screen is smaller than 10.1 inches. Beyond that you'll need a Microsoft 365 licence. A one person licence is NZ$120 a year, prices are different overseas. It covers you on up to five devices including tablets and conventional computers. The 365 Family licence at $165 a year means up to six people can use the software.

If you need Word to work on your iPad at home, check if your employer or place of study has a licence you can use.

Word isn't the right iPad writing app for everyone. If you already use it or know it, it can make sense to stick with what you know. For many users it offers far more than you might need or want to pay for.

If you love Office or Word, but are on a tight budget, there's a free web version of Office that works fine on an iPad. It's had other names over the years. These days Microsoft calls it ' Office '.

There are ways the web version of Office is like Google Docs. Like Google Docs, it stores your finished documents online. In this case Office uses Microsoft OneDrive, not Google's cloud storage. Microsoft Office online can't handle files larger than 2GB. This is not going to trouble anyone unless documents contain embedded media.

Microsoft's web version of Office has fewer features than the PC or Mac version. It is closer to the iPad version. The user interface is distinct from both the PC and the iPad versions. You will need a live and consistent internet connection to use the online app. In practice you'll notice more lag than when writing on the other Word apps. This has little to do with connection speed. I tested on a gigabit fibre connection and the latency was the same as on a slower connection.

The online version will open any file format supported by the desktop Word app. Saving to the OneDrive cloud is automatic. There are tools for sharing documents with colleagues. If sharing is important to you, Google Docs does this better.

You can use Google Docs two ways on the iPad. It will work as a web app in your iPad's Safari browser or you can download and install the free iPad app. You'll get a better experience using the browser version, you need a decent internet connection for that. If you want to use Google Docs offline there is an iPad app, but it's mediocre compared with the other options on this page.

The free online version of Google Docs is almost identical to the version in the paid-for Google Workspace. New Zealand prices for Google Workspace start at NZ$9 a month for a plan with 30 GB of storage. A version with 2 TB of storage is a heft NZ$18 a month. This is more expensive than Microsoft Office. The most noticeable difference between the free and paid versions of Google Docs is that it is harder to create templates in the free version.

Google built Docs for online work. It is the best option if you collaborate on documents with remote colleagues. It's less powerful than Office and has fewer features than most of the other choices listed on this page. Getting started is easier, but you can rub up against limitations.

Things get tricky when you have large documents. The app is fine for up to a couple of thousand words. It starts to slow down as the file grows and would be slow if you were editing an entire book.

One downside is there can be problems if you lose your internet connection or you want to work offline, say while on a flight. The Google Docs iPad app helps, it can store documents in the iPad's memory. You have to sign into a Google account before using the app online or offline. This can be tricky, in the past I've found myself logged out while offline and unable to use the app.

I recommend using Google Docs if you already use the app elsewhere or if you work with others using the app. Otherwise you can do better elsewhere.

Collabora Office is a promising mobile open source document editing suite based on LibreOffice . It's compatible with Microsoft Office and works with the Open Document Format. There's iPad app and an online version. The app is free for "testing", a subscription std US$20 a year.

My 2021 Collabora Office review warns the software wasn't ready for everyday use and that it jars with iOS. Both remain true. There are fewer bugs and the software is more stable, but it is hard going. You'd need to be an open source devotee to choose it, and people who feel that way are less inclined to use an iPad.

Markdown is a markup (yes that does sound odd) language used to format text with simple codes. Type a single hash # character at the start of the line for a top level head, two hashes means second level head and so on. It takes seconds to learn, a day to master.

This approach leaves formatting that is easy for humans to read. You can create Markdown using a text editor. Markdown editors will show you how your formatting looks in a finished document. You can send finished Markdown documents direct to WordPress or Ghost blogs. Markdown editors usually let you convert them into other word processor formats.

It's possible to start writing on your iPad using IA Writer, make edits on an iPhone using a text editor and finish on, say, a desktop using Byword.

On one level there is nothing fancy or complicated about IA Writer . That's its attraction. You can start laying down words within minutes.

In recent years the app's developers have added more features. Yet it retains its simple user interface. It hides that added complexity from sight until you need it. Many users never will.

The minimal interface lets you focus on putting words on the screen. Coupled with the iPadOS, it becomes the closest thing you can get to an old school typewriter and paper.

One feature you may find useful is the style checker which helps improve your writing. It looks for clichés, fillers or redundancies but leaves it up to you to do anything about them.

In the past Writer forced you to store documents in an iCloud or Dropbox account. Now you can save them on your iPad, a better idea if you ever work away from an internet connection.

IA Writer’s price continues to climb faster than inflation. When I first bought the software I paid NZ$3. It was a promotional price when the app was in its infancy. Today the software costs NZ$50. If you buy the iPad version, you can use it on an iPhone at no extra cost. Buying the MacOS version will set you back another $50. It remains good value, but is no longer something you can afford and then discard if it doesn't work for you. Luckily there are free trial versions.

Byword is a great alternative to IA Writer on the iPad. It has a much lower NZ$10 price, which makes it a bargain. Byword has the same minimalist user interface.

Like IA Writer, Byword co-operates with blogs like WordPress or Medium and plays nice with Evernote. If anything Byword is simpler to use and easier to learn than its main rival.

Byword can look better on an iPad screen than IA Writer. You can choose the font and the size of your type.

Unlike IA Writer, which gets constant attention and new features, Byword has changed little in close to a decade. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, the app is stable and does what it sets out to do without fuss.

Scrivener (NZ$24 in the App Store) sits at the opposite end of the writing app spectrum from Markdown editors like IA Writer or Byword.

Markdown editors hide complexity. Scrivener is about providing the all the complexity a writer needs in one place.

In a sense, Microsoft Word is a more appropriate point of comparison. Although in practice the gulf between Scrivener and Word is as wide as the gulf between it and IA Writer.

In a sense, Microsoft Word is a more appropriate point of comparison than the Markdown editors. Although in practice the gulf between Scrivener and Word is as wide as the gulf between it and IA Writer.

If anything Word requires even more work to master than Scrivener. People don't notice that effort because they pick up the complexity of Word almost by osmosis. It can take years, often starting at school.

Switching to Scrivener means doing all that learning in a matter of days or weeks. It's a steep learning curve. You may find it rewarding if your brain thinks in the right way. I'm afraid it doesn't work for me.

Literature and Latte, the company behind Scrivener, built it for ambitious writing jobs. There are tools to help, such as a cork board for keeping notes. You can attach the parts of your project to a single file and even colour code them making them easier to navigate.

Because Scrivener is complex, users tend to have a few windows open as they work. This lends itself to a large screen on the desktop. No doubt there will be Scrivener fans reading this who love the app running on a small MacBook. Yet, I'd argue the app works best with a larger screen.

Which brings up to the iPad version of Scrivener. Why might you choose it? The iPad app is feature rich although it doesn't include everything in the desktop version, although it does include the cork board.

Literature & Latte's marketing suggests the iPad app complements the desktop app. You might use it when working away from your desk or in the field researching. It allows you to push on while on an airplane flight or a train journey. To this end, everything you do on the iPad syncs with your desktop project.

I suspect, but don't know, that few people use the iPad app without also using Scrivener on the desktop. If it sounds like something you need, try the free desktop download first before buying the app.

Ulysses uses the same Markdown formatting as iA Writer and Byword. It adds more word processor-like features. This sounds contradictory. Yet it marries a minimalist look and feel with background complexity. You’ll either love it or it will bewilder you.

Like Scrivener, Ulysses - the company shares the app's name - pitches its software at people working on complex projects. And like Scrivener it also caters for people writing smaller articles. It has tools to help you publish direct to popular blog sites.

The Markdown in Ulysses is somewhat non-standard. You may struggle at first moving to the app after using another Markdown editor. If you haven't used Markdown before, this won't be an issue.

At first look, Ulysses is pretty where Scrivener's cluttered look is ugly. It doesn't take long before Ulysses can become as cluttered.

Tools like the goal display telling you how many words you still need to write can be both a distraction and a source of demotivation.

The elephant in the room with Ulysses is its price. The app is a free download. A subscription costs NZ$11 a month or $75 a year which is expensive for what is, at core, a Markdown editor with trimmings.

Most apps with a similar functionality have a one-off price. The desktop version of Scrivener has a one-off price of NZ$100.

A family licence for Microsoft Office that includes Word, other apps and storage for up to six people is NZ$165. You can run the software on iPads, laptops, desktops or phones.

The NZ$75 Ulysses subscription allows you to use both the desktop and iPad versions

If Ulysses is right for you and gels with your thought processes, the price is a bargain. You'll recover it in no time. Otherwise, do your wallet a favour and consider everything else first.

Other writing apps

Wordprocessors, Markdown editors and text editors are not your only options. A handful of iPad users choose to write documents using Bear . It's a flexible note-taking app that blurs the distinction between a notes app and an editor. Another option is Evernote , although it is more about note-taking, less about writing. Simplenote is a free alternative.

• Take the path of least resistance. If your employer or school pays for a Microsoft Office or Google Workspace account, use it. You won't have to pay anything, there should be support and you won't have to learn how to use an alternative.
• Otherwise, look at Apple Pages first. It's free, works well on the iPad's touch screen and Apple designed it with the entire ecosystem in mind. It should have all the features you need. Best of all, you can start writing in Pages on your iPad and switch to working on an iPhone or Mac without missing a beat.
• If you are coming from another writing tool, take time to adjust to Pages. It's worth the effort and you'll save money that might be better spent elsewhere.
• An alternative strategy is to choose radical simplicity. Markdown editors like IA Writer or Byword let you focus on your words in the most efficient way possible. Disclosure: this is what I do.
• Invest time and money finding the keyboard that works best for you. While it's easy to buy devices online, it pays to go to a store and try keyboard options before parting with any cash.

You might also like...

Blue bubbles feature in apple us antitrust case, taylor’s scientific management, ai and knowledge work, waymo luddites, the right to disconnect, nz streaming, consumers pay for gmail, apple m3 chips widen gap with intel, testing apple’s finewoven material the kiwi way, member discussion.

How-To Geek

How to take handwritten notes on your ipad using the apple pencil.

Purchased an Apple Pencil with your new iPad? Forget your notebooks and take digital handwritten notes right on your iPad. Here's how.

Quick Links

Apple pencil compatibility, how to take handwritten notes on ipad using notes app, alternative note app options.

The Apple Pencil is a versatile tool for your iPad. Not only can you use it for (virtual) drawing, painting, or coloring, you can also take notes and doodle. Here's how to take handwritten notes on your iPad.

Apple Pencil is available in two different models. The first-generation Apple Pencil comes in a round shape and was first introduced with the original iPad Pro. It also includes a Lightning connector under a cap for charging.

Here's a list of all iPads that support the first-generation Apple Pencil at the time of writing:

• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st or 2nd generation)
• iPad Pro 10.5-inch
• iPad Pro 9.7-inch
• iPad (6th generation)
• iPad 10.2 inch (7th generation)

The second-generation Apple Pencil is quite a bit smaller, with a single flat edge. It now magnetically latches on to the edge of the iPad Pro and charges wirelessly.

The accessory is only supported on the following iPad Pro models with Face ID (again, at the time of writing):

• iPad Pro 11-inch (2018 and 2020 models)
• iPad Pro 12.9 inch (2018 and 2020 models)

It's quite easy to get started taking notes on your iPad as you don't even have to download an app. Simply use the built-in Notes app on your iPad.

Open the "Notes" app on your iPad and create a new note. From there, tap on the Expand button to make the note full-screen.

Now, you can tap the tip of your Apple Pencil on the screen to enter the handwritten notes mode. You'll see drawing tools appear at the bottom of the screen.

The canvas is now yours. You can doodle, write, or type anything in the note. When you're taking notes with the Apple Pencil, use your finger to swipe up and down.

From the drawing tools, the first is the Pen tool. Tap on it to see the option for the thickness of the nib and the transparency. You can do the same thing for the next two tools which are Marker and Pencil.

If you have the second-generation Apple Pencil , you can double-tap on the Action button to switch to the Eraser. You can also customize the Action button to switch to the last used tool instead.

Related: How to Change the Double-Tap Action on Apple Pencil for iPad Pro

The fourth tool is the Eraser. Tap on it to turn your Apple Pencil into an eraser. Move your Apple Pencil over anything that you want to erase.

The fifth tool is a Lasso-style selection tool. (Photoshop users might be familiar with it.) Once the tool is selected, you can circle over elements to select them. Once selected, you can use your finger to move them around. This can be a good way for you to move a doodle to a different place.

The last tool in the set is the Ruler. After you select it, you'll see a large ruler show up in the note area. You can use two fingers to move the Ruler and to change the angle.

Move your fingers around and you'll see that the ruler snaps to certain angles like 45 degrees, 90 degrees, and so on. Once you've used the ruler, tap on the icon again to get rid of it.

On the right edge, you'll see a color picker. You'll see five common colors that you can pick from, or you can tap on the color picker icon to choose from all available shades.

Now that you know all the tools, go ahead and start writing using your Apple Pencil.

Once you're finished writing, there's a nice hidden gem for you to discover. Apple Notes app has a handwriting recognition feature built-in. So, as long as your handwriting is legible, Apple should be able to recognize and index them.

This means that you can search for text inside your handwritten notes. To test it out, go to the "Search" field, and try to find something from your handwritten note.

Plus, you don't even need to unlock your iPad to start taking handwritten notes. Just tap on your iPad's lock screen with your Apple Pencil. This will create a new blank note that you can start writing in. Later, you can unlock your iPad to save the note.

You can customize the feature in the Settings app by going to Notes > Access Notes From Lock Screen section.

Write Neatly Using Lines and Grids

When you start using the Notes app to take handwritten notes, you'll realize that your handwritten notes are quite haphazard. There's one way to make things neat and tidy. When you first create a blank note, tap on the Share button. It will show a single "Lines & Grids" option. (You'll also find the option in the Share sheet. )

From the pop-up, select the kind of lines or grid layout that you want.

This will now become the background of your note, making it much easier to write in straight lines.

The Apple Notes app is a good place to get started with handwritten notes on the iPad, but if you want more features, you'll have to look at one of the many third-party apps on the App Store. Here are our recommendations.

GoodNotes 5 ($7.99)

GoodNotes 5 is the most versatile notetaking app when it comes to Apple Pencil. You can customize virtually every single part of the handwritten notetaking interface. You can switch between different pen styles and scrolling direction. You can add shapes, images, and text to the note. The app comes with a myriad of templates, and there's a feature that lets you zoom in to a particular part of the page.

Notability ($8.99)

Notability is a popular notetaking app among students. It lets you record audio, type out notes, and take handwritten notes, all in a single interface. Plus, it can sync audio along with your notes, which is handy during revision time. You can also import and annotate PDFs and work on two notes side-by-side.

If you have an iPad Pro and a newer Mac, you can connect your iPad to your Mac and turn it into a fully functional secondary display and drawing tablet (with Apple Pencil support) using the new Sidecar feature in macOS Catalina and iPadOS.

Related: How to Use Your iPad as an External Mac Display With Sidecar

How to Take Notes on the iPad

Interested in how to take notes on the iPad? 

Maybe you’re starting a new school year, or looking to upgrade from your plain paper notebooks.

In any case, we put together this guide to help you navigate the world of digital notes. 

Here’s everything you need to know about how to take notes on the iPad.

• Which iPad is best for note-taking? 
• Which Apple Pencil is best for note-taking? 
• How to write neatly on the iPad
• What's the best note-taking methods?
• Note-taking with GoodNotes
• iPad note-taking FAQs

Which iPad is best for Note-Taking?

While all iPads are going to give you a great note-taking experience, here are some recommendations for how to choose: 

• If you want the absolute best experience, get the iPad Air. The 2nd Generation Apple Pencil makes all the difference.  ‍
• If you’re going to be taking notes on the go, get the iPad Mini. It’s a convenient portable size, while still being comfortable to write on. A lot of medical students, for example, like to take the iPad Mini in their lab coat and take notes on the go.  ‍
• If you want a large screen, get the iPad Pro. The largest iPad screen is 12.9-inch and is exclusively for the iPad Pro.  ‍
• If you’re on a budget, get the original iPad. Note-taking on this iPad is still a delight. 

Note : The original iPad only supports the Apple Pencil 1. The iPad Air, iPad Pro, and iPad Mini all support the Apple Pencil 2. (Find more details about compatibility here .)

If you’re looking for an iPad for college, in addition to note-taking, there are some more things to consider. Read our comparison on the best iPad for college here . 

To be honest, all 4 models of the iPad will offer a superb note-taking experience. They key differences will come down to which note-taking app you use, and the Apple Pencil you choose.

Apple Pencil 1 vs. 2 for Note-Taking 

Which Apple Pencil should you choose for note-taking? 

We think the 2nd Generation Apple Pencil gives you a better overall note-taking experience. It’s compatible with all new iPad models, except for the original iPad. 

But what makes the Apple Pencil 2 better?

• Automatic charging. The Apple Pencil 2 magnetically attaches to the side of your iPad, and automatically charges. The Pencil 1 on the other hand charges by plugging into the iPad’s lightning port, which is a bit awkward. 
• Premium feel. While the Apple Pencil 1 is glossy, the Pencil 2 has a matte finish which is resistant to fingerprints. It’s also slightly weightier (though not heavy by any means).
• It won’t roll away. The Apple Pencil 2 has a flat which allows you to comfortably grip the pencil, and also prevents rolling. When you’re not using it, you can stick it back onto the side of your iPad. 

How to Write Neatly on the iPad

At first, writing on an iPad can feel unfamiliar and a bit unnatural. Here are some easy tricks to make your handwriting on the iPad look nicer. 

Read more: Check out our guide to Digital Planner stickers .

1. Use a matte screen protector 

Tired of your Apple Pencil slipping around on your screen? A matte screen protector is an easy fix. 

A matte screen protector will give just enough friction to mimic the feeling of your pen on paper. 

However, many matte screen protectors will also decrease the crispness of the iPad’s display. Something to keep in mind if your primary use case isn’t note-taking with the iPad.

2. Write on graph paper (and then switch back to blank!) 

Here's an easy trick to write perfectly straight: 

Write on graph paper and let the grid lines help you align your writing. Then, once you’re done writing, switch the paper template back to blank.

Voila! You've got perfectly aligned writing.

Here’s a free downloadable graph paper template . 

3. Write with a thicker pen size. 

If you’re not confident about your handwriting, try using a thicker pen stroke. 

Surprisingly, a thicker pen can make wobbly strokes look smoother. 

Try increasing the thickness of your strokes, and you might be surprised by how much nicer your handwritten notes turn out. ‍

4. Take advantage of note-taking templates and layouts. 

Want beautiful notes without spending ages thinking about the layout?

Use a pre-designed template. 

Note-taking apps like GoodNotes will allow you to import templates to write on, including planners , bullet journal spreads, and already come with over 100 default templates for you to choose from (plus an in-app shop to get more). 

Want tips on how to create beautiful notes? Here’s a guide on how to create aesthetic notes on the iPad .

What’s the Best Note-Taking Method? 

How should you structure your notes on the iPad? That’ll depend on your use case. Here’s a quick overview on different note-taking methods and when to use each. 

For lectures: Cornell notes

Cornell notes are the best note-taking method for students because they are easily skimmable and easy to review.

Write your main notes in the main section, while labeling the content in the left column. After you’re finished, take some time to summarize the whole page in the bottom section. 

For meetings: Cornell notes

When it comes to meeting minutes, the most important thing to record is the next step or actionables. 

The summary at the bottom of Cornell notes works as a clear callout section for the outcome of the meeting.  

(Here’s a free downloadable template for Cornell Notes ).

For brainstorming: Mind maps 

If there’s one note-taking method that enables your creative thinking, it’s mind-mapping. 

Take a blank page and note your thoughts freely in bubbles. Draw lines between related things and watch your ideas fill the page and take shape. 

The best part is that you don’t need full sentences, and can simply write down words or ideas as they come.

For comparisons: Charting method

If you’re comparing things based on set criteria, use a chart. 

Comparison charts make things easier to understand, because they allow you to compare different items against the same criteria. This is great for comparing iPad models, hotel prices, or even which university to go to.

For planning: Outline method

The outline method of note-taking is an effective way to organize or plan projects. By breaking down your plan into a hierarchical structure, you can see the big picture or goals, the details, and the steps that support it. 

Interested in more? Here’s a more in-depth guide to different note-taking methods . 

Bonus : Take a peek at how to bullet journal with GoodNotes .

Note-Taking with GoodNotes on the iPad 

We can't talk about note-taking on the iPad without talking about GoodNotes (that's us!), which won Apple’s 2022 iPad App of the Year . 

Here’s a snapshot of what you can do with GoodNotes: 

• Replace all your physical notebooks, including planners, note pads, school notebooks and more  
• Import and annotate PDFs – perfect for annotating lecture slides, articles, or textbooks
• Share and collaborate on your notes
• Search your handwriting to find exactly the page or notes you’re looking for 

On top of these features, GoodNotes is known for having some of the best writing and ink experiences of the iPad note-taking apps available. Writing with GoodNotes just feels good. 

Tip: If you’re using GoodNotes, you can record audio alongside your handwritten or typed notes. That way, in addition to your own notes, you can also listen to the full context of whatever you’re recording to fall back on.

How to Take Notes on the iPad - FAQs

What are the best note-taking apps for ipad .

GoodNotes won Apple’s 2022 best iPad app of the year award.

OneNote, Notability, and Noteshelf are also well-reviewed note-taking apps.

How do I sync notes between iPhone to iPad

With synced notes you can access your documents on any device and keep them up-to-date automatically.

Here are the steps to sync notes between your iPhone and iPad:

• Make sure both devices are signed in to the same iCloud account.
• On your iPhone, open the Settings app, and tap on your name at the top of the screen.
• Tap on iCloud, and make sure the toggle switch next to GoodNotes (or whatever note-taking app you’re using) is turned on.
• On your iPad, repeat steps 2 and 3 to make sure Notes is turned on.
• To check if your notes are syncing, open the Notes app on both devices. If your notes are syncing, you should see the same notes on both devices.

Tip : GoodNotes offers an automatic backup option. If you don’t want to take up your iCloud storage, you can backup your notes to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive (although it isn’t a true sync). Read more here . 

How do I set up palm rejection on iPad? 

The iPad has a built-in feature called Palm Rejection that can help differentiate the Apple Pencil’s marks vs. your finger or palm. It’s automatically toggled on, so you don't have to worry about setting it up!

Which iPads work with which Apple Pencils? 

You can use Apple Pencil 2 with these iPads: 

• iPad mini (6th generation)
• iPad Air (4th generation and later)
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later)
• Apple Pencil (1st generation)

The Apple Pencil 1 is compatible with these iPads:

• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad (6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th generation)
• iPad (10th generation)*
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st and 2nd generation)
• iPad Pro 10.5-inch
• iPad Pro 9.7-inch

Welcome to the world of digital note-taking

Ready to start note-taking with your iPad? Join millions of students, digital planning enthusiasts, and digital note-takers using GoodNotes.

‍ Download GoodNotes for free today.

Want more note-taking tips? 

‍ Sign up for the GoodNotes newsletter here .

CREATIVITY TIPS

How to write a book on an ipad.

{One of my favourite ipad-writing spots .} 

Hi! I'm Danielle.

OBSESSED WITH THE CREATIVE PROCESS  SINCE 1993

Details below!

Get the Free Guide

My 7 favourite writing apps for ipad .

Part of the free Writers Corner email series.

No Spam Promise. Unsubscribe anytime.

WRITERS’ CORNER

A free series of creativity, mindset and productivity tips for writers.

Includes My 7 Favourite Writing Apps for iPad

FREE EMAIL SERIES

If you’re a writer…, life is better when you write., resources to help you write, publish and enjoy the process..

You may also like...

FROM THE BLOG ...

Creative Nonfiction Writing #bts

4 Tips for Creative Confidence

Build it and they will come : the power of faith, joy & optimism

What were you born to do ?

HOLISTIC COACHING FOR CREATIVES

Part of the creativity for humanity movement, pin it on pinterest.

• https://www.pinterest.co.uk/danielle_raine/
• Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/daniellerainecreativitycoaching
• LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-raine-3699531a/

Using the iPad for: Writing Novels

I write books , and writing is one task that the iPad is ideally suited for. Even the on-screen keyboard is very usable with practice, though you’ll certainly want a physical keyboard for serious typing, and there are a wealth of apps available to help you get words down in a focused environment.

For years, my writing tool of choice on the Mac has been Scrivener , and the iOS version was released at last in July this year. It’s how I work on novels on the iPad. Let me tell you a bit more about it.

Scrivener on iPad offers most of the organising, writing, and editing features of its big brother on the Mac. Even the cork board is there, and the sidebar (or Binder, in Scrivener’s own terminology) can be used for rudimentary outlining — but you’re much better off using a dedicated tool like the unmatched OmniOutliner for that particular task.

The actual writing experience is delightful, as you’d expect. A dedicated full-screen mode is available, or you can equally keep the Binder visible (narrow or wide), or open a different document in that panel to refer to. Here’s how it looks when editing full-screen.

The novel pictured is my own CHANGER (since you ask). And here’s a screenshot of Scrivener with the sidebar and Binder visible.

The editor is rich text, offers typewriter mode — which keeps the line you’re currently editing at a fixed point on screen — and supports common keyboard shortcuts for formatting. It can also preview the collated full text of your manuscript in-app, without requiring export first.

What it doesn’t have, though, is all of the Mac version’s Compile functionality, to format and collate your manuscript ready for export. It can generate PDF, Word, RTF, and plain text formats, but not ePub (though you can open the Word format directly in Apple’s Pages app, which can then generate ePub files on the device). Significant customisation of Scrivener’s output is possible via SCOMP files (Scrivener Compile Appearance), which you can add and edit within the app itself; it’s a YAML -based format, with full documentation included. Users of the Mac version of Scrivener will recognise many of the options available (folder-level title formatting, font overrides, text transformations, etc), but there’s no UI for any of it in the iOS version — it’s strictly via the configuration files alone. I’m already very familiar with YAML since my blogging system, Jekyll , uses it for article metadata. You’ll find it very straightforward.

Given the lack of direct ePub support, Scrivener on iPad naturally also can’t make use of KindleGen to produce mobi files on its own like the Mac version can, but if the Kindle Store is your distribution channel, note that the KDP portal accepts ePub files too, and will convert them to the mobi format for you automatically. Thus, with a suitably-customised SCOMP file to export a Word document from Scrivener, then running it through Pages to create an ePub, you can have an ebook-production workflow entirely on the iPad.

Getting print-ready output may take some more work. The SCOMP files don’t support the full range of typographic and layout control of Scrivener’s Mac version, so you’ll need to experiment to see if you can get what you need. I can at least tell you that custom page sizes and margins ( including mirror margins), starting chosen folder-level titles/texts on recto pages, and verso/recto running heads and folios, are supported. I’ve seen people saying that they’re not; I can only assume those people didn’t actually read the SCOMP spec closely enough. There’s no widow/orphan control, though, as far as I can see, or automated text-replacement, but there’s a lot that is available. You can probably get quite a long way towards what you want. I advise spending some quality time creating your own configuration file, and seeing what’s possible.

I was asked by a reader about spelling and grammar checkers. While Scrivener does (optionally) participate in the system-wide “wiggly red underline” spellchecker, there’s no grammar checker available. I haven’t researched other options for this, because truthfully I use neither feature. That’s not a boast, and my proof readers know that I make my fair share of typos and errors. I just try to catch spelling errors during proof-reading and editing, and I’ve never used grammar checkers. I can understand that they might be of some use if you’re not a native speaker of the language you’re writing in, but for fiction, they produce so many false positives that they’re almost useless to me. They don’t allow for flexibility of style, deliberate sentence fragments, interrupted thoughts, and so on. I don’t think the technology exists to do it in a way that’s suitable for fiction, with informal speech, vernacular, and just the craft of making prose that flows and engages. For business documents, absolutely; take whatever help you think you need. For novels, grammar checkers are highly dubious, in this writer’s humble opinion.

(What would be of benefit is the kind of visually-highlighted linguistic analysis that the Mac app Marked 2 provides. I’d be interested in an iPad option for that functionality — even though it’s soul-destroying to see the evidence of weak-adverb proliferation writ large ‘pon your beloved manuscript.)

Scrivener on iOS is still young, and not without its minor bugs here and there (some fixes coming soon!), but it’s a beautiful, richly-featured, and focused distillation of what makes the Mac app so great. I personally think it’s a superior writing environment to its elder sibling too.

If, like me, you have a strong preference for using rich text when writing fiction — complete with native italics, automatic smart quotes, first-line indents, and so forth — you owe it to yourself to give it a thorough shot.

Alternatively

It would be downright rude not to also mention the excellent Ulysses here. It’s a writer’s workshop too, through and through, and provides a remarkably similar overall workflow to Scrivener: projects and folders and files; documents and notes and metadata; exporting with styles; and robust sync with its desktop counterpart. It’s wholly worthy of your attention, but it’s also a different beast.

Ulysses is a Markdown app (you can write in different formats, but Markdown is the default), so you’ll be using plain text rather than Word/Pages/TextEdit/Notes-like rich text. Ulysses cleverly goes some way towards bridging the gap between the two, by displaying Markdown-emphasised text in italics alongside the underscores, and double-asterisked text in boldface too. Headers are suitably larger beside their hash-symbol prefixes, and various types of annotations are supported, like footnotes, comments, links, and images. There are also per-document notes, writing targets, metadata tags, and associated images — though these features are unavailable if you’re using Dropbox as a file store rather than Ulysses’ own internal (and iCloud-synced) library.

Its editing mode is always full-screen, not providing an in-app two-up view for reference (and document-specific notes are in a slide-over UI that doesn’t really afford simultaneous work and reference). However, it does participate in iOS’ split view functionality with other apps. Like Scrivener, it supports typewriter mode.

Here’s an editing screenshot.

Ulysses supports exporting to HTML, plain text, PDF, ePub, and also publishing directly to Medium or to WordPress (either the hosted variant or your own installation). Both the editor’s theme and the various export formats are all very customisable, though you’ll have to use the Mac app to actually create or edit these yourself ( technically , you can make and import an editor theme or a PDF export theme wholly on an iOS device — both are stylesheets; one in actual CSS, and the other in Ulysses’ own very-similar and well-documented syntax — but the ePub custom export style format is a Zip archive with an undocumented property list embedded beside the CSS and preview images, so you’re on your own there). There is, though, an online theme and export style archive, from which you can download others’ submissions directly to your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

If you prefer to write your long-form fiction in Markdown-flavoured plain text (or Textile’d, or Minimark, or even other markups you add yourself — again, via the desktop version and iCloud sync), and/or you like the idea of being able to fully preview not only your PDF output but also your ebooks right there in the app, you should certainly give Ulysses some seriously thought. If you have a Mac, there’s a trial version of the macOS app which gives you a very strong sense of what to expect on iPad too; Ulysses’ UI and interaction flow is virtually identical regardless of which OS you happen to be using it on.

The distinction between Scrivener and Ulysses is ultimately a personal one. Try both on a Mac if you can (and do read through the excellent and entertaining included tutorials in each case), and see which writing paradigm you like most. You’ll be spending the vast bulk of your time writing and tweaking text, after all, so that’s the activity on which to primarily base your choice.

That’ll do for now. Writing has always been readily possible on iPad, but these days we have tools that allow planning, organising, writing, editing, and compiling manuscripts for publication. It’s a very exciting time, and the iPad’s focus and exceptional portability make it a highly attractive tool for the contemporary author.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again next time. To stay up to date, it would be the very wisest of decisions to follow me on Twitter .

Handwriting on the iPad: how to use Apple Scribble

Enter text using handwriting on the iPad with the Apple Scribble function.

Handwriting on the iPad can be used to enter text through Apple Scribble. This method can be used in various apps, allowing you to scribble notes with your Apple pencil or just with your finger and transform the scrawl into text. It's super handy for filling in text fields, setting reminders and more, which is great for those who don't have a keyboard an don't want to fiddle with the on-screen keyboard.

It's easy to use, but Apple Scribble has a bunch of features you'll need to know about to improve the experience, including how to draw patterns to perform different functions (zig-zagging to delete, for example). Our guide to how to use Apple Scribble will explain many of the basic and advanced features so you can use handwriting on iPad it to its full potential. 

Need a new stylus? Try our guides to the best iPad stylus , and the best Apple pencil alternatives . Or, if you want an actual Apple Pencil, see this list of cheap Apple Pencil deals around right now. We've also reviewed the new Apple Pencil USB-C .

How to enter text as handwriting on the iPad with Scribble

01. turn on apple scribble and try it out.

Turn on Scribble in Settings > Apple Pencil. Below, tap Try Scribble. In the Handwrite tab, simply start writing in the box. Notice that you needn't stay within it; you can write bigger, or elsewhere on the screen.

02. Draw a zig-zag to delete

After a few strokes, iPadOS will start to type, but you can carry on writing while it does so. In the Delete tab, see how scribbling across words removes them. A single vertical or horizontal zig-zag will do the trick.

03. Select text

In the Select tab, try selecting text either by drawing a plain horizontal line through it or a circle around it. Again, Scribble selects whole words, but you can drag the blue handles to add or subtract characters.

04. Insert text

The Insert tab shows how you can tap and hold to insert text, but it's unnecessary: just tap to place the cursor, then write text to insert. As seen in Join, draw a vertical line to add or remove a space character.

05. Use Apple Scribble any time, any place

Scribble doesn't need to 'learn' your handwriting, and works in any standard text input box. For example, write into Safari's URL/search field and tap a suggested hit. You can also write straight into text fields on web pages.

06. Using handwriting in apps

Scribble works in text entry fields within apps (you may need to tap

the box first). Support for apps that make more sophisticated use of text will need adding by developers; for example, Word isn't yet supported.

Handwriting on the iPad: How to use Scribble's advanced features in Notes

01. tap markup pen.

In iPadOS' Notes app, Scribble can be used in two ways (this may vary in third-party note-taking apps). In a note, tap the Markup pen icon at the top right and pick the new Handwriting ('A') pen.

02. Tap to return

Using the Pencil, write anywhere in the note view and you'll see recognised

characters are typed at the current cursor position. Notice the Return button at the bottom right, which you can tap to start a new line.

03. Draw with Finger

Alternatively, pick any other pen tool and write text, at any size, wherever you

want it. This also works without a Pencil: tap the three dots icon in the Markup toolbar at the bottom and switch on Draw with Finger.

04. Select the text

Deselect the Markup pen at the top, then use your finger to long-press the

text you've written until it highlights. Drag the yellow selection handles to select more (even on multiple lines) or less. Tap for editing options.

05. Edit and search

Your handwritten text is editable and searchable. (If this is the first line, it also sets the note's title.) You can choose Copy as Text to add it to the iPadOS clipboard as ordinary text and paste it anywhere else.

06. Try out shape recognition

Shape recognition is also new (and, unlike Scribble, also in iOS 14).

Roughly draw a square, circle, triangle or star, and keep your Pencil or finger held down. You'll see it pop into shape, and it can be selected and moved.

This content originally appeared in MacFormat;  subscribe to MacFormat here . For more options to make the most of your tablet, see our pick of the best iPad Pro apps .

Get the Creative Bloq Newsletter

Daily design news, reviews, how-tos and more, as picked by the editors.

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Related articles

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Best iPad apps for writers in 2022

There are still people who think that iPads are only good for consuming content like watching films, reading books and playing games. Clearly, none of these people have tried to write on a Kindle.

For writers, the iPad does offer every bit of this content consumption, and it offers it extremely well. But every iPad, iPad mini , iPad Air , and iPad Pro is also a writing studio that is about as light and convenient as you could imagine, and at least as powerful as you could hope.

You really should buy some kind of external keyboard, or keyboard case, if you're going to be doing serious writing on any iPad. Typing thousands of words onto the glass is not ideal, and the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro and now also iPad Air isn't essential.

But you want one of those options and you don't want the other.

Beyond that, you are able to do just about every type of prose writing you need to on an iPad, straight out of the box. Without any other apps than Apple provides, you have a full word processing solution in Pages, for instance.

There are things Pages is poor at, though, such as scripts and screenplays. They can be written in Pages in theory, but in practice, it's no better at them than Word is.

So there are specific needs to use alternative apps, and there are plenty of alternative apps to satisfy requirements like that. Plus there are apps that do the same thing yet one just works better for you than others.

It's like the ancient old days when you might have a preference for which type of pencil you use. You know they all get the job done, yet just one is right for you.

That does mean that any roundup of the best writing apps for iPad is unquestionably subjective. And any unquestionably subjective roundup is bound to leave out your favorites.

Don't take that as a failing, do take it as your opportunity to enthuse in the AppleInsider forums. And also this: the reason people get very passionate about writing apps for the iPad is that they are worth it.

Apple will never say that it only makes iPads for writers, but they're so good for all writers and authors that you have to wonder.

Main word processors for iPad

We used to write everything in one word processor, whether it was a novel or a shopping list. We did so partly because they were built to handle everything, but mostly because they were so expensive that you only ever bought one.

That's changed because of the iPad and the App Store, but while there is a booming market in more specialized writing tools, there are still a couple of heavyweights that would could make a case for being your sole text editor.

Microsoft Word

Microsoft made a mistake choosing to keep Word off the iPad for years. Once users were required to find alternatives, they did, and they also found that they liked them.

Then once a user has moved to an alternative on the iPad, they very easily moved to the same alternative on the Mac. And what they routinely found was that this alternative, whichever it was, didn't crash as often as Word, it didn't drive them spare twice a day.

So Microsoft Word went from being a synonym for word processor and into just one more of your choices.

It has not come close to reclaiming the total dominance it once had. But when it did come to the iPad, it came in a completely new and rewritten form — which was better than we'd had on the Mac.

That wasn't to say it was as powerful, but starting from scratch meant adding in only features that users need. The bloated Word for Mac was regenerated into the slim Word for iPad, and there is a huge amount to like about it.

Microsoft Word is a free download from the App Store, but then requires one of many alternative subscriptions starting from $6.99 per month.

Apple Pages

Pages — free on iPads, Macs and iPhones — does not get as much love as it should. Where Microsoft likes you to see how powerful it is by displaying every tool and option it can, Apple wants you to be able to just get on with your writing.

Consequently, Pages hides away its powerful features until you need them. And unfortunately, that can have the effect of making it look as if Pages does not have these features.

Pages looks simple but it's not just a note-taking app. It is not as powerful as Word, but for the giant majority of writing tasks, Pages is Word's equal — and can subjectively feel better to you.

Only, Word and Pages both date back to the days when everything we wrote was then printed out on paper to be sent to publishers. Today you might be struggling to remember where your printer is.

Word and Pages continue to be used for writing that is going online, or certainly being sent digitally to book publisher systems like Affinity Publisher and Adobe InDesign . But they are not ideal for it.

Worse than not being ideal, if you copy text from either of them — most especially Word — and then paste it into an online content management system, you can get problems. Peculiar formatting, odd characters, even unexpected spacing issues can all arise because these two produce heavily formatted text.

Between a word processor and a text editor

You can't really have both a full word processor without issues like this, but you can have tools that do tiny, specific writing tasks. And you can have some in the middle, neither full word processors nor bare text editors, yet somehow better than both.

The iPad and Mac app iA Writer is a calming, relaxing kind of writing tool which lacks the powerful features of Word and Pages, such as longform book options, but will make you not care.

For iA Writer knows that writing has to be written, that it has to be put down on screen from out of the writer's head. Until then, there's nothing to format, nothing to create footnote citations about.

So this app concentrates on pushing aside features, interruptions, and really even any non-essential options. It's for making you concentrate on your writing.

For the iPad version, iA Writer costs $30 on the App Store.

Now Drafts 5 practically bills itself as a text editor, which is a way of saying you can basically type into it but mustn't expect anything fancy. Except Drafts 5 is replete with fancy tools and options.

Its chief aim is to get you writing immediately. Start the app, start typing. No pause, no waiting for a moment, no tapping on a New or a Plus sign.

There's also no obvious formatting, no obvious controls, it's just a blank page for you to get your words down. There is formatting, though, you can use Markdown controls to set headings and bold, italic and so on.

And what's great about Drafts, beyond just the practical feel of it all, is that once you do have your words written, there is an enormous amount you can do. Take that text and email it directly to your publisher, send it to your Kindle, send it out as a text message, or publish as a blog.

Drafts 5, which is also on the Mac and iPhone, has a library of Actions that let you create whole workflows for your work.

Drafts 5 is free to download from the App Store, and then costs $20 per year.

Specialized prose writing apps for iPad

Somewhere between the word processors of this world and the better text editors, there are apps that you might call writing studios, or writing environments. They are apps that work to help you with the business of writing as well as the job of typing text.

Scrivener, for instance, knows that when you're writing a novel, you are in it for the long haul. It knows you may need research, and it definitely knows that once you're up around 80,000 words or more, you need help keeping track of everything.

So Scrivener will let you write sixty chapters one after another if that's what you like, but it will also then slice that text up. If you have a character who only appears in chapters 4, 7, 11, and 33, then you can have Scrivener show you solely those chapters.

Look at the entire manuscript to get the whole picture, or concentrate on a specific segment. Scrivener bounces between both of these as you want, and it also offers a slew of extra writing, or rather writer, tools.

Such as how it handles research. You can drag images, URLs, whole web pages, and even entire other documents into the research section of your book.

Then whenever you open your iPad to write, everything you need is there. And when you're ready to send the manuscript to a publisher, they get everything — except the research.

Scrivener for iPad costs $20 on the App Store.

Ulysses is a curious writing environment for writers, one that is either completely compelling or just does not feel right to you at all. Rather than having documents per se, Ulysses offers you one single app with one single file — within which you can create countless pieces of writing.

Those are called Sheets in Ulysses and, like Scrivener, you can write them all in one go or you can slice them up.

It's a Markdown editor which means it feels bare, like Drafts can, and it doesn't have the same full-feature sense that Scrivener does. But wherever you go, whenever you open your iPad, you don't just have your latest writing, you have all of your writing.

All of it. Every bit since you started using Ulysses, anyway, and that grows into a very compellingly handy library of all your work.

Ulysses is free to download, then costs around $40 per year. It's also available as part of Setapp .

Specialized writing tools for scripts

As yet, there's no breakout hit app for writing haiku poetry. But there are a lot of apps for writing scripts and screen plays.

Scrivener is one of them. As well as prose, you can switch to a scriptwriting mode in Scrivener and it is a good writing tool for screenplays.

Screenplays have very specific formats and margins, developed over the last century and every bit is the way it is for a reason. It could be a reason that helps location scouts later on, rather than being any use to the writer now, but each reason is real and each formatting requirement is needed.

And they are just fiddly enough that it's only right an iPad should do as much of that work for you as possible. Let you concentrate on what's happening in the script, while your writing app looks after making it readable on the screen.

Final Draft 12

The most famous and the longest-running screenwriting app is Final Draft, now in version 12. It is very, very good on the Mac and PC.

Don't ask any Final Draft user if there's anything they dislike about it, you haven't got time, but still it's very, very good.

Whereas the iPad app is just good, approaching pretty good. It's had some bugs over the years and the company's support hasn't always been marvellous, but there are writers who solely use the iPad version and don't even have a Mac.

If they did have a Mac, they'd find out that the computer version of Final Draft is expensive. For Mac, it's officially $250 , though it tends to go on sale a great deal, and once you have one the company is good at selling you upgrades that are expensive, but seem cheap next to buying the full thing.

On the iPad, though, it costs $9.99 on the App Store. It's some writers' sole professional tool and it costs less than a book.

Alternatively, there is also Celtx, which used to be practically a clone of Final Draft and has the advantage that it's free on the App Store.

As yet, there isn't an iPad version of what might be Final Draft's best competitor on the Mac, Highland 2 . It's modern, slick, and it's built by professional, working screenwriters with long success in the industry.

They say that an iPad version is in the works, but no release date has been announced yet.

Utilities for writers

You could spend all your writing time just checking out utility apps for writers, like dictionaries and outliners and programs that make up your plot for you.

However, save yourself some trouble. Skip those ones where they say you just put in a name and choose a genre like comedy or western, and they'll outline your story for you.

But speaking of outlines... You may not be the kind of writer who plans anything out, you could be a pantser — one who writes by the seat of their pants.

Whether you like outlines or not, you can be required to write them for certain publishers or producers. When that's the last requirement before they start paying you, suddenly you can get to be very fond of outliners.

Try OmniOutliner 3 for iPad when you have any thing like a book structure to create, or an event to program. It's free to download and try, then costs from $19 .

There is an outliner in Word, but it's built for academics and is like working in treacle. There was an outliner in Pages, but Apple removed it.

Actually, you can jury-rig an outline in Pages using heading styles, but moving around it, changing text, grouping ideas together, it's as bad as Word.

Scrivener also has its own outliner and that's pretty powerful. But the separate, standalone OmniOutliner is the kind of writing tool that turns you from a user into a fan.

The best writing apps for iPad

This has been about the best writing apps for iPad, but it's really about the best writing apps for writers and those are on the iPad. We are now most definitely spoiled for choice for straight writing tools, and it is a fantastic thing.

And we have even more choice when it comes to writing being part of a larger project, a larger business. Then there are apps like Notion and Craft which are good for handling lots of information, or DEVONthink which is like a bionic research and writing too.

There may never be an end to the best writing apps for iPad, and there certainly won't be an end to the debate over just what constitutes the best.

But what doesn't change is that each of these runs on every iPad from the regular one, through the iPad mini, and on up to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro . We can have superb writing apps, and we can have them anywhere we go.

After you write your novel, you may want to try to publish it. We'll be talking about that very soon.

You're doing screenwriters a disservice in not mentioning WriterDuet - platform agnostic, device agnostic.  It just works.

I’ve written six novels in Scrivener, but the iPad version, sadly, is so “fat” that you can barely see a single page in it. The great thing about the macOS version is that you can see your writing and a bunch of panes at the same time (outline, metadata, notes, references, split views horizontally or vertically, etc.), to taste. The iPad version can squeeze in a few views (at the expense of content), but it’s all aimed at finger navigation and feels shoehorned in. I bought it, but it’s claustrophobic to look at.  Unrelated: another outlining app that’s been getting a lot of attention in the last week or so is Bike: https://www.hogbaysoftware.com/bike/

A shame the mere existence of a writing app isn’t enough motivation for some to just write, but these are good apps. Right, well… write well!

Thank you for the thoughtful write up.  I am writing a book that has a unique, smaller page size that “standard”. I also want to include drawings, pages with quotes, pages with pictures.  A combination of visual drawing and written word.   My desire is to find a software program that allows me to create a template for each page, so I know what will fit on each page. Then I am able to format the written word, and also format my drawing and images on pages.   Then I’d also like to be able to move pages around, so that I am sure which pages are facing each other. For example, if I want to do a drawing that is on 2 pages, I want to be sure that they are facing each other (not back to back/requiring a page turn).   I’d love suggestions or ideas about software for the iPad that you’d suggest for this project.  With a deep bow of gratitude. 

Top Stories

Amazon discounts the Apple Studio Display to $1,299.97 ($300 off)

New iPad Pro unexpectedly rumored to debut with M4 chip

Retro gold rush: these emulators are coming to the App Store soon

The Worst of WWDC - Apple's biggest missteps on the way to success

Apple said to have restarted discussion for OpenAI integration into iOS 18

New iPad Air & iPad Pro models are coming soon - what to expect

Featured deals.

Save up to $350 on every Apple M3 MacBook Pro, plus get up to $80 off AppleCare

Latest comparisons.

M3 15-inch MacBook Air vs M3 14-inch MacBook Pro — Ultimate buyer's guide

M3 MacBook Air vs M1 MacBook Air — Compared

M3 MacBook Air vs M2 MacBook Air — Compared

Latest news.

iPhone 16 screen sizes allegedly revealed in new leak

Frequent leaker Sonny Dickson has revealed a photo purporting to show the forthcoming iPhone 16 lineup, and the screen sizes for each of the four models.

Amazon discounts the Apple Studio Display to $1,299 ($300 off)

Save $300 on the Apple Studio Display at Amazon this weekend, with prices dropping to as low as $1,299.97 (the lowest price on record).

Apple Pencil coming on May 7 could buzz users with haptic feedback

The next generation of Apple Pencil could have haptic feedback, buzzing a user's fingers as they draw and write.

New iPad Pro rumored to debut with M4 chip

A new rumor claims that the forthcoming iPad Pro, scheduled to debut on May 7, could be the first Apple product with the next-generation M4 chip powering it.

Some users are randomly getting locked out of their Apple ID accounts

Overnight, a notable portion of iCloud users were getting logged out of their accounts across all of their devices, and the only way back in was to perform a password reset.

A report suggests that Apple is still looking across the spectrum of AI providers for iOS 18, with OpenAi again in conversations with the iPhone maker.

Apple is allowing emulators to be submitted to the App Store. Here's what's on the way so you can play your favorite retro games on your iPhone.

How to connect to FTP servers in macOS using modern apps

File Transfer Protocol is an older networking protocol for transferring files to network servers. Here's how to use it on your Mac.

Unistellar Odyssey Pro review: Unlock pro-level astronomy with your iPhone from your backyard

Unistellar's Odyssey Pro smart telescope delivers amazing results even from a light-polluted backyard — and we have the photographic evidence to prove it.

Latest Videos

All of the specs of the iPhone SE 4 may have just been leaked

When to expect every Mac to get the AI-based M4 processor

Latest reviews.

Ugreen DXP8800 Plus network attached storage review: Good hardware, beta software

Espresso 17 Pro review: Magnetic & modular portable Mac monitor

{{ title }}

{{ summary }}

How to write a novel on an iPad

Think an iPad would be rubbish for writing a novel on? Think again.

Write a novel on an iPad

It's said that everyone has a novel inside them, the hard part is getting it out. But with a tablet it's now easier than ever, as you can write whenever and wherever you happen to be.

Of course there are still hurdles. Even if you're strong enough to resist the lure of the latest games and are tired of refreshing Facebook you need the right apps and tools to get the job done. Thankfully if you've got an iPad there's an ever growing number to choose from. Here's where to start.

Step 1 - Get a full size iPad

The iPad mini 3 is great, but if you want to write a novel you're ideally going to want a bigger canvas, so a full sized model like the iPad Air 2 is preferable. A mini is workable, but fifty hours of writing from now you'll be glad you opted for a larger screen.

There's less need to zoom and scroll, less eye strain from having the text zoomed too far out in order to fit a full page on the screen and more space to type, whether you're using the touchscreen or a keyboard case.

Step 2 - Find a writing app that suits you

Out of the box there isn't a hugely useful text entry app on the iPad for serious writing. Trust us, you don't want to write a novel in Notes.

But there are loads of options on the App Store, so you just have to find one which suits you. From full-featured word processors like Pages , Microsoft Word and Polaris Office , to more specialist apps like Werdsmith , which has a minimalist interface free of distractions and even Hanx Writer , which simulates a typewriter without the annoyance of having to start again every time you make a typo.

Some writing apps are free, others aren't, but the important thing is to find one which you're happy to use for hours at a time.

Step 3 - Find the perfect note taking app

As well as an app for the heavy lifting of writing your novel you may also want a separate one for jotting down notes and ideas as they come to you.

The Notes app on the iPad can do this job but there are stronger options. Evernote for example gives you an attractive interface and cloud storage, while A Novel Idea is more designed with authors in mind and has separate sections for scenes, characters, locations and ideas.

Then there's Mindly , which helps you brainstorm and structure your ideas. As with writing apps these are just a few suggestions from the many options on the app store, so dive in and find the right one for you.

Step 4 - Grab a dictionary

A writer is only as good as their vocabulary, so grab a dictionary or thesaurus and make sure you're using the best words for the job.

Dictionary.com includes both a dictionary and a thesaurus and best of all it's free, though you can also upgrade to an ad-free premium version which additionally benefits from an encyclopaedia and example sentences.

Step 5 - Vanquish writer's block

Writer's block hits us all from time to time, but there are now a number of tools to help you overcome it. You could check out Creative Writer for one, which is essentially a keyboard but with far more inspired next word suggestions than you'd typically find.

Or there's Writing Challenge , which turns writing into a game with creative prompts for you to follow.

Step 6 - Get a keyboard

The iPad has a pretty good keyboard and now that there's third party keyboard support there are other options too, but ultimately if you want to write a novel you really need a physical keyboard.

That inevitably means an additional purchase, but there are a number of options available, including some which double as cases to keep your iPad protected too. They range from things like the £13 Caseflex Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard to the likes of the £85 Logitech Ultrathin Magnetic Clip On Keyboard , with plenty of options priced in between.

Step 7 - Keep your work backed up

We can't think of many things worse for a writer than losing hundreds of hours of work, so keeping your novel backed up is essential. Thankfully some writing apps will offer this as standard, but if not you should get set up with a cloud storage account such as Dropbox and make sure you're regularly backing your work up.

This will also make it easier to access your manuscript from other devices, as you can get back into it from any computer, tablet or smartphone with an internet connection.

Step 8 - Find a good editing app

Once you're done writing you'll want to edit your work. The app you chose to write your novel may already have strong editing tools, but then again it may not. So if it doesn't you'll want to switch to something else for the editing process.

Writer Pro is a good bet. Among other things it has a Syntax Control feature which can highlight superfluous adjectives and adverbs, spot repetitive nouns and more. The feature-packed Editorial is worth a look too if you've got £7.99 to spare.

Step 9 - Just write

Apps and keyboards are nice, but ultimately all you really need is an idea and the means to write. With an iPad you have the means, the idea is up to you. Once you have one, just write. Ignore any distractions, don't worry about whether or not you have the perfect tools for the job, just do it.

Starting is the hardest part and it's easy to come up with excuses not to, but when your masterpiece is complete you'll be glad you did.

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

The iPad Air 6 could lack a major rumored screen upgrade

Your iPad could soon get a stock feature you didn’t even notice was missing

'A game of chicken': Samsung set to launch new storage chip that could make 100TB SSDs mainstream — 430-layer NAND will leapfrog competition as race for NAND supremacy heats up

Most Popular

• 2 The obscure little PC that wanted to be a big NAS — super compact Maiyunda M1 doesn't cost that much, offers up to 40TB SSD storage, runs Windows and has 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports
• 3 Microsoft strips Windows 11's Control Panel of another tool - is the writing on the wall?
• 4 Meta’s massive OS announcement is more exciting than a Meta Quest 4 reveal, and VR will never be the same again
• 5 NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Friday, April 26 (game #54)
• 3 Over a billion users could be at risk from keyboard logging app security flaw
• 4 Netflix movie of the day: Living is a feel-good Oscar nominee with 96% on Rotten Tomatoes
• 5 Researchers produce thinnest sheet of metal ever using a 100-year old Japanese technique — Goldene could pave way for super catalysts, ultra high density optical storage and much more

Writing your book with Pages

Pages is Apple’s free, powerful word processor that lets you write, edit, and collaborate with others to create stunning books.

Pages is not only simple to use, but it’s full of helpful features for writers. You can use Pages to create any kind of book, from a traditional novel to a dynamic digital book with interactive graphics, bespoke font treatments, and much more. Pages can help you manage and develop your entire writing process: plan out your storyline on the go with Pages on your iPhone, edit on your Mac without compromising your original draft with Track Changes and Smart Annotations, and format your story to look beautiful and professional using Pages templates and text styles. Pages makes it easy to write and polish your draft into a beautiful, engaging book that readers will love.

Start using Pages for Mac

Start using Pages on the web 

Use Pages on iPhone to write whenever inspiration strikes

Inspiration can strike when your computer isn’t on hand, but don’t let that stop you from getting your ideas down. Use Pages on iPhone and never let an idea slip between your fingers. Jot down thoughts, edit a section, or even write your whole book from start to finish directly from your iPhone. Pages uses iCloud Drive to sync documents across all your devices, so when you’re ready to sit down at your computer, you haven’t lost a word and can pick up your story right where you left off. Conveniently, iCloud Drive automatically saves your work periodically so you never have to worry about losing your work.

Use Comments to brainstorm

Writing is an organic process. It doesn’t always start at the beginning and proceed forward neatly. When you’re beginning to collect your thoughts, don’t get stuck on perfecting a paragraph or finding the perfect word — that will just slow down your creative process. Use the Comments feature in Pages to brainstorm ideas, think through sections of your book that you might not be ready to write, note questions you may want to answer later, or just highlight sentences you want to remember to complete another time. Comments can help unblock you on tough parts so you can keep writing without losing a thought, or losing momentum.

Use Collaboration to share your process with others

Even the best authors can use an editor. Getting feedback from a trusted reader on your draft helps you refine and craft your best story. A reader’s feedback can consist of line-by-line editing or more general suggestions about characters or plot. Use Collaboration for Pages to easily share with others and collect their feedback all within your single document. Use Pages password-protection features to keep your book safe and control who’s able to see it.

Use Track Changes or annotate with Apple Pencil

Every great book is polished through the same process: edit, rewrite, repeat. Use Track Changes to edit without overwriting your original text and track who made a change when collaborating. Use Apple Pencil on iPad to make annotations directly in your document for easy editing later.

Use text styles and panel navigation to add structure and organize your story

Great books are polished with strong text hierarchy and organized page structures. Use text styles to add chapter headers or page breaks, or to bring emphasis to specific text. Use Pages thumbnails and table of contents views to easily navigate your book.

Use Pages free book templates

Start by choosing a template that works for your book genre. The templates include layout, placeholder text, and even images to give you an idea what your book could look like. After you’ve picked a template you can add text, photos, image galleries, videos, audio, shapes, tables, charts, and more to your book.

{{ currentCaption }}

When You Write

Note-Taking On Ipad Vs Paper: Pros And Cons

Are you tired of lugging around heavy notebooks and stacks of paper? Do you want a more convenient way to take notes on the go? The iPad has revolutionized the way we take notes, offering a portable and efficient alternative to traditional paper note-taking.

But is the convenience of the iPad worth sacrificing the tactile experience and potential retention that comes with writing on paper? In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of note-taking on iPad versus paper, helping you determine which method is best for your needs.

As technology continues to advance, it’s important to stay informed and make informed decisions on how we approach our daily tasks, including note-taking. So, let’s dive in and weigh the pros and cons of each method!

Key Takeaways

• iPad note-taking offers efficiency and convenience while reducing paper usage and allowing for easy searchability.
• Handwriting notes on paper may lead to better memory retention and engagement of different parts of the brain.
• Both methods have their disadvantages, such as digital notes being lost or damaged and poor handwriting on paper.
• When choosing a method, factors such as personal preference, learning style, and contextual relevance should be considered, and experimentation may be necessary to determine the best fit.

Convenience of iPad Note Taking

If you’re looking for a way to take notes that are both efficient and mobile, using an iPad may be the perfect solution for you. Not only can you easily type out your notes, but you can also access them from anywhere with an internet connection. This convenience is something that traditional note-taking methods simply can’t compete with.

When it comes to efficiency, the iPad reigns supreme. Typing notes is much faster than handwriting, and you can easily search for specific keywords or phrases within your notes. Plus, you never have to worry about running out of paper or ink.

However, for those who prefer the traditional method of handwriting their notes, the iPad may not be the best option. It can be difficult to replicate the feeling of writing on paper, and some people find that they retain information better when they physically write it out.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to personal preference and what works best for your individual needs.

Potential Lack of Retention with iPad Note Taking

When taking notes on your iPad, it’s important to consider the potential lack of retention that may come with the convenience of typing.

While it may be quicker and easier to type out your notes, research has shown that physically writing them down can lead to better memory retention.

Without the physical act of writing, you may find it more difficult to retain the information long-term.

Convenience of typing may lead to less retention

Typing on an iPad may seem like a time-saver, but it could lead to a significant decrease in retention, making all those notes taken on the device essentially useless. The convenience of typing may actually be detrimental to your ability to retain information.

When typing, you tend to write down everything you hear or see, without really processing the information. This means that you’re not really engaging with the material, which can lead to a lack of retention.

On the other hand, writing by hand requires more effort and processing, which can actually help you retain information better. Writing by hand also allows you to take more selective notes, since you have to be more deliberate about what you write down.

This means that you’re more likely to remember the information that you’ve written down since you’ve had to engage with it on a deeper level. So, while typing on an iPad may be more convenient, it’s not always the best option if you want to retain information.

Difficulty in retaining information without physical notes

Losing your physical notes can be frustrating, especially when you’re trying to remember key information from a lecture or meeting. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of note-taking on an iPad or other digital device.

While it’s convenient to have all your notes in one place, it can be difficult to retain information without physical notes to refer to. Physical notes provide a tactile experience that helps with memory retention. Writing notes by hand can also be a more active process, as it requires you to engage with the material in a way that typing does not.

For this reason, many people find that they’re better able to remember information when they take notes on paper. However, this isn’t to say that digital note-taking is completely ineffective. With the right techniques and tools, it’s possible to use an iPad or other device to take notes that are just as effective as physical notes.

Tactile Experience of Paper Note Taking

You’ll feel the satisfying texture of the paper beneath your fingertips when jotting down notes by hand. There’s something about the tactile experience of writing on paper that simply cannot be replicated by typing on a keyboard or tapping on a screen. The act of physically forming letters, words, and sentences with a writing instrument can be a calming and meditative process, allowing you to focus more fully on the content you’re trying to capture.

Beyond the sensory pleasure of writing on paper, there are proven benefits to handwriting your notes. Studies have shown that writing by hand can improve memory retention and recall, as well as enhance critical thinking skills. Additionally, the act of handwriting engages different parts of the brain than typing does, which may lead to a deeper understanding and retention of information.

So while digital note-taking certainly has its advantages, the tactile experience of paper note-taking should not be overlooked.

Disadvantages of Paper Note Taking

When opting for paper note-taking, you may find yourself struggling to read your own handwriting, resulting in frustration and confusion when reviewing your notes later on. This can be especially problematic if you have poor penmanship or if you’re in a hurry and don’t take the time to write clearly.

Additionally, paper notes can be easily lost or damaged, making it difficult to access important information when you need it most. On top of these issues, paper note-taking isn’t the most eco-friendly option. The amount of paper used for note-taking can add up quickly, contributing to deforestation and other environmental issues.

By switching to digital notes, you can significantly reduce your paper usage and have a positive impact on the environment. Not only that but reducing paper usage can also have health benefits, as exposure to paper dust and other particles can be harmful to your respiratory system.

Overall, digital note-taking is a more efficient and environmentally responsible option that can benefit both you and the planet.

Choosing the Best Method for You

When it comes to choosing the best note-taking method for you, there are a few key points to consider.

First and foremost, you should think about your personal preferences. Do you prefer the tactile experience of writing on paper, or do you enjoy the convenience of digital note-taking?

Additionally, it’s important to consider the purpose of your note-taking. Are you taking notes for a class or work meeting, or are you just jotting down ideas for a personal project?

Finally, it’s always a good idea to experiment with both methods to determine what works best for you. Don’t be afraid to try new things and see what feels most natural and effective.

Consider your personal preferences

As someone who’s always preferred the tactile experience of writing on paper, I find that taking notes on an iPad feels like trying to dance in shoes that are two sizes too big – it’s doable, but it doesn’t feel quite right. However, it’s important to consider your personal preferences when choosing between paper and digital note-taking.

Here are three factors to keep in mind:

• Personal preferences and individual habits: If you’re used to writing with a certain type of pen or pencil, or if you have a favorite notebook, you might find it difficult to switch to digital note-taking. On the other hand, if you’re someone who’s more comfortable with technology and enjoys using new gadgets, an iPad might be a better fit for you.
• Learning style: Some people learn better when they can see and touch physical objects, while others learn better when they can interact with digital media. If you’re someone who learns best through hands-on activities, you might find that paper note-taking is more effective for you. However, if you’re someone who enjoys multimedia content like videos, animations, and interactive diagrams, an iPad might be a better choice.
• Cognitive processes: For some people, the act of writing by hand can help them remember information more effectively. Others might find that typing on an iPad is more efficient and allows them to keep up with a fast-paced lecture or meeting. It’s important to consider how your brain processes information when choosing between paper and digital note-taking.

Consider the purpose of your note-taking

Considering the purpose behind your note-taking can greatly impact the method you choose, as it’s important to select a mode that aligns with your specific goals and objectives.

If you’re taking notes to study for an exam, for instance, you may want to consider your learning style. If you’re a visual learner, typing notes on an iPad may not be as effective as handwriting them on paper, as the physical act of writing can help with memory retention. However, if you’re an auditory learner, recording lectures on an iPad and taking typed notes may be a better option.

Another factor to consider is contextual relevance. Are you taking notes for personal use or for a professional setting? If you’re taking notes for a meeting, typing on an iPad may be more efficient and allow you to easily share notes with others. However, if you’re taking notes for personal use, handwriting on paper may be more meaningful and allow you to add personal touches like drawings or diagrams.

Ultimately, the purpose behind your note-taking should guide your decision on whether to use an iPad or paper.

Experiment with both methods to determine what works best for you

Ah, the eternal battle between technology and tradition. Want to know the best way to figure out if typing on an iPad or handwriting on paper is right for you? Experiment with both methods and see which one floats your boat.

Don’t worry if you’re not sure where to start – there are plenty of opportunities to compare the effectiveness of iPad and paper note-taking in different scenarios. For example, try taking notes during a lecture or meeting using both methods and see which one allows you to capture the most information. Or, try writing down your thoughts and ideas on paper, then typing them up on your iPad later to see which method helps you organize your thoughts better.

As you experiment with both methods, pay attention to the pros and cons of each. For instance, typing on an iPad allows you to easily edit and rearrange your notes, while handwriting on paper may help you retain information better. You may find that one method is better suited for certain tasks than the other.

Ultimately, the best way to determine what works best for you is to try both and see which one fits your needs and preferences.

So, which method of note-taking is best for you? It ultimately comes down to personal preference and what fits your learning style.

The convenience and organization of note-taking on an iPad can be a game changer for some, but it may not be the best choice for those who struggle with retaining information without the tactile experience of pen and paper.

On the other hand, paper note-taking can provide a satisfying tactile experience and may lead to better retention of information, but it can also be less organized and harder to search through later on.

It’s important to weigh the pros and cons of each method and consider your own habits and preferences when deciding which method to use.

Ultimately, whether you choose to take notes on an iPad or with pen and paper, the most important thing is to find a method that helps you effectively retain and recall information.

So, ask yourself: what works best for you?

Recommended Reading...

Academic writing in resume: how to highlight your academic achievements, active vs passive note-taking: understanding the difference, can you claim resume writing on tax here’s what you need to know, best way to take notes in university: tips for success.

Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice for you.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

© 2024 When You Write

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

can you write college papers on ipad

can you write papers on ipad

Posted on Dec 1, 2012 10:13 AM

Loading page content

Page content loaded

Dec 1, 2012 10:21 AM in response to jr9618

If you have a word processing app, sure. and may/may not need a keyboard (depends on how well you type on the on screen keyboard.

I use documents to go but there are plenty of other word processing apps out there

Dec 1, 2012 10:35 AM in response to jr9618

You can but it would be slow using the on-screen keyboard. Much easier if you get a bluetooth wireless connected keyboard. Then you would have to be able to print from the iPad, or transfer the file to your computer.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Dec 1, 2012 1:58 PM in response to jr9618

jr9618, you can definitely write papers using the iPad. I use Apple's Pages app. If you are a student, say goodbye to lugging your laptop to class, the iPad does it all. If you are accustomed to typing on the iPad, a keyboard won't be necessary. I have had an iPad since the iPad 1st gen, you get used to typing on the screen and your speed picks up. I stopped using my Apple bluetooth keyboard long ago. Enjoy!

Dec 1, 2012 2:39 PM in response to jr9618

I think the answer depends on the type of papers you need to write. There are a variety of word processing apps but most do not support footnotes, end notes, the easy creation of indexes or complex formatting like chapters and subsections. For complex formatting you'll need to use a computer.

Dec 1, 2012 8:25 PM in response to jr9618

Pages for iPad supports headers, footnotes, numbering, etc. Pages for iPad is very advanced in what you can use it to create. This link shows some features

http://help.apple.com/pages/ipad/1.6.2/#tan72488da0

I've used this app to write tons of papers, case studies and lab reports. There are other apps available in the App Store for the people that refuse to give up microsoft's way of life.

How Easy Is It to Write Letters on the iPad? A Comprehensive Guide

Writing letters on your iPad can be as easy as tapping your fingers on the screen. With a variety of apps and tools available, you can quickly draft, edit, and send out letters from anywhere. After completing the task, you’ll have a digital copy of your letter that can be saved, printed, or shared with others.

Introduction

Long gone are the days of pen and ink when it came to writing letters. In this digital age, the iPad has become one of the most versatile tools for composing letters, whether they be personal or professional. But how easy is it really to write letters on the iPad? This is a question that crosses the minds of many iPad owners who might be accustomed to traditional methods or are new to the world of touchscreen devices.

Writing letters on the iPad is relevant to anyone who wants to stay connected with friends and family, or needs to maintain professional correspondence without being tethered to a computer. The iPad offers the convenience of portability, coupled with advanced writing tools that can make your letters look as polished and professional as if they were typed on a computer. In this article, we’ll dive into the step-by-step process of writing letters on an iPad and discuss the pros and cons of using this modern device for an age-old task.

Step by Step Tutorial: Writing Letters on the iPad

Before we get into the steps, let’s talk about what we’ll achieve. By following these instructions, you’ll learn how to use your iPad to create, edit, and send letters. You’ll also discover different methods and apps you can use to make the process even easier.

Step 1: Choose a Writing App

Download and open a writing app like Apple’s Pages or Microsoft Word from the App Store.

Choosing the right app is crucial for a good writing experience on the iPad. Apple’s Pages is free and already integrated with your device, making it an easy choice for many users. Microsoft Word, on the other hand, might be more familiar if you’re used to working on a PC or laptop.

Step 2: Set Up the Document

Create a new document and choose a template or set up your own format.

The great thing about writing apps is that they often come with pre-designed templates for letters. This can save you time on formatting and ensure your letter has a professional look. If you prefer to customize the format, you can easily adjust the font type, size, and line spacing.

Step 3: Write Your Letter

Use the on-screen keyboard, connect an external keyboard, or handwrite with the Apple Pencil to draft your letter.

The flexibility in input methods is one of the iPad’s strengths. If you’re not a fan of the on-screen keyboard, pairing an external keyboard can make typing more comfortable. For a more personal touch, you can even handwrite your letter with the Apple Pencil and convert your handwriting to text.

Step 4: Edit and Format

Go through your letter, making any necessary edits or formatting adjustments.

Editing on the iPad is a breeze, and most writing apps come with powerful editing tools. You can track changes, add comments, and use the find-and-replace function to make sure your letter is error-free and polished.

Step 5: Save and Share

Save your letter to the iPad or cloud storage, and share it through email, print it out, or export it in various formats.

After your letter is complete, it’s important to save your work. Storing it in the cloud means you’ll have access to it from any device. You can then easily share your letter via email or export it as a PDF, Word document, or other formats.

Additional Information

When it comes to writing letters on the iPad, the possibilities are nearly endless. You can choose from a variety of apps, each with its own set of features and tools. Some apps even offer collaboration features, allowing others to contribute to your letter in real-time.

Remember, while the on-screen keyboard is convenient, an external keyboard can provide a more traditional typing experience. Also, don’t forget about the Apple Pencil which can take your handwritten notes and seamlessly convert them to text.

Another tip is to use cloud services like iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive to store your letters. This way, you’ll always have a backup and can access them from any device. Finally, if you’re worried about eye strain, many iPads feature True Tone technology which adjusts the screen’s warmth to the ambient light, making it easier on the eyes during extended writing sessions.

• Download a writing app
• Set up your document
• Draft your letter
• Edit and format
• Save and share

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i print my letter directly from my ipad.

Yes, if you have a compatible AirPrint printer, you can print your letter directly from the iPad without needing to transfer it to a computer first.

Is it easy to switch between typing and handwriting on the iPad?

Absolutely, most writing apps will allow you to quickly switch between input methods, making it seamless to add a handwritten signature or note to your typed letter.

Do I need to pay for a writing app on the iPad?

Not necessarily. While some apps do have a cost associated with them, apps like Apple’s Pages are free and come pre-installed on most iPads.

Can I use my iPad to write a letter if I don’t have an Apple Pencil?

Yes, you can use the on-screen keyboard or connect an external keyboard to type your letter. Handwriting is just an additional input option for those who prefer it.

Can I password-protect my letters on the iPad?

Many writing apps offer the option to password-protect your documents, adding an extra layer of security to your personal or professional letters.

Writing letters on the iPad is not just easy; it’s an innovative and flexible way to maintain the art of letter writing in the digital age. With the right app and a few simple steps, anyone can compose, edit, and send a letter from just about anywhere.

Whether you’re a business professional, a student, or someone who enjoys sending handwritten notes to loved ones, the iPad is a powerful tool that can cater to all your letter-writing needs. Give it a try, and you might just find yourself leaving the pen and paper behind for good.

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

Read his full bio here.

Share this:

Join our free newsletter.

Featured guides and deals

You may opt out at any time. Read our Privacy Policy

Related posts:

• How to Delete Apps on iPad 6th Generation
• How to Make All Columns the Same Width in Excel 2013
• How to Silence Apple Watch
• How to Update Multiple iPad Apps at Once
• How to Turn Off Lowercase Letters on iPhone iOS 9 Keyboard
• How to Format a Professional Business Letter in Word: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Delete Apps on Firestick (6 Quick Steps)
• How to Transfer Apps From an iPhone to an iPad: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Delete Apps on iPhone 8
• How to Put an iPad in Sleep Mode
• How to Add a New Keyboard on an iPhone 7
• How to Record a Video on the iPad 2
• How to Add the Pinyin Chinese Keyboard on an iPhone
• How Do You Scan a QR Code with an iPad?
• How to Wipe an iPad to Factory Settings Without a Passcode: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Unlock an iPad Without a Passcode: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Use the AutoFit Excel Shortcut for Columns and Rows
• How to Sign Out of iPhone 13 in iOS 15
• How to Find a Stolen iPad: Tips and Tricks for Recovery
• How to Insert Symbols Above Letters With the Keyboard: A Step-by-Step Guide

• Services & Software

What You Should Know About Apple's Journal App

If you've wanted to journal but haven't gotten in the habit, this app could help you change that.

• Apple software beta tester, "Helps make our computers and phones work!" - Zach's grandparents

When Apple unveiled iOS 17 at its WWDC event in June , the Journal app drew a lot of attention. While Apple didn't release the app with iOS 17 in September or with the iPhone 15 series , the tech giant did release the app with  iOS 17.2  in December.

Journaling has been linked with many mental health benefits, including helping manage  anxiety , reducing stress and coping with depression . Some people might have a difficult time remembering to journal or figuring out what to write. Apple's Journal app makes it easy to jot down a few thoughts when you're on your phone, and it provides you with writing prompts and other reminders about what you've done in a day.

Here's what you should know about the Journal app and how it works. 

Read more: You Should Really Download iOS 17.4.1 Right Now

What is Journal?

Journal is an app developed by Apple to help users write journal entries and easily insert pictures, videos and other content. Your entries are stored locally on your iPhone, and you can have backups on iCloud. 

Journal can suggest Reflections or other moments to write about.

Journal provides prompts, called Reflections, that you can write about. Some Reflections the app gave me included, "Think about something you love to do and why it brings you joy," and "Describe someone in your life who you really appreciate but forget to thank."

The app can also access certain data and give you suggestions about what to write based on that data. For example, on my first weekend with Journal, it suggested I write about a coffee shop and park that I visited. You can control what types of data and other apps Journal can access to create these suggestions. 

How do you get Journal?

Apple included Journal in the  iOS 17.2  update, so if you've downloaded the update -- or later updates like iOS 17.4 -- you should see the app on your home screen.

How secure is Journal?

According to Apple , the app has end-to-end encryption between your device and iCloud, and it uses on-device processes to create journaling suggestions including Reflections. That means the data it uses stays on your iPhone.

"No one but you can access your journal -- not even Apple," the company wrote online.

Beyond that, you can require the app to ask for your FaceID or passcode after it's been inactive for 1, 5 or 15 minutes. If you don't want to take any chances, you can set it to immediately lock when you switch apps or your iPhone goes to sleep -- you know, in case of snooping siblings or roommates.

How do you write an entry in Journal?

On the Journal homepage, you'll see your recent journal entries and a plus ( + ) sign across the bottom of your screen. Tap the plus sign and you'll be taken to a new menu.

You can also write about something you saw or thought about on your morning walk.

In this new menu, you'll see suggested Reflections as well as moments from your day that you can write about, like a picture you took or a Podcast you listened to. Tap any of these for a short overview of the suggestion, and then tap Start Writing . You'll be taken to a new page that looks similar to a new note in the Notes app, but the suggestion will show across the top of the screen. You can write your entry on this page, and you can add other content like photos, videos or voice notes.

You can also just write an entry without a suggestion. After tapping the plus sign on the Journal homepage, there is an option across the top of the new menu that reads New Entry . Tap this, and you can jot down any thoughts or feelings you're having at the moment, or you can add your own content here.

Once you're finished, tap Done in the top-right corner and the entry will be saved to the Journal homepage. You can also edit or update entries once they've been saved to the homepage. Tap the three dots ( ... ) in the bottom-right corner of the entry you want to edit, then tap Edit . 

What if I need help keeping a journaling schedule?

Have no fear: You can set the app to remind you to journal. A splash screen in Journal asks you to set a schedule the first time you open the app.

You can set reminders to journal in the app.

If you don't see this splash screen, or you want to change your schedule, go to Settings > Journal > Journaling Schedule and then tap the switch next to Schedule . A menu will appear below Schedule  that will allow you to set a reminder to journal every day -- or certain days -- at a certain time. 

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About

For more Apple news, check out what other features could be coming to your iPhone in iOS 17.5 and what was included in iOS 17.4 . You can also check out our iOS 17 cheat sheet .

Services and Software Guides

• Best iPhone VPN
• Best Free VPN
• Best Android VPN
• Best Mac VPN
• Best Mobile VPN
• Best VPN for Firestick
• Best VPN for Windows
• Fastest VPN
• Best Cheap VPN
• Best Password Manager
• Best Antivirus
• Best Identity Theft Protection
• Best LastPass Alternative
• Best Live TV Streaming Service
• Best Streaming Service
• Best Free TV Streaming Service
• Best Music Streaming Services
• Best Web Hosting
• Best Minecraft Server Hosting
• Best Website Builder
• Best Dating Sites
• Best Language Learning Apps
• Best Weather App
• Best Stargazing Apps
• Best Cloud Storage
• Best Resume Writing Services
• New Coverage on Operating Systems
• Hostinger Coupon Codes
• HR&R Block Coupons
• ShutterStock Coupon Codes
• FedEx Office Coupons
• Coursera Coupons
• Autodesk Coupons
• Codeacademy Coupon Codes
• iolo Techologies Coupons
• Norton Coupon Codes

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes
• Culture and Lifestyle
• Quotes and Sayings

70 Thoughtful Messages For A Meaningful Thank You Note

Not sure what to write in a thank you card? Here's how to show your gratitude with a handwritten note.

• Birthday Thank You Card
• Graduation Thank You Card
• Wedding Thank You Card
• Baby Shower Thank You Card
• Interview Thank You Card
• Teacher Thank You Card
• Host Thank You Card

If we learned anything from our mothers, it's that sending a thank you card is non-negotiable . It's the polite way to recognize a friend, colleague, or family member's thoughtfulness and to show you appreciate their support and warm wishes.

Keep in mind that it's also important to try and send your card in a timely manner, so be sure to prioritize your notes . Here are some thank you card messages to get you started.

What To Write In A Birthday Thank You Card

Southern Living

• Thank you for thinking of me on my special day.
• I can't wait to use my new gift!
• I couldn't have picked out a better gift for myself if I tried.
• You knew exactly what I wanted.
• You know me so well, what a precious gift!
• Your thoughtfulness is a gift.
• You made my day!
• This gift is so thoughtful (and then share your plans for how you will use/celebrate this gift)
• I am touched you remembered me.

What To Write In A Graduation Thank You Card

• Thank you for supporting me in my next adventure.
• I'm thankful to have you in my corner as I take this next step.
• I don't know where I would be without your support.
• You lift me up!
• Thank you for believing in me.
• You've always been one of my biggest cheerleaders. Your support means the world!
• I wouldn't be where I am without your help along the way.
• I'm so thankful to have you as a mentor as I start this new chapter.
• Thank you for being part of this big moment.
• I can believe fully in myself because you believed in me first. I'm forever grateful.

What To Write In A Wedding Thank You Card

• Thank you for being here on our journey.
• Thank you for celebrating this milestone with us.
• We're so happy to have you in our lives to celebrate our Big Day.
• Thank you for being part of our joyous day.
• We're so lucky to have you in our lives as we start this new chapter. Thank you for celebrating with us!
• We're touched beyond words by your generous gift.
• Thank you for helping us start our lives together. We're so appreciative to have friends/family like you!
• We can't wait to use {insert gift} in our lives together.
• Having you there as we take this big step meant the world to us.
• We appreciate the miles traveled to attend our celebration, and can't thank you enough for being here. It means the world to us.
• Thank you for coming to our Big Day!
• How did you know we needed {insert gift}? We thank you for your generosity.

What To Write In A Baby Shower Thank You Card

• Thank you for helping us welcome our little one into the world.
• We're so thankful our child will know such love.
• Thank you for supporting us as we take on our exciting new roles.
• This is just what we needed for the baby!
• Thank you for showing us and our baby so much love.
• Your friendship and support make us certain we can do this.
• I can't believe how precious and small baby outfits can be! Counting the days until I can send you photos of our little one wearing the beautiful outfits you gifted us. Thank you!
• We can't wait for our baby to meet you!
• We will make sure the baby knows you were behind this special gift.
• How cute are the toys you gifted us? I can already picture afternoons spent on the floor playing. Thank you for giving me that daydream to look forward to!
• How did you know this is just what we needed? You must have raised a few little ones of your own ;).
• I can't wait to read these books to our little one. I know it will be such a special time. Thank you!

What To Write In An Interview Thank You Card

• Thank you for considering me for this position
• I appreciate you setting time aside to speak with me.
• It was great to hear more about the company.
• Thank you for our wonderful conversation.
• It was a pleasure to learn more about this company.
• Thank you for giving me the opportunity to show you how I can fit into your team.
• I appreciated your thought-provoking questions.
• Thank you for your time. It sounds like you have built a great team, and it's one that I'd be excited to join.

What To Write In A Thank You Card For A Teacher

• Your wisdom and outlook inspire us each day!
• Thank you for helping our child continue to learn and grow.
• We couldn't thank you enough for looking out for our child.
• You've had such a positive impact on our child.
• Thank you for pushing me to be my best self.
• Where would we be without leaders and teachers like you?
• Thank you for encouraging me to keep striving for the best.
• I appreciate all your support and motivation.
• The amount of time and dedication you've given us this year is tremendous. I can't thank you enough.
• Your mentorship is invaluable.

What To Write In A Thank You Card For A Host

• Thank you for hosting!
• Thank you for welcoming us into your home.
• You put together a wonderful celebration.
• I'm so happy we could get together.
• Your home is beautiful!
• Another event, another success. With you as a host, I'm never surprised by how well things go!
• Thank you for organizing everything.
• I appreciate all the time and effort you put in to make this event possible.
• It's always such a pleasure to attend one of your parties.
• As always, you have made everyone feel so welcome. What a wonderful get-together.
• It is always wonderful to spend time with you – thank you for inviting us into your home.

Related Articles

More From Forbes

5 things you should know now about irs form 5472.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Background of international currency notes.

Certain corporations (both U.S. and foreign) and certain foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entities must file IRS Form 5472, Information Return of a 25% Foreign-Owned U.S. Corporation or a Foreign Corporation Engaged in a U.S. Trade or Business . The failure to file Forms 5472 can result in significant civil penalties and IRS headaches. Therefore, it is important for these entities and their tax professionals to better understand the filing obligation, its exceptions, the mechanics of filing, and the consequences of filing late. This article provides that information and more.

Who Must File

A Form 5472 filing obligation arises if three requirements are met. First , there must be a “reporting corporation”. Second , that reporting corporation must engage in a “reportable transaction”. And third , the reportable transaction must be with a “related party”. Each of these are defined terms.

There are three types of reporting corporations. Initially, a reporting corporation includes a U.S. corporation that has at least one foreign person who owns 25% or more of the vote or value of the corporation. For these purposes, complicated attribution rules may apply.

In addition, a reporting corporation includes a foreign corporation with a U.S. trade or business. However, such foreign corporations are not reportable corporations—and therefore do not have Form 5472 filing requirements—if the foreign corporation does not have a permanent establishment in the U.S. under a governing U.S. tax treaty.

Finally, by regulation, a reporting corporation also includes a U.S. disregarded entity that is 100% foreign owned.

Generally, a “reportable transaction” means any transaction to the extent it is taken into account for the determination and computation of the reporting corporation’s taxable income. Therefore, reportable transactions include: (i) the sales and purchasing of inventory and tangible property; (ii) rents and royalties; (iii) amounts paid and received for intangible property ( e.g. , copyrights, patents, etc.); (iv) consideration paid and received for managerial, engineering, and other services; (v) commissions; (vi) borrowings and loans; (vii) interest paid and received; and (viii) premiums paid and received for insurance.

Earth s New Second Moon Is As Big As The Statue Of Liberty And Scientists Just Found Its Origin

Whatsapp brand new iphone feature just launched that s much easier to use, suicide squad kill the justice league announces huge emergency changes.

Related parties are defined broadly by statute and regulation. They include: (i) any direct or indirect 25% foreign shareholder of a reporting corporation; (ii) persons who are related to the reporting corporation or to a 25% foreign shareholder of the foreign corporation under sections 267(b) or 707(b)(1); and (iii) any other person related to the reporting corporation within the meaning of section 482 and those regulations ( i.e. , the transfer pricing rules).

Significantly, the Form 5472 filing obligation arises separately with respect to each related party in which the reporting corporation has a reportable transaction. Thus, more than one Form 5472 may have to be filed each tax year , depending on the number of related-party reportable transactions.

Are There Any Reporting Exceptions

Numerous Form 5472 reporting exceptions exist. For example, there is no Form 5472 reporting obligation to the extent a U.S. person controls a foreign-related corporation and files Form 5471 to report the same information on Schedule M. In addition, if a related corporation is a foreign sales corporation and files Form 1120-FSC, there is no Form 5472 reporting requirement. But these two exceptions do not apply if the reporting corporation at issue is a foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity.

Although not a technical reporting exception, it is worth repeating again that there is no Form 5472 filing requirement if a reporting corporation does not enter into a reportable transaction with a related party in any tax year.

How To File

Generally, reporting corporations must attach Form 5472 to the corporation’s income tax return by the due date, including extensions. This rule applies to both U.S. and foreign corporations that are reporting corporations.

A different reporting rule applies with respect to foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entities because they do not have separate income tax return filing obligations. For these entities, the IRS requires the filing of a pro forma Form 1120 with an attached Form 5472 by the due date, including extensions, of the Form 1120. The pro forma return should include the name and address of the disregarded entity and only certain specified information on the first page of the Form 1120. In addition, the pro forma Form 1120 and the attached Form 5472 must be mailed to a dedicated IRS mailing address with the words “Foreign-Owned U.S. DE” written across the top of the Form 1120 (the IRS will not currently accept electronic filing).

What If I File Late

Prior to the 2018 tax year, the failure to file Form 5472 could result in a civil penalty of $10,000. However, Congress increased the penalty for the 2018 and later tax years to $25,000 per failure to file. In addition to these initial penalties, the IRS may impose continuation penalties if the reporting corporation fails to file Form 5472 within 90 days after IRS notice of the failure. In these instances, the continuation penalties are additional $25,000 penalties for each 30-day period after the 90-day grace period.

Similar to other international reporting penalties, the reporting corporation may request a waiver or abatement of the Form 5472 penalty if the corporation can show reasonable cause for the late filing.

Do I Need To Maintain Certain Records

In addition to filing a Form 5472, certain reporting corporations must maintain records associated with the Form 5472 reporting and related party transactions. These records include, for example, profit and loss statements and other internal accounting and business records that support the reporting. Generally, these records must be maintained “as long as they may be relevant or material to determining the correct tax treatment of any transaction between the reporting corporation and a related party[.]” See Treas. Reg. § 1.6038A-3(g).

By statute, separate $25,000 civil penalties may apply if a reporting corporation has a requirement to maintain records and fails to do so. Of course, even if the corporation does not have a record-keeping requirement, it would be a best practice for the exempt corporation to maintain tax records for at least three years (and better yet, six years) in the event the corporation is selected for IRS examination.

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

Pic Math Pro - AI Math 4+

Ai homework helper, designed for iphone.

• Offers In-App Purchases

iPhone Screenshots

Description.

Experience the power of Pic Math Pro – AI Math, your ultimate AI homework companion, fueled by cutting-edge AI technology. Simply snap a picture of your math homework with your phone camera, highlight the problem you want to solve and get your AI powered answer instantly. You can use Pic Math Pro with your English assignments as well and also to write Essays for your school assignments. Key Features include: 1) Precision and Clarity: Pic Math Pro outshines other homework helpers with its speed and accuracy. Within seconds, receive precise solutions accompanied by detailed instructions and comprehensive explanations. 2) Seamless User Experience: Pic Math Pro streamlines the homework process. Questions are automatically recognized and cropped, with solutions delivered in seconds. Homework becomes not just manageable, but enjoyable with a user-friendly interface. 3) Comprehensive Homework Support: In addition to Math, Pic Math Pro also helps you analyzing your English homework assignments by creating summaries in a snap. It also helps you create essays for your English school work. 4) Share and forward the answers: Share the answers with friends or forward them to yourself for reference instantly. Free to use: You can try Pic Math Pro up to three times for free, without any advertisements. Pic Math Pro – AI Math Unlimited Subscription: - You can subscribe Pic Math Pro unlimited subscription for free for 3 days. After that you will be charged as follows: Subscription charged at $6.99 a week or $29.99 a year - Each subscription is automatically renewed on iTunes each month unless explicitly canceled using iTunes before the start of the next billing cycle. During the period of your subscription you will be provided with unlimited access to all premium features. - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period – Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal – Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase  – Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription, where applicable Please visit our Terms and Conditions at the link below: https://picturemathapp.blogspot.com/2024/03/terms-and-conditions.html Please visit our Privacy Policy at the link below: https://picturemathapp.blogspot.com/2024/03/privacy-policy.html

App Privacy

The developer, Payal Seth , 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 Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

• YEARLY ACCESS $29.99
• WEEKLY ACCESS $6.99
• App Support
• Privacy Policy

More By This Developer

Park Dining

Catalytic Converter Guide

Crystal Guide: Stones, Rocks

Shop Mob - Shop for Less! Clothes, Shoes, Accessories

Live Transcribe Pro for Deaf

5 Second Rule - Group Game

Pages User Guide for iPad

• What’s new in Pages 14.0
• Intro to Pages
• Word-processing or page layout?
• Intro to images, charts, and other objects
• Create a document
• Intro to creating a book
• Use templates
• Find a document
• Open a document
• Save and name a document
• Print a document or envelope
• Undo or redo changes
• Prevent accidental editing
• Quick navigation
• Intro to formatting symbols
• Show or hide the ruler
• View pages side by side
• Copy text and objects between apps
• Basic touchscreen gestures
• Use Apple Pencil with Pages
• Customize the toolbar
• Create a document using VoiceOver
• Use VoiceOver to preview comments and track changes
• Select text
• Add and replace text
• Copy and paste text
• Add, change, or delete a merge field
• Manage sender information
• Add, change, or delete a source file in Pages on iPad
• Populate and create customized documents
• Format a document for another language
• Use phonetic guides
• Use bidirectional text
• Use vertical text
• Add the date and time
• Add mathematical equations
• Bookmarks and links
• Change the look of text
• Set a default font
• Change text capitalization
• Use text styles
• Copy and paste text styles
• Format fractions automatically
• Add drop caps
• Make characters superscript or subscript
• Format Chinese, Japanese, or Korean text
• Format dashes and quotation marks
• Set line and paragraph spacing
• Set paragraph margins
• Format lists
• Set tab stops
• Align and justify text
• Add line and page breaks
• Format columns of text
• Link text boxes
• Add borders and rules (lines)
• Set paper size and orientation
• Set document margins
• Set up facing pages
• Page templates
• Add and format sections
• Rearrange pages or sections
• Duplicate pages or sections
• Delete pages or sections
• Table of contents
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Headers and footers
• Add page numbers
• Change the page background
• Add a border around a page
• Add watermarks and background objects
• Add an image
• Add an image gallery
• Edit an image
• Add and edit a shape
• Combine or break apart shapes
• Save a shape to the shapes library
• Add and align text inside a shape
• Add 3D objects
• Add lines and arrows
• Add and edit drawings
• Add video and audio
• Record video and audio
• Edit video and audio
• Set the movie format
• Position and align objects
• Place objects with text
• Use alignment guides
• Layer, group, and lock objects
• Change the transparency of an object
• Fill shapes and text boxes with color or an image
• Add a border to an object
• Add a caption or title
• Add a reflection or shadow
• Use object styles
• Resize, rotate, and flip objects
• Add or delete a table
• Select tables, cells, rows, and columns
• Add or remove table rows and columns
• Move table rows and columns
• Resize table rows and columns
• Merge or unmerge table cells
• Change the look of table text
• Show, hide, or edit a table title
• Change table gridlines and colors
• Use table styles
• Resize, move, or lock a table
• Add and edit cell content
• Format dates, currency, and more
• Format tables for bidirectional text
• Highlight cells conditionally
• Alphabetize or sort table data
• Add or delete a chart
• Change a chart from one type to another
• Modify chart data
• Move, resize, and rotate a chart
• Change the look of data series
• Add a legend, gridlines, and other markings
• Change the look of chart text and labels
• Add a border and background to a chart
• Use chart styles
• Check spelling
• Look up words
• Find and replace text
• Replace text automatically
• Show word count and other statistics
• Annotate a document
• Set your author name for comments
• Highlight text
• Add and print comments
• Track changes
• Send a document
• Publish a book to Apple Books
• Intro to collaboration
• Invite others to collaborate
• Collaborate on a shared document
• See the latest activity in a shared document
• Change a shared document’s settings
• Stop sharing a document
• Shared folders and collaboration
• Use Box to collaborate
• Use presenter mode
• Use iCloud Drive with Pages
• Export to Word, PDF, or another file format
• Restore an earlier version of a document
• Move a document
• Delete a document
• Password-protect a document
• Create and manage custom templates
• Transfer documents with AirDrop
• Transfer documents with Handoff
• Transfer documents with the Finder
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Keyboard shortcut symbols

Intro to creating a book in Pages on iPad

Pages comes with a variety of book templates to help you create interactive books in EPUB format. Books in EPUB format can be opened in Apple Books and other ebook readers.

Choose the right book template for your content

To create a book, you first choose a template to use as a starting point. Book templates come in two orientations—portrait and landscape—which are designed for different types of content.

Portrait orientation: These templates are best for books with mostly text—for example, novels, reports, and journals. They allow text to adjust to different sizes of devices and reflow when a reader changes the font size on their device. Because these templates are word-processing documents, you can group pages into sections, like chapters.

Landscape orientation: Page layout documents in landscape orientation are best for books that use lots of images or that have content formatted in columns. The layout of each page is maintained no matter what device the reader uses—text doesn’t flow freely from one page to the next unless you add linked text boxes . Landscape-oriented documents come with one or more page templates that you use as a starting point for your own pages.

For more information about the differences between word-processing and page layout documents, see Intro to word-processing and page layout documents .

Add your content

Templates come with placeholder text and images that you replace with your own content. Placeholders give you an idea of what a book created with this template might look like when you use its text and object styles. You can modify the template however you like and add features like an interactive image gallery for readers to swipe through.

You can change book margins, customize how headers and footers are formatted, and use different headers and footers for left- and right-facing pages.

Note: If you plan to publish your book to Apple Books, you need to apply paragraph styles to headings or chapters. Pages uses applied styles to create a table of contents for readers to navigate the book. You can also add a table of contents yourself and style it how you like.

View your book or share it with others

When you’re ready to view or share your book, you export it in EPUB format . In the export dialog, you can add the book title and author name, choose a cover, and more. You can send the book to someone else or view it in Apple Books.

To make your book available for purchase or download from Apple Books, you can publish it to Apple Books directly from Pages. An EPUB file is created during the process—you don’t need to export the book in EPUB format first.

If you need help getting started, see Create and format a document .

How to use Meta’s new AI chatbot that you can’t avoid

Facebook, instagram, messenger and whatsapp are all pushing a new ai chatbot.

With seemingly fewer friends posting to their main Facebook and Instagram feeds, Meta has introduced a new feature its users can talk to: an AI chatbot.

The feature, named Meta AI, is rolling out to the company’s main apps including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. It’s primarily a conversational chat window where you can ask questions and generate AI images, similar to other AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Co-Pilot and Google’s Gemini.

Despite over a year of artificial intelligence being everywhere, this could be many people’s first interaction with the technology. Meta has billions of users across its apps, and anyone who has managed to avoid the bots so far will find this one nearly impossible to escape.

Should you trust that AI?

Why is this ai chatbot here.

Facebook and Instagram users probably weren’t banging down Mark Zuckerberg’s door demanding an AI chatbot, so why is this feature suddenly everywhere? The technology is still new and its utility debatable. However, the major tech companies have decided that, like voice assistants and scrollable vertical videos before it, AI is the next big thing. Now they are competing to push out their versions. Facebook and Instagram used to rely on users’ friends, family and communities to keep their attention. Now, as these platforms are aging, the companies may hope a chatty bot can replace some of the human interaction.

How do I find it?

The chatbot is integrated in search and messaging features across Meta’s apps, and may appear in your feed under some posts as well. If you don’t see the AI features it yet, check back later. Its presence is marked with its logo: a thin ring that’s mostly blue and occasionally animated. The AI tool can also be accessed online on the stand-alone website meta.ai . It is not included in the company’s app for children, Messenger Kids.

On Facebook, tap the search icon on top and you’ll find that the usual search bar has been replaced with one that says, “Ask Meta AI anything.” As you start typing, it will auto-suggest searches. Anything with the blue circle next to it is going to bring up the AI chat window. You can also tap the messages icon and engage with Meta AI as if it’s another pal to talk to. If you see it under a post in your feed, it will suggest questions to ask related to the content you see.

In Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, you’ll also find Meta AI has taken over the search bars and appears as another chat. If your accounts are connected to each other, the Meta AI conversation should pick up where you left off, regardless of what app you’re in.

How do I turn it off?

There’s no way to get rid of Meta AI in search, confirmed Meta. In WhatsApp, there is an option to hide the new Meta AI button by going to Settings → Chats → Show Meta AI Button. However, it’s still in the search bar. Other apps have an option to mute its replies. I asked the AI chatbot how to turn it off and got multiple incorrect answers with instructions that did not work and for settings that don’t exist.

You can delete a chat with Meta AI to remove it from recent conversations in the same way you would any other chat. Swipe left on the chat and select Delete in Instagram, More → Delete on Facebook and Messenger, and More → Delete Chat on WhatsApp.

How do I get started?

Start typing full sentences or random words in any of the apps’ search bars or in the conversations with Meta AI. If this is your first time using an AI chatbot, you can begin by asking simple questions and even for a list of ways to use it.

I did the first things any normal person does when testing an AI tool. I asked it to be my pretend boyfriend, told it to generate images of ducks writing breakup letters and tried to push its boundaries. I discovered it avoids partaking in overtly sexual conversations or generating photos of the Pope (entirely unrelated questions). As with all artificial intelligence, there are creative ways to get around its filters.

Meta AI includes options for shortcuts. Type a forward slash and command, like /joke:, /imagine: or /story: and type your description after. However, these aren’t really necessary since you can make the same requests in a conversational way, such as “tell me a story about depressed hamster who ran for mayor.”

What should I use it for?

An AI chatbot is like having an enthusiastic but unreliable friend. You can ask it almost anything — but never assume it’s telling the truth. With that in mind, use Meta AI for fun and for noncritical tasks. Ask random questions like you would with Google, start conversations to feel less alone and use it to brainstorm.

Meta AI can also generate images, though in our tests they have the typical flaws associated with artificial intelligence. Most share the hyper-realistic lighting that AI images are known for, fumble details like fingers and eyes, and frequently give women exposed, ample cleavage.

There are plenty of other things you can try. Ask Meta AI to animate images, request a summary of the day’s news or ask it to take on the personality of a specific character when speaking to you. Because it’s integrated with Meta’s other products, you can use it to search things like “Reels of people learning to roller skate.”

To get the best results and avoid bland responses, ask follow-up questions and give as many details as possible. For a list of starter ideas, check out Tech Friend Shira Ovide’s recommendations of useful things to ask a chatbot .

What should I not use it for?

Don’t use AI as an authority for anything of consequence. For example, don’t rely on a chatbot for medical advice or as a source for school or work. Ethically, you shouldn’t use it to write papers for school, though Meta AI is happy to spit out wooden essays on demand.

Experts warn there is a danger of misinformation from tools like Meta’s chatbot. To steer clear, avoid using it as a go-to for anything sensitive or political. Turn to human sources instead like reporters, experts, even Wikipedia and Reddit, before artificial intelligence. For more advice on avoiding misinformation, check out our guide.

How is it different from other AI bots?

For the basics, Meta AI appears to spit out the same generic answers as its competitors. I asked five different chatbots about the best taqueria in San Francisco, a vegetarian meal plan, if God exists and how to know if a polycule is right for you. For the most part, they all gave incredibly similar, mundane but neutral answers with the exception of Microsoft’s Co-pilot, which does not enjoy shenanigans.

Is it keeping my information?

Use the same precautions typing questions and thoughts into an AI chatbot as you would a Google search. Meta does save the conversations but to protect privacy, the data is anonymized, meaning it’s not connected to your name or identity. While this is standard for technology companies, experts say it’s possible to re-identify people using additional data points. If you want to delete a chat, you can use the shortcut “/reset-ai” and Meta claims it will remove the conversation from its servers.

Help Desk: Making tech work for you

Help Desk is a destination built for readers looking to better understand and take control of the technology used in everyday life.

Take control: Sign up for The Tech Friend newsletter to get straight talk and advice on how to make your tech a force for good.

Tech tips to make your life easier: 10 tips and tricks to customize iOS 16 | 5 tips to make your gadget batteries last longer | How to get back control of a hacked social media account | How to avoid falling for and spreading misinformation online

Data and Privacy: A guide to every privacy setting you should change now . We have gone through the settings for the most popular (and problematic) services to give you recommendations. Google | Amazon | Facebook | Venmo | Apple | Android

Ask a question: Send the Help Desk your personal technology questions .

• WhatsApp just added this long-requested feature April 25, 2023 WhatsApp just added this long-requested feature April 25, 2023
• Safety advocates see red flags galore with new tech at CES show January 10, 2023 Safety advocates see red flags galore with new tech at CES show January 10, 2023
• Got a computer collecting dust? Google’s new software could bring it back to life. February 15, 2022 Got a computer collecting dust? Google’s new software could bring it back to life. February 15, 2022

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form .

How to write better ChatGPT prompts in 5 steps

ChatGPT is the generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that's taken the world by storm. While there's always the possibility it will simply make stuff up , there's a lot you can do when crafting prompts to ensure the best possible outcome. That's what we'll be exploring in this how-to.

In this article, we'll show you how to write prompts that encourage the large language model (LLM) that powers  ChatGPT to provide the best possible answers. 

Also: Have 10 hours? IBM will train you in AI fundamentals - for free

Writing effective prompts, known as prompt engineering, has even become its own highly-paid discipline . Who knows? These tips could help you build the skills to become one of those highly paid prompt engineers. Apparently, these gigs can pay from $175,000 to $335,000 per year.  

How to write effective ChatGPT prompts

1. talk to the ai like you would a person.

One of the more interesting things I had to get used to when working with ChatGPT is that you don't program it, you talk to it. As a formally trained programmer, I've had to leave a lot of habits by the wayside when engaging with AI. Talking to it (and with it) requires a mindset shift.

When I say talk to it like a person, I mean talk to it like you would a co-worker or team member. If that's hard to do, give it a name. Alexa is taken, so maybe think of it as "Bob". This naming helps because when you talk to Bob, you might include conversational details, little anecdotes that give your story texture.

Also:   How to use ChatGPT to write code

When talking to a person, it would be natural for them to miss your point initially and require clarification, or veer away from the topic at hand and need to be wrangled back. You might need to fill in the backstory for them, or restate complex questions based on the answers they give you. 

This is called interactive prompting. Don't be afraid to ask multi-step questions: ask, get a response, and based on that response, ask another question. I've done this myself, sometimes 10 or 20 times in a row, and gotten very powerful results. Think of this as having a conversation with ChatGPT.

2. Set the stage and provide context

Writing a ChatGPT prompt is more than just asking a one-sentence question. It often involves providing relevant background information to set the context of the query.

Let's say that you want to prepare for a marathon (for the record, I do not run, dance, or jump -- this is merely an example). You could ask ChatGPT:

How can I prepare for a marathon?

However, you'll get a far more nuanced answer if you add that you're training for your first marathon. Try this instead: 

I am a beginner runner and have never run a marathon before, but I want to complete one in six months. How can I prepare for a marathon?

By giving the AI more information, you're helping it return a more focused answer. Even with ChatGPT's help, there's no way I'm going to run a marathon (unless I'm doing it with a V-Twin motor under my seat). Here are two more examples of questions that provide context:

I am planning to travel to Spain in a few months and would like to learn some basic Spanish to help me communicate with local residents. I am looking for online resources that are suitable for beginners and provide a structured and comprehensive approach to learning the language. Can you recommend some online resources for learning Spanish as a beginner?

In this case, rather than just asking about learning resources, the context helps focus the AI on learning how to communicate on the ground with local residents. Here's another example: 

I am a business owner interested in exploring how blockchain technology can be used to improve supply chain efficiency and transparency. I am looking for a clear and concise explanation of the technology and examples of how it has been used in the context of supply chain management. Can you explain the concept of blockchain technology and its potential applications in supply chain management?

In this example, rather than just asking for information on blockchain and how it works, the focus is specifically on blockchain for supply chain efficiency and how it might be used in a real-world scenario. 

Also:  How to use Image Creator from Microsoft Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator) Lastly, let's get into how to construct a detailed prompt. 

One note: I limit the answer to 500 words because ChatGPT seems to break when asked to produce somewhere between 500 and 700 words, leaving stories mid-sentence and not resuming properly when asked to continue. I hope future versions provide longer answers, because premises like this can generate fun story beginnings: 

Write a short story for me, no more than 500 words. The story takes place in 2339, in Boston. The entire story takes place inside a Victorian-style bookstore that wouldn't be out of place in Diagon Alley. Inside the store are the following characters, all human: The proprietor: make this person interesting and a bit unusual, give them a name and at least one skill or characteristic that influences their backstory and possibly influences the entire short story. The helper: this is a clerk in the store. His name is Todd. The customer and his friend: Two customers came into the store together, Jackson and Ophelia. Jackson is dressed as if he's going to a Steampunk convention, while Ophelia is clearly coming home from her day working in a professional office. Another customer is Evangeline, a regular customer in the store, in her mid-40s. Yet another customer is Archibald, a man who could be anywhere from 40 to 70 years old. He has a mysterious air about himself and seems both somewhat grandiose and secretive. There is something about Archibald that makes the others uncomfortable. A typical concept in retail sales is that there's always more inventory "in the back," where there's a storeroom for additional goods that might not be shown on the shelves where customers browse. The premise of this story is that there is something very unusual about this store's "in the back." Put it all together and tell something compelling and fun.

You can see how the detail provides more for the AI to work with. First, feed "Write me a story about a bookstore" into ChatGPT and see what it gives you. Then feed in the above prompt and you'll see the difference.

3. Tell the AI to assume an identity or profession

One of ChatGPT's coolest features is that it can write from the point of view of a specific person or profession. In a previous article, I showed how you can make ChatGPT write like a pirate or Shakespeare , but you can also have it write like a teacher, a marketing executive, a fiction writer -- anyone you want. 

Also: How ChatGPT can rewrite and improve your existing code  

For example, I can ask ChatGPT to describe the Amazon Echo smart home device, but to do so from the point of view of a product manager, a caregiver, and a journalist in three separate prompts: 

From the point of view of its product manager, describe the Amazon Echo Alexa device. From the point of view of an adult child caring for an elderly parent, describe the Amazon Echo Alexa device. From the point of view of a journalist, describe the Amazon Echo Alexa device.

Try dropping these three prompts into ChatGPT to see its complete response. 

I've pulled a few lines from ChatGPT's responses, so you can see how it interprets different perspectives.  From the product manager identity:  I can confidently say that this is one of the most innovative and revolutionary products in the smart home industry.

From the caregiver identity:  The device's ability to set reminders and alarms can be particularly helpful for elderly individuals who may have trouble remembering to take their medication or attend appointments.

Also:   5 ways to explore the use of generative AI at work

And from the journalist identity:  From a journalistic perspective, the Echo has made headlines due to privacy concerns surrounding the collection and storage of user data.

You can see how different identities allow the AI to provide different perspectives as part of its response. To expand this, you can let the AI do a thought experiment. Let's look at some of the issues that went into the creation of something like Alexa:

The year is 2012. Siri has been out for the iPhone for about a year, but nothing like an Alexa smart home device has been released. The scene is an Amazon board meeting where the Echo smart assistant based on Alexa has just been proposed.  Provide the arguments, pro and con, that board members at that meeting would have been likely to discuss as part of their process of deciding whether or not to approve spending to invest in developing the device.  Feel free to also include participation by engineering design experts and product champions, if that provides more comprehensive perspective.

It's also good to know that making minor changes to your prompts can significantly change ChatGPT's response. For example, when I changed the phrase, "Provide the arguments, pro and con, that..." to "Provide the pro and con arguments as dialogue, that...," ChatGPT rewrote its answer, switching from a list of enumerated pros and cons to an actual dialogue between participants.

4. Keep ChatGPT on track

As mentioned above, ChatGPT has a tendency to go off the rails, lose track of the discussion, or completely fabricate answers. 

There are a few techniques you can use to help keep it on track and honest.

One of my favorite things to do is ask ChatGPT to justify its responses. I'll use phrases like "Why do you think that?" or "What evidence supports your answer?" Often, the AI will simply apologize for making stuff up and come back with a new answer. Other times, it might give you some useful information about its reasoning path. In any case, don't forget to apply the tips I provide for having ChatGPT cite sources .

Also:  My two favorite ChatGPT Plus features and the remarkable things I can do with them

If you have a fairly long conversation with ChatGPT, you'll start to notice that the AI loses the thread. Not that that's unique to AIs -- even in extended conversations with humans, someone is bound to get lost. That said, you can gently guide the AI back on track by reminding it what the topic is, as well as what you're trying to explore.

5. Don't be afraid to play and experiment

One of the best ways to up your skill at this craft is to play around with what the chatbot can do.

Try feeding ChatGPT a variety of interesting prompts to see what it will do with them. Then change them up and see what happens. Here are five to get you started:

• Imagine you are a raindrop falling from the sky during a thunderstorm. Describe your journey from the moment you form in the cloud to the moment you hit the ground. What do you see, feel, and experience?
• You are a toy that has been left behind in an attic for decades. Narrate your feelings, memories of playtimes past, and your hopes of being rediscovered.
• Write the final diary entry of a time traveler who has decided to settle down in a specific era, explaining why they chose that time and what they've learned from their travels.
• Imagine a dialogue between two unlikely objects, like a teacup and a wristwatch, discussing the daily routines and challenges they face.
• Describe a day in an ant colony from the perspective of an ant. Dive deep into the politics, challenges, and social structures of the ant world.

Pay attention not only to what the AI generates, but how it generates what it does, what mistakes it makes, and where it seems to run into limits. All of that detail will help you expand your prompting horizons.

More prompt-writing tips 

• Feel free to re-ask the question. ChatGPT will often change its answer with each ask.
• Make small changes to your prompts to guide it into giving you a better answer.
• ChatGPT will retain its awareness of previous conversations as long as the current page is open. If you leave that page, it will lose awareness. To be clear, ChatGPT will also sometimes lose the thread of the conversation without reason, so be aware you may need to start over from time to time.
• Similarly, opening a new page will start the discussion with fresh responses.
• Be sure to specify the length of the response you want. Answers over about 500 words sometimes break down. 
• You can correct and clarify prompts based on how the AI answered previously. If it's misinterpreting you, you may be able to just tell it what it missed and continue.
• Rephrase questions if ChatGPT doesn't want to answer what you're asking. Use personas to elicit answers that it might not otherwise want to give.
• If you want sources cited , tell it to support or justify its answers.
• ChatGPT custom instructions are now available to free users. You can  give ChatGPT a set of prompts that are always available , so you don't have to retype them.
• Keep experimenting.
• Consider getting the ChatGPT Plus subscription . You can then use your own data for powerful analytics . You can also pull data from the Web . 
• Try asking the same question of Gemini  (formerly Bard) or Copilot (formerly Bing Chat). Both will interpret your prompts differently and answer differently. This is effectively getting a second opinion on your prompt, and can give you alternate perspectives.
• Ask for examples. If you want to see how well ChatGPT understands what you're asking for, ask it "Can you give me three examples of how that works?" or similar questions.
• Ask it to repeat parts of your original requests back to you. For example, if you feed it an article to analyze, you can tell it something like, "Just to be sure you understand, please echo back the first three headlines," or "I want to be sure you understand what I mean, so summarize the main conflict discussed in this article." 
• Sometimes ChatGPT just fails. Keep trying, but also be willing to give up and move on to other tools. It's not perfect...yet.

What type of prompts work best with ChatGPT? 

Part of what makes ChatGPT so compelling is you can ask it almost anything. That said, keep in mind that it's designed to provide written answers. If you want a list of websites, you're better off talking to Google. 

Also:  How to use DALL-E 3 in ChatGPT

If you want some form of computation, talk to Wolfram Alpha . Give ChatGPT open-ended prompts, encourage creativity, and don't be afraid to share personal experiences or emotions. Plus, keep in mind that the AI's knowledge ends in 2021  for ChatGPT 3.5 and December 2023 for ChatGPT 4 in ChatGPT Plus.

How can I adjust the complexity of ChatGPT responses?

You can directly specify the complexity level by including it in your prompt. Add "... at a high school level" or "... at a level intended for a Ph.D. to understand" to the end of your question. You can also increase complexity of output by increasing the richness of your input. The more you provide in your prompt, the more detailed and nuanced ChatGPT's response will be. You can also include other specific instructions, like "Give me a summary," "Explain in detail," or "Provide a technical description."

Also:  How does ChatGPT actually work?

You can also pre-define profiles. For example, you could say "When evaluating something for a manager, assume an individual with a four-year business college education, a lack of detailed technical understanding, and a fairly limited attention span, who likes to get answers that are clear and concise. When evaluating something for a programmer, assume considerable technical knowledge, an enjoyment of geek and science fiction references, and a desire for a complete answer. Accuracy is deeply important to programmers, so double-check your work."

If you ask ChatGPT to "explain C++ to a manager" and "explain C++ to a programmer," you'll see how the responses differ.

What do I do if ChatGPT refuses to answer or I don't like its answer? 

There are some guardrails built into ChatGPT. It tends to shut down if you ask it political questions, for example. That's what's built into the system. While you might be able to tease out an answer, it's probably not going to provide great value. That said, feel free to keep trying with different phrasing or perspectives. 

You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter on Substack , and follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz , on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz , on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz , and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV .

More on AI tools

Google releases two new free resources to help you optimize your ai prompts, humane ai pin: what went wrong and how it can be fixed (before it's too late), how to get started with meta ai in facebook, instagram, and more.