Description of App
Accessibility-first Markdown writing with VoiceOver-friendly editing, document organization, and flexible exports to Word, PDF, HTML, braille, and more. ghostWriter Markdown is a plain-text writing app for notes, articles, lists, documentation, and anything else you want to say with words. It was built accessibility-first. Not accessibility-eventually, or accessibility-in-the-settings-somewhere. VoiceOver was at the center of the design from the first line of code, as the app has been fully created by a Blind developer. If you write with a screen reader, this app was made for you. If you don't, you get a clean, fast, native editor that never gets in your way. So what's Markdown? Markdown adds structure to writing using a few ordinary punctuation marks. A number sign makes a heading. A dash makes a list item. Your document stays readable as plain text, and you can render it whenever you want to see the finished formatting. You don't have to know any of this to start. The Insert feature can add common elements for you, and a built-in Markdown Reference is always a tap away. Writing Made Easy: β’ A native editor with the Markdown punctuation kept visible, so you always control the source β’ Insert Actions for links, images, headings, quotes, code, lists, tasks, tables, and rules β’ Automatic list continuation for bullets, numbers, and task lists β’ Indent and outdent with tabs or spaces, your choice β’ Find and Replace, dictation, braille input, and text selection through native iOS controls β’ A configurable Status Bar showing line, column, word count, current heading, and selection β’ Automatic saving as you pause, plus Save Now whenever you want it Useful Navigation: β’ Outline lists every heading in your document and jumps straight to one, moving both the cursor and VoiceOver focus β’ A 3-finger horizontal swipe with VoiceOver will move the cursor through your document headings while editing β’ Jump to Line for long documents β’ Search across document names and their contents β’ Your last editing position is remembered in every file Keep Files Organized: β’ Nested folders you can create, rename, move, and navigate β’ Pin the documents you keep coming back to β’ Sort by name, created, modified, or last opened β’ Recently Deleted holds removed files until you restore them or clear them out β’ Import Markdown, .txt, Word .docx or Powerpoint presentations to convert them into Markdown Render and Share: β’ See your Markdown as structured HTML right inside the app β’ Share complete standalone HTML, Markdown, plain text, ePub, tagged PDF, eBraille, BRF, Microsoft Word documents or even Powerpoint presentations β’ Rendered output uses real semantic headings, lists, tables, links, and landmarks β so what you share is accessible to whoever receives it Your Files, Your Devices: β’ Documents are ordinary Markdown files, visible in the Files app β’ Store them on your device, or turn on iCloud Drive to sync across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac β’ Open and edit the same files in any other app that reads text β’ Nothing is locked in a proprietary format, and nothing needs this app to survive Accessibility: Developed toward WCAG 2.2 Level AA and tested with VoiceOver as a primary interaction method. β’ A predictable, linear VoiceOver reading order β’ Native controls with the roles and behaviors you already expect β’ Dynamic Type, including accessibility text sizes, everywhere β’ System, monospaced, rounded, and serif editor typefaces β’ Light, dark, and system appearance β’ Voice Control, Switch Control, and hardware keyboard support β’ Optional keyboard shortcuts for common actions β’ Reduced-motion support Privacy: No accounts. No sign-in. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. No data collection of any kind. There is no server behind this app because there doesn't need to be one. Your documents are yours, on your device or in your own iCloud, and they never travel anywhere you don't send them. Made by a blind developer who got tired of using tools that treated screen reader support as an afterthought. Heading
Comments
Paragraphs
I am considering moving to this app as a free alternative to Ulysses, however I noticed that when pasting a document in from Ulysses the paragraphs were not formatted when rendering the file. And I noticed that in this app, paragraphs have to be double spaced. That's going to be frustrating to fix and get used to.
Is there a way to make it so that paragraphs can be single spaced instead or quickly turn a single spaced document into a double spaced one? Because I have some quite long in progress stories that it'd be very tedious to do manually.
As a side note I like the little noises the app makes when rendering.
Smart Punctuation
I've also noticed that smart punctuation doesn't work in the app, and I made sure the setting was turned on to check. Example:
"it does quotes like this"
βInstead of quotes like this.β
Re: Paragraphs
Zoe,
I think you change the double space for paragraphs in settings. as for your smart punctuation, I think there's also a setting for that as well.
Settings
There isn't, I checked. Both the app and my phone settings. The app can only change indents, not lines between paragraphs, and I have smart punctuation enabled and it works everywhere but in this app. It also won't let me enter a β either.
Very responsive Developer
I'd recommend contacting the developer, Marco, directly. He's very responsive to feedback and there's already a TestFlight build with some of my feature requests.
Fantastic app.
I'm likely going to switch from ulysses myself.
It's not the app for me
As I use windows and iOS, it just won't be my ideal setup. But it works well and I'll recommend it to anyone who needs some sort of writing software for iOS.
Test Flight
What sorts of features did you request, and do you have a test flight link?
Testflight links
Usually they aren't public unless the developer themselves publish it.