Update 3: The eagle has landed!
Scrivener for iOS – Here Next Week!
Scrivener for iOS is finished at long last and will be on sale in the iOS App Store from this coming Wednesday, July 20th. Here are the details:
• Price: $19.99
• Release date: 20th July
• Requirements: any device running iOS 9.0 or above (iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone, iPod Touch)
• Available in all the same territories as we sell our macOS version on the Mac App Store. (Note that 1.0’s UI is English-only, but we will be adding other languages in a free update.)
• Syncs with Scrivener for macOS and Scrivener for Windows using Dropbox (or you can copy projects between devices using iTunes)We’ve been posting regularly on our blog covering various features you’ll find in Scrivener for iOS. You can find the posts here:
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog
You can also find a couple of early reviews here:
http://9to5mac.com/2016/07/14/review-scrivener-for-ios/
https://sixcolors.com/post/2016/07/hands-on-with-scrivener-for-ios/
Many thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm and support for Scrivener iOS over the years. I know it took a long time to get to this point, but I hope you like the end result. This time next week you’ll be able to carry your Scrivener projects around in your pocket.
Update 2: It now appears the development is occurring in house after some ongoing frustrations with developers.
Update:Â the team at Literature and Latte have added some information into their pre-Xmas 2014 newsletter, claiming it’s all systems go for a 2015 release of the iOS version:
Scrivener for iOS continues to progress (I know, I’ve been saying that for three years now). We were hoping to have it in private beta-testing by the end of the year, but are not quite there yet – although we are very close. We now expect to be entering private beta-testing early in the new year. Internal beta-testing will take a couple of months at the very least given that we have to be sure that syncing is working well and isn’t going to lose anyone’s work before unleashing it on the world, so it will be a little while yet before we start showing screenshots and talking about the release date – but it is coming. Once again, my sincere apologies for how delayed this project has been. But short of nuclear destruction, Scrivener for iOS will surely be out in 2015 at last.
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For those like me that use Scrivener in their daily writing lives, you may be hanging out for a version of Scrivener for iPad. It was originally slated for a 2013 release, but a change of developer has pushed that back. According to Literature and Latte, things are now on track for a 2014 release.
If you’re a writer and use an iPad, you should be slightly excited by this – if you haven’t checked out Scrivener before, here’s where to find out more. It’s available currently for both Windows and Mac.
If I understand it correctly they talked about a version for iPad already in 2011 and a release in 2012. Now its 2014 and its still not here. I stared to use Storyist wich has versions. For both mac, windows and iPad that works seamlessly. Try it out!
Actually,I have started using Storyist as well. I love Scrivener on my Mac but it’s taken a long time for the debs to get it ready for the iOS and I grew tired of waiting.
Scrivner for ipad will never happen. I have Ben waiting for this app for so long. It will not happen and having articles saying it is a work in progress is so unkind.
I agree completely with th comments above. I would be very surprised if Scrivener for ipad ever came out. The last update from Literature and Latte regarding the ipad version was a very long time ago. It seems that their dedication to that project is low or non-existant. At the very least, the project has one of the longest development periods in history. Even if Scrivener for ipad ever materialized, imagine how long it would take to get a significant update.
Storyist, on the other hand, is well developed and a pleasure to use. I have been writing primarily on my iPad these days and I’ve found that storyist fits into my process very well. I have, in fact, stopped using Scrivener on my Mac altogether.
I too use Storyist. I agree with everyone else. Scrivener is vaporware unfortunately.
I wouldn’t say Scrivener itself is vapourware by any stretch – the iPad version could go that way if we don’t see it, but I’m keeping the faith at this stage 😉
Both Storyist and Notebooks (Alfons Schmid) are the two best substitutes for Scrivener on the iPad.
However, other than buying a Mac (expensive choice) or installing Scrivener to a cheap Windows PC (minus syncing feature, albeit), then, if you — like me — insist on working on your iPad, I really have to recommend that you go ahead and download Microsoft’s OneNote for iPad (sadly, book bundling is unsupported).
It requires a yearly subscription (currently 70 USD) for MSFT Office 365 and, in order to handle subsections — and sub-subsections — you need another app called Outline+ (outline plus) also for iPad.
To me, the OneNote/Outline+ combo experience on the iPad is supersweet. Plus, OneNote is available for iPhone, Mac, PC all thanks to MSFT’s version of the cloud (OneDrive).
Both Storyist and Notebooks do not offer such a nice user experience.
Antonio I had a horrible experience with Microsoft’s ‘Word’ for iPad (it ate my work!) so I am loath to try OneNote, but it does sound convenient. I have turned to Storyist – instead of Scrivener – on all my devices, because Scrivener is not available for iPad. I can imagine many other users have been forced to do the same… and yet I will freely admit that Scrivener’s software on both Mac and Windows is superior. Super sad. 🙁 Come on LL, get this sorted!
I’m looking into Storyist as well. The forum thread linked above made me wonder if the L&L peeps are just a little too in love with themselves. Defensive, argumentative. A better response than, “were so awesome, we don’t care if you, Mr. User are tired of waiting, we’re still #1” might be a simple statement of yes/no the iOS version is/isn’t coming (and when, for reals this time).
A presumption of their own awesomeness and eternal market dominance may just be the first step toward losing both. If I do try Storyist and love it, I’ll be telling all my Scrivener-devotee friends to do the same…
I agree with everything above in the comments. I use Schrivener for writing and preparing class materials, but the lack of an iOS app is distressing. I’ve been using Evernote to store my iPad-developed matter in – which also means I now sometimes gravitate to it for writing on my laptop and iMac, too.
Maybe they are waiting for the still mythical mergers of iOS and OSX and of laptops into tablets, but those, too, are long in coming. I may have to try Storyist, as well.
Thanks everyone for the advice.
I am tired of L&L promising this app for THREE years now. It is vaporware and since it is, I have moved on. Storyist works perfect on iOS. I will continue to use Scrivener on my Mac but I am no longer waiting for the iOS version. Even multimillion dollar movies don’t take this long to produce!
Does anyone know if I can import stuff written in Scrivener to Storyist?
Disney had been working on Frozen since 1937 and Tangled since 1996. Just saying.
Another convert to Storyist here. Scrivener is awesome for sure, but being able to add to the main text whenever I feel like on my phone, do longer sessions when traveling on the ipad, and still work on the same manuscript thanks to Dropbox on my desktop mac, all without workarounds has been brilliant.
Totally agree that Scrivener ipad/ios is vaporware. “X” years in development and not even a buggy beta to have the public help bug squash? That might be L&L’s best piece of creative writing yet.
Thx for the comments about Storyist. I’ve installed the app, it works awesome, and lo-and-behind, syncs between devices seamlessly. All I want is a suitable single app across multiple devices to do my writing. That’s a basic expectation these days (well, for several years now…)
Are u listening, L&L…?
Microsoft OneNote has served me well for smaller projects. I still use Scrivener for larger ones, but the lack of an iOS option for years now has made me look for other options. Scrivener seemed to work across the spectrum (I’m a historian and not a novelist), but Storyist seems to be something geared towards other writers.
So I guess this is it for me trying to find a scrivener app for my iPad.
I’ll check out Storyist instead, thanks!
Well it’s almost the end of 2015. I got it! Scrivener will be out in 2015,! Most definitely 2016 but chances are it will be 2017….just keep waiting.
I’ll wait for Scrivener. It’s brilliant and I do believe it will come out. In the event of having to work on my iPad, I write in Simplenote and, when I get back to Scrivener, I sync.
I absolutely agree with Bruce, i’ll wait for Scrivener iOS. I tried Storyist in desperation, but it’s not nearly as good as Scrivener is. Simplenote does the trick until release.
Scrivener for iPad – amazing – awesome expectations.
Has anyone an update, when ….?
I got tired of waiting for Scrivener, and I love to write on my iPad.
I’ve totally switched over to Ulysses. It’s a lot like Scrivener, but has flawless iCloud sync and most of the same features. It doesn’t have some of the really fancy compile options, but it does an awful lot for an iPad add.
My full review: http://www.ipadforwriters.com/ulysses-for-ipad/
Well, we’re into the second quarter of 2015. I haven’t even seen an update on this Ipad Scrivener project fiasco yet. I suspect they had to find yet another new developer or some such thing. Maybe we’ll hear at the end of this year about about it coming out next year. Am I ever excited.
Just a P.S. I commented in this tread a year ago today.
The L&L group is very small and everything they have accomplished with Scrivener is amazing. I love my iPad, too, but I am not giving up Scrivener just because it is not yet available on my ‘Pad. I (and many other writers) do so much more than just write fiction, and so need so much more than Storyist. For about $900-$1500 you can buy a MacBook Air or the new MacBook–not too much more than an iPad with all the works. Scrivener is an extremely complicated program; it just will not quickly and easily move over to the iPad. What about those people who use Android instead of iOS? My Air is only 2 pounds, and that’s what I use to work on my Scrivener when I am out and about, and I work on my MacBook Pro when I’m in the office. Nothing-NOTHING-compares to Scrivener, especially if you do all different kinds of short- and long-form writing. NOTHING.
Index Card 4 – corkboard writer for iPad was released today. It can now export Scrivener .scriv files, in addition to the previous ability to sync .indexcard files with Scrivener. Full disclosure, I’m the developer of Index Card. http://www.IndexCardApp.com
Ha! I just realized I started this thread 1,5 years ago! I´ve finished two novels, working on my third, since.
I usually write on my mac, but it´s very practical accessing the work from the iPad, i.e when going to bed, sitting on the bus etc. Since I´m now a happy Storyistuser I have almost forgotten all about this. The other day however I checked Scriveners website, and guess what – they´re now looking for a new iOS-developer!!
I can´t help but wondering how many customers they have lost in this process. In a way it´s a little sad because Scrivener was/is a really good tool. What made me give up was of cause the need for a working and seamless iOS-version, but also because I got tired of getting disappointed time after time. For how long has this been going on now, 4-5 years?
Please excuse my english, I´m not englishspeaking.
The desktop versions of Scrivener are not one whit less valuable tools for the lack of a tablet version. Considering that you spent $400 for your iPads and $50 for your Scrivener software, perhaps you ought to cut some slack to the developers. If you had paid $200 or $400 for Scrivener, you might have grounds for complaint — but then, there’d be more than two people working on Scrivener, and you’d have your iOS versions, too.
I also have to wonder, of the thousands and thousands of Scrivener users, is it really a significant percentage that use iPads for writing? I might be wrong, but I suspect … not.
Wow, you really straightened them out there. But on the other hand, there is slack and there is — years of promises. In my opinion people have been given loads of slack over the years, and in my case I run out of it almost two years ago.
They are developers but they are also salesmen and I see no reason they shouldn´t be treated as such. I believe it´s hard to find cases where elsewhere where customers patiently waits years and years for a product without expressing disappointment when it´s delayed again and again.
As for peoples private economy, how they spend their money and what they spend it on, is in my opinion not your business. I also have enough confidence in people to let them define themselves what is grounds for complaint.
I’m just seeing this article now. So now it’s September 2015…
Some observations about the comments here:
1) “Just buy a laptop” is useless advice. It’s quite likely people don’t want to lug around a laptop (even one weighing 2 pounds) when they can carry a device that weighs less than a pound and fits more easily in their purse, pocket, or whatever. I know I travel typically with a map case that easily holds an iPad (and aux keyboard, if I wish) but couldn’t hold anything but the smallest MacBook. And swapping that out for a laptop would simply double the weight, increase the cost, and gain nothing else. A lot of the writers I know have dropped laptops already in favor of tablets and cloud-based systems like SimpleNote, Evernote, etc. You don’t need a more powerful processor than your smartphone to handle writing tasks; why pay for one?
2) People have a right to be skeptical of any claims L&L give for delivery dates. DukeNukem eventually shipped, and they’re only halfway to that mark, so it’s not hopeless. But it’s well past the “cut them some slack” point, and all the way to the “don’t talk about it again until it’s in beta” point. The endless loop of “hired a terrific dev, throwing out all the old code for a much better version, coming soon, dev has left” (rinse/lather/repeat) cycle (no matter how accurate a description it is) has worn out its welcome.
I’m just seeing this article now. So now it’s December 2015…
“But short of nuclear destruction, Scrivener for iOS will surely be out in 2015 at last.”
gulp! where is the underground shelter?
It is december 24.2015. I am looking for an iPad Editor which will be the best way to edit scrivener projects. I am thinking about a workflow which allows me to write my articles/thesis etc. i.e. Everything I have to write at university. Currently I use the editorial app to write mmd. And thinking of using TexPad for the latex bibtex stuff. Scrivener will fit nicely in that workflow. I like the ease and simplicity of multi markdown and prefer it over rtf. I like to annotate and export my markings and comments in PDFs with goodreader.
Sadly editorial and goodreader do not support split view of iOS 9.
So I am now thinking about using index card, Storyist or notebooks 8.
Which one will give the smoothest workflow experience with scrivener considering I need to use references/citation manager and multimarkdown?
According to their December 2015, they’ve brought iOS development in-house and basically started over from scratch since the previous code was too buggy. And now they’re moving beyond nuclear annihilation and are now saying (direct quote): “So, short of the annihilation of all species, we’ll be bringing Scrivener on iOS to you during 2016.” So maybe, just maybe this year (2016).