Ulysses · Writing App

Category

Description of App

++ Apple Design Award Winner 2016 ++

“The app is amazing. An absolute delight to use. Well done.” – David Hewson, Bestselling Author
“It’s hard to imagine a better experience on any platform.” – Macworld
“It’s the best journal, word processor, writing, distraction free, note taking, zen app I have on my iPad.” – The Brooks Review

### DESKTOP-CLASS WRITING APP ###

Ulysses is your one-stop writing environment on iOS. Whether you’re a novelist, a journalist, a student or a blogger – if you love to write and write a lot, Ulysses gives you a uniquely streamlined toolset, covering every phase of the writing process:

- A powerful, yet simple text editor.
- A familiar, no-nonsense text library.
- A comprehensive and truly flexible multi-format export.

Of course, the heart and soul of a writing app is its editor. And Ulysses is said to have the best text editor in the world. It offers everything you need – from markup to images and footnotes, from links to comments and code –, and it still manages to stay completely out of the way. It’s a beautiful and focused experience, which turns writing on mobile into *actual fun*.

But since Ulysses takes writing seriously, it does not stop at the editor. Its unified library offers unprecedented access to everything you’ll ever write, be it snippets and ideas, be it blog posts or manuscripts. Every text is at your fingertips, and Ulysses perfectly scales from scratchpad to diary to Great American Novels – and to everything in-between.

Best of all, Ulysses offers fully-fledged, no-holds-barred, all-out iCloud sync. Ulysses is available for all your devices, be it iPad, iPhone or Mac, and every device has access to everything and anything you’ll ever write. Synchronization is simple, seamless and automatic. It neither requires third-party apps, nor any kind of interaction. If you got iCloud, you got sync.

And once you’re finished, Ulysses transforms your text into beautiful PDFs, web pages, ebooks and Word documents. You can copy as HTML, save as Markdown, and even publish to your WordPress and Medium accounts. Export is as easy as selecting a format, choosing a style, and picking a destination. Yes, 1-2-3.

### FEATURES ###

iPad & iPhone
- Ulysses runs on all devices, from iPad Pro to iPhone 4s

Focus & Productivity
- Clean, distraction free interface
- Markup-based text editor
- Typewriter mode
- Fullscreen mode
- Writing goals (characters, words, pages etc.)
- Comprehensive text statistics
- Split View, Slide Over and 3D Touch on supported devices
- Full keyboard navigation with external keyboards
- Fully accessible using VoiceOver

Write & Edit
- Simple markup for headlines, lists, comments, quotes, important passages and more
- Easy insertion of links, annotations and footnotes
- Simple pasting of images
- Keywords, notes and image attachments
- Search & Replace
- Spell check, auto correction, dictionary, dictation
- Shortcut buttons for comfortable editing with onscreen keyboard

File & Organize
- A single library for all your texts
- Groups, filters, favorites, bookmarks
- Glueing, Split & Merge
- Sorting by date, by title or manually
- Import of DOCX, Markdown and text files
- Editing of external text files stored on Dropbox
- Global search, Spotlight integration
- Built-in Share Extension
- Automatic, scheduled backups

Export & Publishing
- Export as PDF, DOCX, RTF, TXT, Markdown, HTML and ePub
- Publish to WordPress and Medium

iOS & macOS
- Available for iPad, iPhone and Mac
- Full iCloud synchronization

and so much more…

### SUPPORT ###

Please visit ulyssesapp.com for more information. You can also reach us via support@ulyssesapp.com or on Twitter @ulyssesapp – we’re happily awaiting your feedback!

Version

2.6

Free or Paid

Paid

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

9.3.4

Accessibility Comments

Fully accessible.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Other Comments

The Solemn GbR has done a fantastic job in making Ulysses for iOS as accessible as their Mac version of Ulysses.

Developer's Twitter Username

@ulyssesapp

Recommendations

4 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Scott H 3 years 4 months ago

Options

Comments

By Karina Velazquez on Saturday, July 24, 2021 - 11:21

I don’t know if I’m missing something, but can’t manage to change format. I need to use centering text, justification for paragraph, bold and normal letters, and so on, but I don’t see any button for this things.
Thanks in advance.

By Voracious P. Brain on Saturday, July 24, 2021 - 11:21

In reply to by Karina Velazquez

You're frankly missing the basis of what Ulysses is. It's a markdown writing environment, which means using markup characters instead of visual formatting, plus templates to handle things like centering for headings or justification of paragraphs. Then everything gets formatted according to your guidelines when you export to Word, EPub, HTML, or PDF. Read through the intro tutorial. If your main use case is short formatted documents, it's not the best tool--Pages is for desktop publishing, whereas Ulysses is designed for long-form manuscripts.

thanks, yes, I knew that markdown was supported by the app, but all what I have read mentioned this app as the best solution to write on iOS and iPadOS.

By Wenwei on Monday, January 24, 2022 - 11:21

Hi,

Currently working on my research proposal for graduate school and I've been convinced that I should learn markdown and give Ulysses a shot. I just have a few questions so I have some expectations moving forward:

1. Does VoiceOver freeze in Ulysses in long documents? I know that this is an issue in iA Writer as of late 2021.

2. Will I be able to create, name, and navigate to bookmarks using VoiceOver? I do this in word and pages all the time, and it's a feature that I would expect to be able to use for a productivity app.

3. Saw something in a braille forum that you cannot use a braille display with Ulysses. Is this still true in 2022?

Thanks!

By Wenwei on Monday, January 24, 2022 - 11:21

Oliver, thank you for your comments. I am extremely excited to organize my original insights, annotated texts, notes, and other such nonsense as I please into sheets and then combine them into a polished product. This hierarchical approach makes sense to me, and it won't pressure me into continuing with an idea that I should just let go of. I hope that writing the first draft of your manuscript went well!

By OldBear on Monday, January 24, 2022 - 11:21

I use Scrivener as a manuscript compiler and for it's ability to import RTF files, but that accessible grammar check sounds very tempting. Finding, by way of a screne reader, things like bungled punctuation that come from editing is a major issue for me.
I'm not exactly a fan of markdown, but I suppose I could get over it.

By Zoe Victoria on Monday, January 24, 2022 - 11:21

Hi. I just started using this app recently, and so far I am loving it! But I'm wondering, how exactly does the grammar checker work with VO? I tried using it once but couldn't understand it.

By Zoe Victoria on Saturday, September 24, 2022 - 11:21

Ever since I updated to iOS 16 on my iPhone 13, voiceover no longer reads the previews of sheets, so I don't know what's what unless I open them. I mostly use my iPad to write so it's not a big issue for me and I can always search for what I need, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

By Michael Feir on Saturday, September 24, 2022 - 11:21

An update to Ulysses came out yestderday which has fixed the problem with sheet previews. It has also improved the search and replace capability. Do a one finger triple tap on the magnifying glass button to get more options. I've suggested they add VoiceOver hints to this and other situations where a one finger triple tap reveals options in popup menus. Hopefully, they'll work on pointing the hidden capabilities out better for less experienced VoiceOver users not used to loking for such.