Tuesday, June 14, 2022

A new version of iA Writer has dropped today, version 6.0, along with a new website. I have been beta testing v.6 and while there are new tools that I like and appreciate, I am generally underwhelmed by such a major upgrade. UI changes on iOS are welcome (lightening menu) content blocks feel tidier across the platforms, and there are more options for file sorting.

One major addition is wikilinks. I use these in other applications where I manage notes, but at the moment I am unsure how (if) they fit into my writing workflow. I am thinking that this is the reason behind me saying that I am ”underwhelmed” by such a major upgrade? I had hoped for inclusion of the outlining tool that is in the Windows version of iA Writer.

I had expected this to be a paid upgrade, but “no,” if you have the previous version you just go ahead and upgrade. iA’s website does hint though at some price changing policies,

We value ownership and choice. Our products are offered as standalone purchases per platform. Soon, the choice between ownership and subscription will be extended to all our products.

I still love the easy access to and working with plain text files, and for that reason iA Writer is staying in my arsenal of tools.