Storyist App Reviews

Not very intutitive. Clunky. I want my money back, I just assumed a person could request a refund in the mac app store, like the iTunes store, but apparently not.

This is a solid book writing program like ibooks author or Scrivener. Unlike these two, Storyist does have a companion ipad app. It is a bit clunky to use, going through Dropbox, but it is still there and it works. With luck, the developer will someday make the ipad app join the Storyist program in the cloud, but until that hopeful time, Dropbox is the way to go. It is great to write books on the ipad/desktop/laptop like I have to do. Other than those described here, there are features which I wish could be added, like indexing, bibiliography formats, etc, but this is minor stuff. If you want a good book all-in-one book writing app for IOS/yosemite and on the go, Storyist is it. I enjoy this program. Update: Storyist recently added the icloud version to the iPad now, which makes this heaven for a writer who constantly switches from Mac/ios platforms. You no longer have to work through dropbox. I gave it another star. This is a great multi-platform book writing application and I am doing that now on it.

I’ve found that the Mac 3.1 version combined with the newly released IOS 3.0 version is a wonderful combination when it comes to productivity. I can easily move from my Mac to my iPad or even to my iPhone, editing the same file, and it stays in sync via iCloud. That’s very useful for me, given I move around a bit, and I like to take advantage of a few minutes here and there to work on my novel. No matter what device I have in hand, I can alwasy continue where I left off. Scrivener had been my favorite writing software, but Storyist has replaced it in my workflow simply because of its excellent IOS functionality. Surprisingly, the IOS version is quite functional on my iPhone 6+. But of course, the Mac version is home base and its close enough to my old standard (Scrivener) that I feel right at home.

LOST ALL MY DATA. Doesn’t work on both iPad+Macbook Pro that I have, which run everything else. No warning of loss of data, no warning of saved data. It’s like being blind and being pickpocketed at the same time. It is not worth a penny of it’s price. Total loss. Anybody can foul up a new app and so when all my new work, after a day of writing was lost, I did not assume anything. I returned to the app and from memory, as best I could, reentered the data as new. I used a new file name, and saved my work, not just waiting on the app to auto-save. ALL MY WORK WAS GONE AGAIN WHEN I CAME BACK THE NEXT DAY. After double and triple checking all possible errors, I entered in some test only text, saved it, and by golly this zero-stars app lost all my data again. I was not showing up on my Macbook, nor on my iPad, neither the iCloud nor the DROPBOX save worked. How can this be possible? I only know one thing: This was a really bad app and I lost not only the money for the steep price but I LOST ALL MY WORK. Luckily I’d backed up my work from the second run so all I have to do is put it in Scrivener, or any other program that uses this same architecture. THAT THIS PAWNS ITSELF OFF AS A NEW APP is a stretch, and the cross device compatibility is not new, and it doesn’t work.

He was directed to import a pre-existing work as an rtf. The lengthy rtf in Storyist looked strangely like a compiled Word document in a screen. Promising. He decided to cut it up into scrivener-like bites, or even Storyist bites, to begin writing in his new app. He was salivating as he thought of himself working on his iPad once he understood the new app on his MacBook. He started by going to the place where he wanted to separate the first text from his introduction -- to simply create the next item in his binder-like outline… and… that is as far as he ever got. No command he could think of worked. No command was useful in beginning to turn his long rtf into a manageable Storyist set of smaller units. He needed help. He begged for help. However, at 1 a.m., he had to settle for self-help. Stabbing through the self-help manual, growing more heated, he began to think this was a bad idea from the start. Forty-five minutes of wasted time later, after looking for any easy way to divide his pre-existing work into manageable sub-sections short of cut and paste, he said ’stick this. He was ready to go on a bender, to shoot someone, or just go to the 7-11. Hah! He had a blazingly-eloquent idea. He would get his $59.99 (!!!!!) back. After more time wasted, he received the gloat-filled, smirking, stinking message, "This app is ineligible for refund.” Realizing his paranoia was kicking in, he decided to call it a night. He left his computer without completing his word quota. After a restless, too-short nap of a night, and after pulling on his running shorts and meditating while he ran, he was driven to act on the only good idea he would have the next day: He settled for not shooting anyone, but he did send a bad review.

I have been using Storyist for a few months now, after moving over from Scrivener. I liked the previous program but I just couldn’t wait any longer for a version that tied together my iPad with my Macs. I love this app and have been extremly pleased with it. The only isssued I had was after undating to El Capitan, I could not open any of my Storist files on my Mac. But their support people responded amazingly fast when I posted the problem. Turns out there is a change in OS X that was causing the issue. The Storyist folks had already fixed it and were waiting for the update to be posted on the App Store. In the interum they gave me a link to download the update directly and just like that, my problem was solved.

Storyist has a simple interface, is very functional, and syncs easily with my ipad. I can focus more on writing and less on copy/paste from other apps to add in notes.