Ulysses Mobile Reviews

Strong writing tool

bwintx

EDIT (2018-06-16): A lot of what I originally said below still holds true, especially if you’re not in favor of using Dropbox (required for Scrivener sync), you’re really sold on Markdown, and/or your writing tends more toward short- and medium-length. “The right tool for the right job” and all that. While I’m returning to Scrivener as my daily driver — I did finally try Scrivener for iOS and found the sync to be ‘way cleaner than many Internet gripes would have you believe — Ulysses is still highly desirable and does everything it promises IMHO, thus keeping my original five-star rating. I don’t regret having subscribed and I’m sure I’ll still find uses for it, just not for my long-form stuff. ========= ORIGINAL REVIEW (5 stars): Ulysses has jump-started my writing productivity and efficiency in a way I didn’t think was possible just by switching apps. And, for that matter, it has made writing seem less of a chore, which is unquestionably an advantage. The seamless sync is wonderful, too. You don’t even have to think about it; you just write, or edit, on whatever Apple device you’re using. As much as I have loved Scrivener to this point, that’s just not a reliable use case, as is well documented in many places on the Web. I confess I didn’t try Scrivener for iOS, only the version for the Mac; but the many concerns I read about its syncing capabilities gave me enough pause that I started looking at Ulysses again when I realized I needed to write on more than just the Mac, so here I am. While there are a few things I miss from Scrivener (which has its merits, of course, and still excels for certain types of writing for which Ulysses just isn’t the right tool), I’ve found ways around them with a little creative use of Markdown. I also worried about missing the “Snapshots” feature in Scrivener, but the outstanding versioning features in Ulysses have more than made up for it where I’m concerned. And, if all else fails, I can just save-as, after all (EDIT: and in this case, “save-as” really means just copy/pasting into a new “sheet” that you then keep around for safety’s sake, since there is no real “Save” or “Save As” functionality in this cloud-centric app). Speaking of Scrivener, I found it amazingly easy to get my work-in-progress from there to Ulysses. Be sure to read up on their best practices for this; it’ll save you a ton of time if you make the switch, too. You can keep your notes, and character sketches, and just about everything that’s text. I surely didn’t want to have to go back and forth between the previous work-in-progress in Scrivener and the current one in Ulysses, and was delighted when I realized that wouldn’t be necessary. As for the elephant in the room, namely the subscription-vs.-own-forever stuff that caused such a firestorm last year: well, I got over that issue, with other apps, years ago. My simple rule is: “If I really need it, it’s worth subscribing.” And I have quickly come to need Ulysses. While I sort of get the complaints from those who bought the pre-subscription version, I honestly can’t imagine a serious writer’s minding a $40-a-year subscription for something this well-conceived and effective, especially as the devs continue to improve it. The cold, hard fact is that the subs model is where the software industry is going at blinding speed. You surely have the right not to like that and to vote accordingly with your wallet, but it’s still the truth. For those who say, well, I just need a cheap notes editor and I don’’t see why I should have to subscribe to get that: the good news for you is that there are jillions of ’em out there, not the least of which are the Notes apps built into macOS and iOS as well as the free OneNote from Microsoft, among many others. But, if you were using Ulysses for basic notekeeping, that seems to be the classic case of using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. I’m no great writer, but I insist on greatness in the apps I use for writing; and Ulysses is now a manstay on my Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Thanks to The Soulmen for this outstanding software product!

Why Is There Still No Multi-Sheet Search?

Your Standard Customer

UPDATE: Great! New programming languages. I’m a writer, I use this app FOR WRITING, so I don’t care about new programming languages. What I DO care about is multi-sheet search, which is still not there. Is this what I pay a freakin' subscription for? ORIGINAL: I use this functionality all of the time on the Mac version but, for some reason, it does not exist in the iOS version; not even the Cmd-Shift-F keyboard command. There is Quick Open, but that’s rather worthless as it shows only one instance of the found word for each sheet and, when selected, just opens the sheet. It does nothing about actually going to the line where the word was found. Quick Open is also irritating because I have to always go and select that I want to search the selected group, not the whole freakin’ app, but then even if this wasn’t a problem, it still wouldn’t solve the multi-sheet search issue. Please, for the love of Pete, Multi-Sheet Search! This should exist already. Matter of fact, it irritates me so much that it makes the app otherwise worthless on the iPad, so one-star.

Ugh. Your subscription model - forget about it

BKLA

I bought you app. I also used it through set app after the update. Now- you want a separate subscription on iPhone on top of that. This app is not that good to pay you 3 times for the same thing.

Ignore the Bitter Reviews

TheKemer

Those who hate the subscription model need to get over it: there are (apparently) plenty of simple Markdown-centric text editors that will meet your needs. Dinging Ulysses out of sheer bitterness won’t make you feel better, provide useful input to others, or change the need for a sustainable economic model for serious software developers. Ulysses is a serious writing tool for serious writers. It may take some getting used to if you are coming from the world of Word, or similar “word processors,” but if you are more interested in content rather than the formatting, Ulysses will reward you with a clean and powerful writing environment. My own personal experience mirrors that of many others: initial skepticism in the early days growing to familiarity and fondness. Ulysses’ developers are living up to their promise to deliver an increasingly powerful and refined writing environment, with regular and substantive updates. If great apps like Byword or Apple’s Notes meet your level of writing needs, great: simple tools for simple needs. But, if you write a lot, I heartily recommend Ulysses.

Still a great program

Auto draw

One thing I don’t understand is how you say on your upgrade page: for ages 4+ and up. This not a toy or a game, it take reasoning and at least be able to read and write, what gives!! Also on your upgrade page where it has these colored boxes with instructions or examples of the new release, when you select it goes through at least 30 examples in about 8 seconds. Who is the (I want say something real nasty here but I won’t) person that designed this catastrophe? Sometimes I don’t think things are thought through, does anybody check your pages before releasing it. I’m sending a new review: I don’t quite understand the design of this program and I don’t think I ever will. I mean who honesty understands code this or syntax that. I thought this was to be and I quote your promotion, simple writing environment. Well I don’t think it is so simple at all. The items you keep saying you’re improving and upgrading are not simple at all. Half the time I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about, you think that’s simple? And then when I offer what I think I get canceled from your news update, somebody’s very thin skinned. If Ulysses is so simple why can’t you talk in some kind of simple language. You assume that everyone understands your simple writing program. I’ve never heard any other writing program talk about any of the things you talk about and I’ve tried them all. For instance why does a writing program have anything to do with writing code, what’s that all about. I thought I was paying a yearly fee for writing program not a program on writing code. What does that have to do writing a “simple” story. Now I suppose I’ll be canceled from this because I offer criticism about your program a it’s used.

We need to end this trend.

Inkcapacitated

I will never buy an application on a subscription basis. Ever.

Pro tool

gordonross

Every dollar I make involves writing. Almost everything I write flows thru this app. I’ve tried them all and this is the one that does the real work.

Subscription

Jsutton2

I can’t believe I paid full price only to have the app switch to subscription. Can’t stand by a company that treats its users this way. If you paid for an app, especially over $100 for both Mac and phone, you would expect to be able to use it for more than a year. I just want my files back at this point.

Add a unique name to Ulysses dictionary

Yodermand

I love this app. It is the way to write your stories for Amazon Kindle publishing. How can it be better? When writing stories I create unique character names. Wish there was a way to add that name to the Ulysses dictionary so it would not think I was misspelling word each time I type it. Small thing; love this app!!

Subscriptions are not all evil.

oligipod

My first reaction on finding out that Ulysses was moving to a subscription model had me running to the App Store to look for alternatives. Alas, there were none which fit my workflow nearly as well as this app, so I bit the bullet and ponied up. Now, after a few updates, I’m actually very happy with the idea of an annual fee. I’d probably spend just as much on updates, and if it keeps the developers making improvements such as the changes to the goal feature (a seemingly small thing which has greatly improved my productivity), I’m fine with it. This is a great app, and getting better.

Ulysses Mobile Reviews – Page 10