Pure Writer arrives on iPhone: a nine-year Android writing app's old users have been waiting, and in two weeks they gave it 165 five-star ratings
What it is A plain-text writing app that focuses on fast typing and never losing your text. It's a nine-year-old Android veteran, and it just released an iPhone version.
Why it took off Android users who switched to iPhone found nothing to replace it for years, so when the iOS version came out they came back. The developer posted about it personally, and a few media outlets covered it, all without paid acquisition. AI made it affordable for one person to build for two platforms.
CHow you can follow it You can't really copy the app itself. To learn from it, look for products that have a devoted following on one platform and none on another (yours or someone else's). Port them natively with AI, run TestFlight before launch, and have the founder post about it on launch day.
- Data (updated daily) · First released 2026-10-24 · Taiwan rating 19 · Charted in 11-08 of 2 stores
iOS · best category chart rank · by store TaiwanHong KongNigeriaData 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 10 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that dayiOS · Ratings count · Taiwan Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 9 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
In October 24, Pure Writer, a writing app that has been on Android for nine years and has 2.28M installs on Google Play, made its first appearance on the App Store. Over two weeks it collected about 165 ratings across App Store storefronts, almost all five stars, and reached #83 on the Taiwan productivity top grossing chart. It looks like a new app breaking out, but really a group of long-time users finally got what they were waiting for. You can't copy the app itself. The takeaway is the approach: a product that has word of mouth on one platform but none on another can rebuild on the second platform and cold-start with almost no paid spend.
"No substitute anywhere online"
In November 4, someone in the China App Store left the first review: "I started using Pure Writer on Android a few years ago and kept using it for a long time. When I switched to iOS I found nothing like it. I tried a lot of other apps and discovered there's no substitute anywhere online!!! I waited two years, and now the iOS version is finally here."
Reviews like this are everywhere on its page. One from October 27 says: "Not having Pure Writer on iOS was the biggest reason I kept my iPhone from becoming my main device." Another from October 28 says: "Maybe it was high school, I bought the lifetime membership with my New Year's money, and I've actually used it all these years." A Taiwan review says: "From Android to Apple, I used it all through school and into my working years. I've run into plenty of emergencies, and I've never lost a single file." Some people even "switched to a full iOS setup but kept an old Android tablet just for Pure Writer."
These people weren't pulled in by ads. They had been waiting for years. The official user manual has long said "Pure Writer has no plans for an iOS version."
What it is
A plain-text writing tool with no layout features and no knowledge base. It just makes typing fast and keeps your text safe. It opens quickly. Autosave plus version history means accidental deletes and power failures can be recovered, and "never lose a file" has been its tagline for nine years. Details like auto-closing paired symbols, a quick-input bar, one-tap formatting, and managing long texts by volume and chapter are built for people writing in Chinese and writing novels. The store page calls them "217 carefully crafted details."
Articles are stored on the user's own phone and synced through their own cloud drive (iCloud, Alibaba Cloud Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox). No account is needed, and content never passes through the developer's servers.
Core features are free. On iOS the membership has three tiers: monthly ¥19, yearly ¥96, and lifetime ¥178 (mainland China App Store, 11-06).
It was built by drakeet, a developer well known in the Android community. The company is Drakeet Co., Ltd, and this is its only app on the App Store.
How big it is now
| Metric | Sources | |
|---|---|---|
| Mainland China App Store | 94 ratings, 4.94 stars | App Store,11-06 |
| US / Taiwan / Hong Kong / Japan | 25 / 16 / 11 / 11 ratings | App Store,11-06 |
| Taiwan productivity top grossing chart | #83 overall; #137 in Hong Kong | App Store,11-06 |
| Taiwan rating trend | 10-29 or 0,10-31 to 9,11-06 to 16 | App Store daily ratings |
| Android app itself | Launched 2017 years ago, 2.28M installs, 20k ratings (4.09), +3,707 over the last 7 days | Google Play,11-06 |
Small absolute numbers: 165 ratings roughly correspond to a few thousand to 10-20K downloads (est.). It doesn't show up on mainland efficiency charts yet. The 25 ratings on the US store are most likely overseas Chinese users (inferred).
Revenue isn't public. In February, drakeet posted on Threads: "Got my monthly income from Google's new payment transfer today, and moved up another tier. Almost entirely from pure writing revenue, the old-timer's spring." No figures given.
Where users come from
Old users came looking for it. The comments above are the evidence. 2.28M Android installs, years-old Telegram channel and Coolapk community. Among those people, the ones who switched to iPhone became the first wave of iOS users.
The developer posted about it. On Oct 27, drakeet posted on Threads: "Pure Writer's iOS version is live on the App Store worldwide, including mainland China." It got 46.8K views and 1K likes. Threads has many Chinese-speaking users in Taiwan, and the Taiwan ratings are exactly what started jumping from 10-30 and 10-31.
Hype before launch. The iOS review dragged on for over a month. During that time, TestFlight was opened, and you could join beta testing by emailing the developer. By Oct 10, a Substack blogger had already written "Pure Writer's iOS version has finally arrived," and mainland commenters said they "got in early on the beta."
SSPAI wrote a section on it. Around Nov 2, SSPAI's "Review" column ran a piece titled "A well-known writing app officially launches an iOS version," calling its platform fit "extremely high." The outlet had covered it 2019 years earlier, so the brand was already known in the circles.
Traffic overwhelmed them. On Oct 27, the Telegram channel posted: "The event is now cancelled, the volume was a bit too much, our manual workload was too heavy, sorry for the inconvenience." It didn't clearly say what the event was (unverified).
Ads: none seen. No traces of paid placements or boosted chart pushes found.
Why now: AI made running two platforms affordable for one person
Before, not doing iOS was probably because one person couldn't handle it all. This time is different. drakeet wrote in the channel: "With AI assistance, iOS development is relatively more efficient, so the time and effort we put into Android is actually several times that of iOS." On Threads there was also: "I woke up and AI had fully handled submitting the iOS version of Pure Writer for review."
What got built wasn't just the Android app ported over: it fully uses iOS's liquid glass design, supports two-column layout on iPad, and supports iCloud. Within two weeks of launch, it went from 1.0.1 to 1.0.7,1.0.3, with a single update supporting 30 languages. An old user said he's "an update maniac, multiple updates a day back in the day," and that spirit shows up again on iOS.
One thing that annoyed long-time members
Members who bought on Google Play have to buy again on iOS. On Nov 2, a one-star review read: "Both are lifetime memberships, why do they get different benefits... the current answer is just 'not supported, buy again.'" On Nov 4, the developer posted a long explanation in the channel: cross-platform sync requires everyone to register an account, which they've always refused to require; subscription status is hard to sync across the two stores; and Google's redemption codes can't be verified, so they get bound repeatedly and resold.
The SSPAI article says "members previously purchased can sync to iOS," which contradicts the official line. It may refer to memberships bought on the official website or other channels (unverified).
For revenue, this is good: old users are willing to pay ¥178 again, and many of the five-star reviewers above did exactly that. For reputation, it's a crack.
It's not empty ground on iOS
iOS writing tools are already crowded: the built-in Notes app, iA Writer (243 ratings on the mainland store, Top Paid #151), Ulysses, Bear, domestic long-form tools like WonderPen, and web-novel writing apps like Quanmin Xie Xiaoshuo (8,385 ratings on the mainland store). Pure Writer holds its ground here for two reasons: a lifetime one-time purchase (most rivals are subscriptions, and one blogger said "I can finally delete all my subscription writing apps"), and one identical experience across Android, desktop, and iOS.
But these differentiators so far only prove it can pull over existing users. Whether iPhone users who've never tried it will be won over isn't clear yet: it's not on the mainland efficiency charts.
If it were you
Verdict: Pure Writer itself can't be copied. Its traction comes from nine years of word of mouth, over two million Android users, and the developer's own reputation in the circles, none of which followers have. The iOS writing category is also already crowded. What's transferable is the thing it proved: a product that has devoted fans on one platform and "no substitute anywhere" on another can now be ported with AI at a cost one person can afford.
Who it suits: indie devs who already have a single-platform product with users in the comments asking for a version on another platform; or small teams willing to look for gaps like "well-rated on Android, nothing comparable on iOS."
Who it doesn't suit: anyone wanting to build yet another Chinese writing app to compete with Pure Writer, iA Writer, or Ulysses; anyone without an existing user base hoping platform-switching alone will bring traffic.
How to do it: First go through your own product's reviews, communities, and emails, and count how many people are asking "is there an iPhone/Android version?" If you can't find a few dozen, don't rush. If you do build it, make it native, not a wrapper; this group of old users is the most likely to compare. Keep a one-time purchase option; in categories crowded with subscriptions, it's a selling point in itself. Think through how cross-platform membership will work, and ideally disclose it before launch, rather than waiting for one-star reviews to force it.
How to acquire users: Follow their sequence: open TestFlight during review so old users can try it first; on launch day, the developer posts on their own social accounts and communities; then get a vertical media outlet to write about it. No paid acquisition throughout.
When to move: There's no window per se, but move while the old users are still around. The longer you wait, the more likely they've found substitutes and gotten used to other tools.
Signs you got it wrong: ① a month or two after Pure Writer's iOS launch, the rating growth drops to near zero and it still hasn't entered the mainland efficiency charts, which would mean the one-time migration of existing users is used up and the traffic from the platform switch is smaller than expected; ② the requirement for long-time members to pay again ferments in the community, with more one-star reviews, which would mean the "buy again" path doesn't work, and you'd need a different approach.
Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report
- Competitors
Name Where Launched Scale How it differs from this one Apple Notes Big-company features Built into the system All iPhones Free but no writing aids (paired symbols, one-tap formatting, volume/chapter structure); Pure Writer is built specifically for writing iA Writer iOS 2013 243 ratings on the mainland store, Top Paid #151 Western minimal Markdown, one-time purchase per platform; Pure Writer has deeper support for Chinese typesetting and novel volumes/chapters, and it's cross-platform Ulysses iOS Years ago Leading subscription writing tool (unverified) Subscription only, Apple platforms only; Pure Writer can be bought outright for ¥178 and also supports Android and Windows Bear iOS 2016 Leading note-taking app (unverified) Notes-focused, subscription-based, no Android version Domestic long-form writing tools like WonderPen iOS Around 2018 Not verified Leans toward desktop novel writing; Pure Writer's mobile experience and "never lose anything" reputation are stronger Quanmin Xie Xiaoshuo and other writing apps iOS 2018 Quanmin Xie Xiaoshuo has 8,385 ratings on the mainland store Web-novel community, with ads; Pure Writer doesn't publish or collect content and doesn't require an account Obsidian Other 2020 Large (unverified) Knowledge base with bidirectional links, high barrier to entry; Pure Writer focuses on finished writing - Where users come from
- Confirmed Migration of existing Android users: mainland and Taiwan App Store reviews are almost all "used it on Android all along," "switched Android for it," "finally an iOS version"; main app 2.28M installs
- Confirmed Developer's own Threads and Telegram channel: 10-27 Threads launch post 46.8K views, 1K likes, 94 reposts; afterward Taiwan ratings jumped 10-30 and 10-31; the Telegram channel posts updates almost every day
- Confirmed Tech media (SSPAI): sspai.com/post/118240 "Review" column ran a section titled "A well-known writing app officially launches an iOS version"
- Confirmed TestFlight hype and individual bloggers: TestFlight opened during review; 10-10 Substack blogger wrote a getting-started guide; in July an X user posted a preview
- Inferred Operating events: 10-27 Telegram: "The event is now cancelled, the volume was too much, our manual workload was too heavy"; the event details were in an image and weren't captured
- Inferred Paid acquisition, chart pushing: no evidence found
Pure Writer (純純寫作 / 纯纯写作) iOS version: how it got off the ground
Data card: ios_6803257195 | Developer Drakeet Co., Ltd (drakeet, indie developer) | iOS launch 2026-10-24 | Productivity | Free + in-app purchases | Research date: 2026-11-06
Bottom line
This isn't a new product breaking out. It's the first iOS release of a veteran Android writing app that has been around for 9 years and has 2.28M installs on Google Play. The traction came from years of pent-up demand from old users for "finally an iOS version", plus free exposure from the developer's own social accounts and a veteran media outlet (SSPAI), with no paid acquisition. Its differentiators ("never lose anything," blazing-fast plain text, no account required, content lives only in the user's own cloud storage, one-time purchase) are why it built word of mouth on Android. On iOS, what actually drives growth is brand and migration of existing users.
1. Data: bigger than the data card shows
- The data card only tracks Taiwan and Hong Kong: overall rating 27 (tw 16 / hk 11), 7-day change +15, Taiwan Productivity Top Grossing #83, Hong Kong #137 (appstore database, app_profile, 2026-11-06).
- Real-time iTunes lookup by store (2026-11-06): Mainland China 94 ratings, average 4.94; US store 25 (4.96, most likely overseas Chinese users); Taiwan 16; Hong Kong 11; Japan 11 (store name 「純純執筆」); Singapore 3; Canada 3. All stores combined come to about 165 ratings, with the mainland being the bulk. Our database has no record of it on mainland charts, so it isn't yet within the tracked scope of mainland efficiency charts.
- Taiwan daily ratings (appstore database, app_day): 10-29 was 0, from 10-30 to 3, from 10-31 to 9, from 11-06 to 16. The timing matches the developer's 10-27 Threads launch announcement and the 11-02 SSPAI article.
- iOS in-app purchases (mainland App Store page): Lifetime membership ¥178, annual subscription ¥96, monthly subscription ¥19; core features free.
- Main app:
com.drakeet.purewriteron Google Play, 2017-07-04 launch, 2,280,276 installs, 20,111 ratings (4.09), +7 installs in the last 3,707 days, in-app purchases $1.49–$15.99 (googleplay database, app_profile, 2026-11-06). There are also desktop versions for Windows / macOS / Linux (listed on the Microsoft Store). - Revenue clue: drakeet wrote on Threads on 2026-02-15, "Got my monthly income from Google's new payment transfer today, and moved up another tier. Almost entirely from Pure Writer revenue, the old-timer's spring" (Threads @drakeet, via Jina search snippet). No specific amount was given.
2. Competitors
| Competitors | Platform | Launched | Scale | How it differs from Pure Writer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Notes | Big-company features | Built into the system | Every iPhone has it | Free and integrated with iCloud; but no writing aids (paired symbols, one-tap formatting, quick input bar), no volume/chapter structure. Reviews specifically cite "the biggest difference from Apple Notes is copy and paste." |
| iA Writer | iOS/Mac/Android/Win | iOS 2013 | Mainland China: 243 ratings, Top Paid #151 (appstore library) | A Western-style minimalist Markdown writer. One-time purchase, but sold separately per platform; weak on Chinese typesetting and novel chapter/volume features. |
| Ulysses | iOS/Mac | Very early | A leading subscription writing tool (scale unverified). | Subscription only, Apple platforms only. One user blog says: "With Pure Writer you don't need to subscribe to Bear or Ulysses." |
| Bear | iOS/Mac | 2016 | A leading note-taking app (scale unverified). | More of a note app. Subscription-based, no Android support. It was often recommended as "Pure Writer on Apple." |
| Domestic long-form writing tools such as WonderPen (文思). | Desktop + iOS. | Around 2018 | Not verified | In the mainland China App Store "You may also like" section, it appears alongside Pure Writer. It focuses on novels and long-form, with a desktop emphasis. |
| Novel-writing and wordsmithing apps for everyone. | iOS/Android | From ¥2018 | The everyone-writes-novels app has 8,385 ratings in mainland China (appstore library). | Web-novel writing and platform submissions, with ads and community. Pure Writer doesn't publish online and doesn't collect your content. |
| PureWrite, Writingo, CardFlow. | iOS | Not verified | Similar small tools in the "You may also like" section in Taiwan. | Far behind in reputation and depth of features. |
| Obsidian | All platforms | 2020 | Large (unverified) | More of a knowledge base with bi-directional links. High learning curve. |
Bottom line: the iOS writing-tool space is already crowded. Pure Writer's iOS launch doesn't rely on an empty niche. On Android it is one of the few standout writers (Sspai has described it that way for 2019 years). On iOS it has to go head-to-head with mature products like iA Writer, Ulysses, and Bear.
3. Growth levers (ranked by strength of evidence)
- Migration of existing users (confirmed, the main driver): iOS reviews are almost all from longtime users. "Supported on Android, then Apple, and I used it from school days through to working life." "To use Pure Writer I switched my iPhone6 to Android and bought a lifetime membership." "Lacking Pure Writer on iOS was the biggest reason I couldn't make my iPhone my main device." "Finally there's an iOS version." (mainland China and Taiwan App Store reviews). On Threads, Taiwanese users had long complained that the one sad thing about switching to iPhone was not being able to download Pure Writer. Android's 2.28M installs and years of community (Telegram channel, WeChat, GitHub manual) are where these users came from.
- Developer's own social accounts (confirmed): drakeet 10-27 posted on Threads: "纯纯写作 iOS is now live on the App Store worldwide, including mainland China", 46.8k views, 1K likes, 94 reposts, 157 shares. Threads' Chinese-speaking audience is mostly in Taiwan, which lines up with the Taiwan rating jumping on 10-30 and 10-31. The Telegram channel "Pure Writer Releases" posts release notes almost every day.
- Free coverage in Chinese tech media (confirmed): Sspai's "Pick of the Week: Notable Apps" (sspai.com/post/118240, around 11-02) has a section titled "Well-known writing app officially launches iOS version." Sspai and iFanr have covered Pure Writer several times over the years, so brand awareness was already there.
- TestFlight pre-launch hype and individual bloggers (confirmed): The iOS review dragged on for a month (Telegram: "The iOS version has been under review for a month… email us with your Apple ID to join TestFlight"), and TestFlight was offered in the meantime. 10-10 a Substack blogger wrote "Pure Writer's iOS version has finally arrived." In July an X user posted "Pure Writer iOS coming soon! Longtime users are thrilled" (372 views).
- A promotional campaign (partly confirmed): 10-27 the Telegram channel posted "The event is now canceled, the volume was too big and our manual workload was too heavy, sorry!" The event details were in an image post and the text wasn't captured (unverified, possibly a manual member-migration or giveaway). At least it shows the traffic in the first few days exceeded what the team could handle manually.
- Paid ads, free-promotion chart pushes, fake reviews: No evidence found. Given the developer's usual style, this is very unlikely.
4. Why it took off
- Demand had built up for years: The official manual said for years "Pure Writer has no plans for an iOS version," and Android users who switched to iPhone had to give up or find alternatives. When the iOS version came out, these users came back right away, and many were already loyal lifetime-membership users.
- Product reputation built over a decade: "Never lose your work" (autosave, version history, time machine), very fast startup, paired-symbol and quick-input bars, one-tap formatting, novel volume and chapter management. Reviews repeatedly say "never lost a single word."
- Timing: AI brought the porting cost down: drakeet himself says "with AI assistance, iOS development is relatively more efficient," and on Threads he wrote, "I woke up this morning and AI had fully handled submitting the iOS version of 纯纯写作 for review overnight." The iOS 1.0.1 shipped 700 more commits than the first release, pushed out 1.0.1 to 1.0.7 updates in the two weeks after launch, and supports 30 languages from day one. Dual-platform used to be out of reach for one person. Now it isn't.
- Deep native integration: Fully uses iOS 26/27's Liquid Glass design, adapts to iPhone Duo and iPad, supports two-column layouts and iCloud sync. Sspai praised its "very high platform fit," rather than a simple port from Android.
- Pricing: Keeps the ¥178 lifetime one-time purchase. Most iOS writing tools are subscription-based, and a Substack blogger put it this way: "Finally I can delete the other subscription writing apps."
5. Differentiation
- Against iOS competitors: (1) Spans Android, desktop and iOS, syncs through the user's own cloud drive (Aliyun Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud), needs no account, and content never passes through official servers; (2) lots of detail for Chinese writing, advertised as "217 carefully crafted details"; (3) offers a one-time purchase option; (4) makes "never lose your work" its primary selling point.
- Is this why it's taking off? Partly. What actually drives iOS downloads is an old brand entering a new platform for the first time. The differentiation's role is to get longtime users to follow it over, not to attract native iOS users. Whether new iOS users are moved by these differentiators isn't clear yet: it isn't on the mainland productivity charts, and in Taiwan's grossing chart it only ranks 83.
- One hurdle: Google Play and iOS paid subscriptions don't carry over (a long Telegram post by 11-04 explains why: no accounts, hard-to-sync subscription status, redemption codes can't be verified). Shaopai claims "previously purchased members can sync on iOS," which contradicts the official line. This may refer to purchases made via the website or redemption codes (unverified). Android long-time members have to pay again on iOS. That's good for conversion, risky for reputation.
6. Visibility and copycats
- Visibility: talked about in small circles. Sspai and the developer's Threads post (46.8k views) covered it, and the Chinese writing and Android communities know it. A local X corpus (x-radar, 30 days) returned 0 results each for "Pure Writer," "Pure Writer iOS," and "drakeet." iOS revenue is not public. The developer only said Google Play revenue "moved up a tier," with no figures.
- Copycats: no products found that specifically imitate its iOS version.
7. What others can learn
- Porting a well-loved Android-exclusive product to iOS with AI is high-value growth: existing users and brand awareness provide cold-start traction without paid acquisition. The reverse also works, for iOS-exclusive products going to Android.
- Pre-launch hype through TestFlight and communities, a developer post on launch day, and free exposure from vertical media (Sspai's "Pick of the Week").
- Keeping a one-time purchase option in a category crowded with subscriptions is itself a selling point.
- High-frequency version updates build trust in users' eyes that "this developer is serious."
8. Still unclear
- What exactly was the cancelled "event" 10-27
- Of the 94 mainland ratings, how many are new vs. existing users; the iOS paid conversion rate; the iOS revenue scale.
- Whether Google Play and iOS memberships really interoperate; official and Sspai accounts conflict.
- Whether it will climb the mainland productivity charts and open Japan and Western markets (30 languages are already in place, Japan has 11 ratings, average 4.5).
Sources
- App Store listing and iTunes lookup (cn/tw/hk/us/jp/sg/ca, 2026-11-06): apps.apple.com/cn/app/id6803257195
- Our libraries: appstore (app_profile / app_day, 2026-11-06), googleplay (app_profile, com.drakeet.purewriter, 2026-11-06)
- Telegram channel Pure Writer Releases: t.me/s/purewriter (10-24 to 11-06 posts)
- drakeet's Threads launch post: www.threads.com/@drakeet/post/De-jRiCEogC (46.8K views, 1K likes)
- Sspai "Pick of the Week": sspai.com/post/118240
- Substack "Pure Writer's iOS version has finally arrived" (2026-10-10): www.noesisapient.com/p/ios-246
- X @nanshanjukr (2026-07-26): x.com/nanshanjukr/status/2081168519832510841
- Official manual ("no plans for an iOS version"): github.com/drakeet/PureWriter-1
- Threads search digest: drakeet 2026-02-15 revenue post, "AI fully handled my iOS submission" post (Jina search result snippets, original posts not opened)