Subtext

Apple should buy this and integrate it with iOS. This is exactly what I was looking for. All the file features you expect for simple plain text editing. Integrates fine with Files app, iCloud Drive, etc. Beautiful native feeling style and very intuitive. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to find a simple free text editor in the App Store and went through several that missed the mark in a few key ways. I’m glad I kept going and came across this one. It’s simple but perfect.

Sometimes you just need to write some quick things in notepad to a txt file. Why is this not more highly rated? I just want to edit some thingies without fuss. No data collection. OLED dark mode. Barely any settings, don’t need any. The app is like 400KB. You can open multiple windows on iPadOS or do slide over. Basically perfection.

It just works. Perfectly. Never crashes, doesn't collect any data about you, Flawless. Thank you.

No account creation required. No subscription. No ads. No user data collected. No bloated "productivity" features or AI. Just simple clean text editor that does its job. Solid 10/10.

It has been unbelievably difficult trying to find a simple text editor that behaves well with voiceover and Voice control combined. I wish developers included details about how accessible their apps are. The only thing I can think of that would make this editor even better is including it in the share sheet so you can send files to the editor from the Files app. Update: Unfortunately, this app only recognizes a limited number of file extensions so it is not possible to edit .tex files without renaming them. For now, the search continues until this restriction is lifted.

I don’t know why it’s so hard to find a simple text editor that can edit files in place in the iOS Files app. This app does exactly that and is free simple and easy to use. Kudos to the developer.

Subtext is a perfect example of a developer successfully coding a slim, efficient, easy to use, and very popular text editor.

Lovely little app that does not do a lot, but does what it sets out to do extremely well: open and edit text documents on iPhones and iPads!

Would be great, except it refuses to open or create many files based only on the file name. I don’t have the desire or time to constantly rename files before and after editing. A plain-text editor should open any file even if viewing it as character data results in a bunch of gobbledygook being displayed. File name extensions are a 40year old relic of DOS. In most other operating systems, before and since, the dot and extension are just arbitrary characters like the first part of the name and mainly used for filtering searches.

I never write reviews, but I just have for Subtext. To borrow a familiar phrase, this app “Just Works”. It is simple, easy to use, and everything works the way it should. I love that it integrates with my Dropbox files to on my iPhone and iPad. My thanks to the developer.