Writing across iOS and Chromebook - the options
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
I’m spending far too much time recently figuring out my best options for writing apps across a bunch of platforms, and having finally been forced to tabulate my findings for my own benefit, though I might as well stick them as a blogpost.
Table below, for the impatient, but for the more patient, some context:
I’m mostly Apple-based (iPhone, iPad, Mac Mini) but for the next few months a lot of my writing and other work type things will be on a Chromebook, for various reasons. (Old basic iPad with a Logitech keyboard just about scrapes by as an emergency pseudo-laptop, but only just).
Getting a Macbook would make compatibility a lot simpler but I can’t really justify one when a Chromebook does everything I need for a quarter of the price, if I can live with some minor complications.
I have no strong views about OSes/open sourceness/proprietary software, but Windows seems to be going through an awful phase at the moment, so I’d rather avoid it. Similarly, I’m a bit cautious about anything corporate American because who knows what’s going to happen there. I’m not fanatically anxious about AI, but it would be nice to avoid being scraped and intruded on if I can.
I’m generally able to get online but I want to be able to be able to work offline if necessary.
So I looked at what my options were, and these are them. Obviously there are other criteria but these are the important ones to me. Judgements are subjective, of course.
In the unlikely event anyone reads this, I’d welcome your thoughts.
