In 2017, we gave you a major iOS rewrite, the complete redesign of Android and a new type of writing font. 2018 is going to be a big year for iA Writer. There is an upcoming update of the Mac library and a backup solution for iOS is under construction. Next, we’ll add a Windows version, web collaboration and a physical product to the family. What? When? How?

Web collaboration is in an internal alpha under Android, Windows is in beta. The physical prototype is on our tables.

iA Writer for Windows

iA Writer for Windows reached Beta today and we are testing it for you intensely. As soon as you are all back from your holidays we’ll put it on Kickstarter so that you can help us make it even better. The current version has everything the classic iA Writer came with. On top, you will get folding, the ability to compress and expand chapters with a single click.

You might already love it as is, but we’d like to go a step further. We’d like to offer you more localizations and a strong file library like the one we are building for Mac now. More good news: you can get access to the beta as soon as we reach our first goal. As a premium supporter, you will be able to use the beta of iA Writer for Windows. Depending on how well we perform on Kickstarter, we’ll add a file library similar to the one we are building for Mac. Kickstarter will launch after the holidays, the final product is available one month later. Update: The Kickstarter campaign is running now.

Web Collaboration

Web collaboration is going into beta on Android first, where it will be tested carefully, before rolling out to the Android community and then to other platforms. If all goes as planned, the beta will go out at the End of January. We expect Web collaboration to extend to the full family by March. Web collaboration will be reasonably priced, really simple and super fast. In a couple of weeks, we’ll show you here how it works.

New Mac Library

All of these new shiny things are done by new members to make sure our Apple and Android products evolve as usual. The Mac team is working on the new library. An updated preview and tabs are waiting for you, as well. Our estimate is that the library will take another month of work. With vacations hitting now, you can expect the update in February.

iOS Updates

iOS 11 introduced support for third-party cloud services in Files app. We are happy to let file sync professionals at Dropbox, Google Drive, and others take over this complicated task.

A lot of you asked if you could create library locations from these services. Unfortunately, they don’t support this feature yet. While they can tell Files app what each folder contains, we don’t have access to that API. When we ask them to download a folder, they return an error. A short ping from you to @dropbox and @googledrive underlining that you’d like folder support can have a big effect.

All new software has bugs, and, occasionally, some of you reported data loss when editing documents synced by these services. We treated every case on our radar with maximum care and followed up to see what happened and whether we could do anything to code around the sync issues. We are certain that Apple, Dropbox, and Google will fix these bugs as soon as they can. In the meantime, we will be adding an additional safety net: A custom auto-timed backup solution to keep your texts double-safe.

“A Physical Product”

This is something we have been working on for almost two years. Finally, we are close enough to say a word or two about it. It’s not a pen, but it’s about writing, and people that have seen it, want one. We need one to two more iterations before showing you some pictures. It needs three months production time, so the earliest we can expect it is around March. But you may see it sooner if you subscribe to our newsletter.

Summary

iA Writer for Windows is almost done. You can get access to the beta via Kickstarter. iA Writer for Web is coming. iOS and Mac will get great updates. A new mysterious physical product from iA is waiting for you. And all of this within the first quarter of 2018. Subscribe to the iA Writer newsletter to stay informed. The Kickstarter campaign is running now.

We are wishing you all a great holiday!