App Store Reviews

Liquid | Author App Store Reviews

Please note, these reviews of Liquid | Author are from all the App Stores around the world so you will only see the ones from your country in your own App Store:

(NOTE: developer replies which do not add information, only thanks for the review, are not shown)

Writing AS Thinking! (5/5 stars)

by IPhoneFan!! – Oct 4, 2019

This is software is absolutely amazing! It is obvious the developer has done a fair amount of study into the process the writer/researcher goes through to eventually develop a paper, book or thesis. It is amazing that s/he has turned what they have learnt into a powerful tool. I am sure the app will get even better with more insight the developer gains and the skills to make it happen through technology. I am here for that journey!

Wow! (5/5 stars)

by Ringo Chen – Sep 22, 2019

I really didn't think I could find anything that could replace word or open office but I did! I love the features that Author has. The Dynamic view is so helpful, laying it out as a mind map -- I love this tool and I like Author so much I decided to try Liquid Flow and Liquid reader.. so impressive. Truly unique and super powerful and you made it so easy to use -- I love this WP...

Bought because (5/5 stars)

by Sedat Kaplan – Aug 24, 2019

you mentioned Ted Nelson

Best minimalist app ever (5/5 stars)

by Alexandra Ungureanu – Jun 15, 2019

The features are very good for writing. The environment is very clean and minimalist and it lets you focus on what you have to do. The support team is very responsive when you have a problem. The best app for writing.

What the heck is this? (5/5 stars)

by Pramänik MDMC® – Jun 9, 2019

How does one person get it right, and no other App developer? Cheers to using common sense when making a word processer this intellegent. And it doesnt even have AI, does it!? Kudos. Great job. I'll be emailing the developers shortly to get some pointers myself. P

Auf dem Weg zu neuen Ufern (5/5 stars)

by fotoli – Jun 7, 2019

Liquid | Author ist nicht einfach ein weiterer Editor, sondern ein weiterer Schritt zu einem modularen System, mit dem Textarbeit leichter und besser wird. Sinnvolle und bisher nicht gekannte Funktionen unterstützen effektiv den Schreibprozess. Man muss es ausprobieren, um es zu verstehen. Ansonsten empfehlen sich die Lektüre auf der Homepage und die Videos auf YouTube. Klare Empfehlung.

Fantastic features!! (5/5 stars)

by Smart201 – Jun 6, 2019

This word processor have great features which makes you save time. It does exactly what you want. I strongly recommend it!

Bootstrap your writing (5/5 stars)

by Meh222 – Jun 3, 2019

I've been using Liquid Author for a bit and just updated giving me access to Dynamic View. The existing pinch-zoom dynamics already allow easy outline style work but dynamic view adds the ability to add text or headings for which there is as yet no correct location in the linear narrative. Being able to write and store text outside the (visble) linear document is a solid new addition. I'm sure Doug would approve. Recommended.

Clean and easy on the eye

by UKPHS – Edited Jun 2, 2019

A clean word processor with no clutter to get in the way. I have been using Author on and off since its release. Work forces me to use a certain word processor for compability reason. For my own personal work, studies or just plan writting, I use Author. I have started to use the dynamic view. At first I was unsure where this would fit intomy work flow, but within no time I fould a slot for it. I creat section heading and then points I need to address within these section. Once the lists are completed I use the dynamic view to link related topics within different sections.

Worth the price (4/5 stars)

by Neitzert – Jun 2, 2019

Liquid author is like notepad on performance enhancers. As someone who has spent the better part of the past 30 years in vi/emacs and using a seperate mindmapping app I am suitably impressed with the power and versatility of liquid author. It is light weight enough to run on my older macbook, and yet functional enough to capture my attention. I will be watching and using this one.

simple yet powerful. (5/5 stars)

by Fatima210 – May 31, 2019

This app is truly a miracle. From my experience, word processors are either too complicated to handle (still do-able,) or far too simple. II've tried a lot of word processes and have yet to try one that meets my needs. Referencing couldnt be any easier, this app is truly unique! And recieved help immediately which almost never happens anywhere else!

Disappointing. (2/5 stars)

by Rick Roberts – May 25, 2019

I was intrigued with this app, but too many of the features don't work as advertised. I'll keep it around in the hope that updates will improve it.

Developer Response - Jun 2, 2019.

Hi Rick, could you please tell me what features you are referring to so that we can fix what's broken? We have just released a new version and would love to know if it works better for you.

A star missing for each feature. (3/5 stars)

by HeteronomousFB – Apr 20, 2019

Clean - yes. Uncluttered - yes. So pretty good, but still lacking two important features for longer-than-blog writing: a variable width for the screen (on a large iMac the fixed width maximum is too narrow); and there is no typewriter mode.

About the outline... (3/5 stars)

by LeonDeLaG – Mar 26, 2019

The problem with the outline as it is now, is that it takes you out of the text you're writing. You cannot view the outline and also retain the cursos in your text. Sometimes you want to just look at the outline without having all your text disappear.

Developer Response - Jun 2, 2019.

Thanks for your clarification. This has been fixed in the most recent update. Please tell me how it works for you.

Buggy. (3/5 stars)

by 5ifty1 – Feb 24, 2019

No dark mode for OS below Mojave. Also, after the latest update, text is rendered white instead of black throughout. It’s like it thinks I am in dark mode, but I am not. This can be changed by clicking the “use monochromatic colors” in preferences, although when you go to type a new line, it types out in white again! White on white FTW! Please fix this as it’s unusable in High Sierra.

Developer Response - Mar 19, 2019.

This issue has now been fixed. Dark mode is native to Mojave and we are using the system settings and do not plan to implement a different dark mode for earlier macOS versions. Sorry this was not clear before, I have updated the listing to reflect this.

A great software(5/5 stars)

by Ironman23333 – Feb 22, 2019

Very useful and I start to enjoy writing because of it.

A Very Promising Application (5/5 stars)

by JohannesRexx – Feb 15, 2019

It's important to have an export feature so I made the in-app purchase to free it. The PDF and DOCX export features work as advertised.

This is a real Mac app. Dark mode is there. You can browse all versions of your document. Quit the app anytime and all your work is saved automatically.

The citations/reference feature is a real bonus when you do academic writing. You get a bibliography section automatically in the exported file.

This is a WYSIQYG word processor and you can add character styles easily. You do have to add a blank line between paragraphs to improve readability of your text. A live word counter is ever-present on the lower left side of the window.

Reading mode is sweet. Press SPACE to go down one page. Select text and press SPACE to have the computer read your text aloud.

Best of all is its speed. Liquid | Author scrolls through my 65,000-word NaNoWriMo draft manuscript crazy fast. And the find feature is also quick.

Navigation is also sweet. Use the sections menu to quickly go to any heading. Or use Menu → View → Collapse to display just your document headings, then click a heading to go there.

I've not found any bugs. The app works as advertised. It has never crashed. The only downside is that the app isn't meant for El Capitan. But that's the weight of the world. Lots of vendors want their apps to run as best as possible and that means dropping support for versions of the macOS that Apple has deemed "vintage."

The developer is very responsive to email and has responded to quite a few suggestions on how to make Liquid | Author even better. I see a bright future for Liquid | Author. Indeed in the last update a new feature was added!

customer support non-existent (3/5 stars)

by vqyf – Feb 15, 2019

paid for the pro for the good work, shoot an email to address my concern

patiently waited for 3 days and no response.

Guess i shouldn't pay for it in the first place....

Developer Response - Feb 22, 2019
(all reviews have a response but only this bad one is useful to post here)

I am so sorry. I usually reply immediately but for some reason I must have missed your email. Please email me at frode@liquid.info and I'll reply straight away. I can not find any un-answered emails in my inbox or SPAM.

Liquid is Great (5/5 stars)

by dokutaar – Feb 4, 2019

I think this is exactly what I have been looking for all these years

Sweet word processor (5/5 stars)

by OmahaOtter – Jan 22, 2019

Who needs another word processor. But this one has some nice features that save some time. For example, if you want to see al the places in your document you discuss a certain thing , you can highlight some text, and hit command f to see each sentence that has that text in your document. You can also quickly see the outline of your document from the headings you have used by squeeze-pinching the track pad. So it has some litle shortcuts that save time. It has more advanced features too, like built-in fucntion to insert book reference from a search window where you can search by title/author of the book. For my work, the content has to eventually end up in Word to share with collegues or format for publication. Copy-paste is free, but there is also an upgrade to this app to save in Word format (and several other formats). I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like it can easily save to a WordPress blog. So bottom line, this has some really cool features, but doesn’t yet replace Word for my work documents.

Perfekt! (5/5 stars)

by Semdieu – Jan 21, 2019

Gesucht habe ich nach einer Alternative zu Pages, weil ich gern Abends und Nachts schreibe, Pages aber, genauso wenig wie Word, keinen echten Dark Mode für das tatsächliche Textfeld hat. Bei der Suche bin ich auf Liquid | Author gestoßen und hab die App eine Woche lang getestet, bevor ich begeistert auf die Pro Version upgegradet hab, ohne dass ich etwas hätte exportieren müssen. Der Workflow, das unaufdringliche, reduzierte User Interface, der konsequente Dark Mode und der Fakt, dass ich seit Jahren schon nicht mehr mit so viel Freude und Elan geschrieben habe, ließen nichts anderes zu, als diesem Texteditor mit voller Zufriedenheit das Geld zukommen zu lassen, das zweifelsohne verdient ist. Und ich kann die iTunes und AppStore Reviews die ich in den letzten 12 Jahren als Mac User geschrieben habe an einer Hand abzählen; wenn nicht sogar an einer Hand aus dem Sägewerk.

Incredible (5/5 stars)

by meeelsss – Jan 21, 2019

This is an amazing app and it’s not so hard to use it. When you first open it it explains you the uses of it and what can you and how to do it (which nowadays is VERY important, because things keep getting more complicated). Overall is a pretty good-looking and an easy app to help you write things with many uses. I like it and I will recommend to anyone who needs to write on computer!

It's a good start (3/5 stars)

by LeonDeLaG – Jan 18, 2019

There are some features that I think should be there that are not, such as: line-spacing, tabbing the first line of a paragraph, having a quicker look at the outline.

These are features that are present in other free editors (FocusWriter) and I think sould be included.

赞一个 (5/5 stars)

by 小胖胖0118 – Jan 10, 2019

简洁优雅，暗黑模式写作沉浸感很强！

James T (5/5 stars)

by JamesLambda – Jan 9, 2019

Great minimalist distraction free writing environment. Collapsing document on pinch a great feature.

Excellent and innovative (5/5 stars)

by JWPhillips91 – Jan 7, 2019

I would not have thought you could innovate in word processing, but this has done it. Excellent tool.

At last! (5/5 stars)

by notimeflat – Jan 5, 2019

A simple text editor that does exactly what you want, and no more. Upgrade to pro is inexpensive, and the export features work well.

Seriously, the best writing app I've come across (5/5 stars)

by haniahs – Jan 1, 2019

I also stumbled upon this app by accident - and it is by far, the most effective, simple but efficient app I have used. I am a student researcher and someone who enjoys creative writing, and whether it is for a research paper, a literature review, a blog, or anything I need to communicate to someone somehow, this app allows me to do so without a problem - there is nothing on my screen besides the words I write and this increases my productivity and the quality of the content. The app developer is excellent with communications as well, and once you learn how to use the features effectively (which is quite easy to use) - you will not want to write using any other app again.

Quick and Superfast Publishing (5/5 stars)

by Exist2011 – Nov 26, 2018

I find Author really one of the fastest ways to publish to my wordpress sites.

The best feature is linking and adding citiations is super fast. This is a minimalist app for quickly writing and publishing for me.

Also check out the liquid flow app by the same publishers. Will make your life much easier.

Superb minimalist writing environment plus (5/5 stars)

by hoakleyUK – Nov 16, 2018

Beautifully designed, its edit mode is extremely comfortable for long work sessions in Light or Dark Mode. Uncluttered, it still has plenty of powerful features.

Notable among these are its extensive facilities for citations, which can be used for captioning images as well. These are delivered with simplicity, not a mass of complex controls and tools. Export now supports most formats such as Word .docx, Rich Text (RTFD), and PDF. The latest addition is to export direct to WordPress blog, which is excellent - alone this makes Liquid | Author one of the best tools for anyone writing a blog. With one source exporting reliably to all these different formats and media, Liquid | Author should be high on the list of anyone who crafts words, whether writing their thesis, running a blog, or making their living. Superb value (with the in-app purchase) and strongly recommended.

WOW! (4/5 stars)

by designcologne – Nov 16, 2018

What a great little app!

But could you make it highlight found hits in find mode? Please, that would be very helpful.

Excellent app with fantastic citation abilties (5/5 stars)

by CharlesSG – Oct 22, 2018

Very lightweight text editor that has the lightness of markdown without all the markdown code that comes with it, and with the added powers of citation and unique gestures.

Loving the new pinch-to-change view between outline and essay and really looking forward to future updates that should include "mindmapping" abilities!

absolutely top notch (5/5 stars)

by mjscox – Aug 10, 2018

This app, which I just discovered by accident, is fantastic. It does more with less, meaning I can write, and cite if I need to, without using bloatware (you know who I mean). And the author of this application is really good with documentation. I am looking forward to working with it, and I hope that it continues to be a well-thought-through application that doesn’t pander to every ridiculous request but stays slim and efficient. Highly recommended for serious writers and students (who are also serious)!

I am impressed with its ease of use and overview (5/5 stars)

by mcfyn – Mar 2, 2018

Found this app whilst looking for something to use for my Masters dissertation. The best feature is the collapsable outline feature. It gives a great overview.

A nice feature to have would be some way of importing Bibtex files for the citations, as I will be formatting my finished dissertation using LaTex. I am also eagerly anticipating the arrival of the IOS version for iPad. I can definitely recommend Liquid Author!

Clean, distraction-free, and easy on the eyes (5/5 stars)

by Crimson Hikari – Feb 4, 2018

I got this to try out, and ended up buying the export upgrade a few minutes later because I liked using it that much. It’s a clean little app, perfect for distraction-free writing.

Pros:

-The background colour by default is a warm tone, so less eye strain when writing at night.

-While it doesn’t quite have the theme or formatting features just yet, it’s easy to apply different headings and change text size.

-The ability to add in link references easily, and to isn’t something I’ve taken advantage of just yet, but I can imagine this would be a valuable resource for any student trying to write a dissertation - it does a lot of the work for you, and for the things that it can’t automatically find a reference for, it allows you to input manually with ease.

-It’s inexpensive - I spent more on one of the drinks I had last night than I did on this.

Cons:

-Not a lot of formatting options, but according to the creator, a few more options will be coming in future updates. If they could add in Courier, Courier New, or American Typewriter fonts/typefaces, and 1.5 or double line spacing for ease of reading and review, that would be fantastic!

-Colour themes for those not a fan of the warm background would be a great plus (I’ve been waiting for this in pages for YEARS, and nothing. Apple needs to step up), but again, this is something that is coming in a future update.

Overall, if you’re looking for a good app to draft your dissertation, or a place to get out all your story ideas without messing around too much with making it ultra-pretty, it’s a great utility for doing so, and worth the money. I wish I’d had this app while I was studying because it would have made my assignments so much easier.

Something very different (5/5 stars)

by Talker3683 – Jan 28, 2018

Its a wonderful app and I am so excited to see how it develops. Very excited for a app that melds linear writing process to horizontal / flexible strcturing processes. This is an app for writers!

Truly powerful new approach to text (5/5 stars)

by easternsierra – Jan 16, 2018

Author is a truly new concept in writing. Following the lead of pioneers like Doug Engelbart and Ted Nelson (if you don’t know who these people are, you need to do some research!) this is a powerful tool that requires some learning. Do watch the videos to understand the concepts that are implemented in Author. You will soon learn to leverage these features and concepts and will wonder how you lived without them!

Designing a tool like Author is a delicate balance—how to implement the features with a holistic and clean approach such that the software doesn’t get in your way. Compare with large and complex systems like Word and you will find Author a breath of fresh air!

I’ve been working in software and user experience for over 40 years and an application like this does not come along often. I also don’t write many reviews—most software isn’t worth reviewing. Try it, spend some time, and you will be rewarded :-)

A great, uncluttered, word processor (5/5 stars)

by UKPHS – Jan 11, 2018

I have been using Author for the past few month to write project procedures and manuals.

When I write, my mind tends to suddenly jump to something I have forgotton or want to expand. I have found Author is great for this. In no time I move around section of my document not having to worry about messing up formatting etc.

Whilst the finished document needs to be in Word, the contents are written in Author.

Looking forward to its future.

This 'free' ware wasted my time ... (5/5 stars)

by Hyper1ink – Dec 24, 2017

... because it can't even open/save .rtfd files. To do so, it wants 6,99€ ... xD So i gave five stars! :p

The future of text is Author (5/5 stars)

by FrankM2012 – Dec 22, 2017

Author is such a smart, clever tool. It makes the creation of a document so intuitive and dynamic. If you write a lot of text, and especially if you write academic documents and research papers, you HAVE to try this out.

The job of any new tool these days, is to make your life easier and more productive. Author is such a tool. It really is.

很喜欢很喜欢 (5/5 stars)

by WowIvory – Dec 16, 2017

很喜欢很喜欢尤其是全屏和退出全屏是同一个按键

The importance of the written word (5/5 stars)

by Father Luke Miljevich – Dec 12, 2017

I write. I write critical papers, essays, poems, short stories, and on occasion I have been known to jot down a grocery list and send my mother a birthday card. The written word is so common that what you are reading is actually an example.

Amalgamating current software technologies and tools, Liquid|Author brings to the user a complex system designed to enhance the simplicity of the common written word, whether writing an Academic Thesis, or writing to your mother asking her for money.

The beauty and usefulness of this deceptively simple software is in the flow. I’ve never experienced anything like this. And, by golly, the price seems a joke; I’ve bought other written software which kept me searching for something else which felt whole and complete.

I don’t know you, and I think you’ll enjoy, as have I, Liquid|Author. And I recommend it as I would encourage you to enjoy Van Gough’s Starry Night. Liquid|Author is a work of art

Great, ‘clean’ writing tool (5/5 stars)

by Prezzlewick – Nov 22, 2017

Liquid works great for writers that need a clean, distraction-free environment in which to shape their thoughts and ideas. There’s a powerful set of tools hidden away in here, and it’s really useful for academics particularly with powerful citation options. The tagging system for assigning sections is one of those ‘why hasn’t this been done before’ features. Very recommended!

Writer (5/5 stars)

by Politiscopes – Nov 13, 2017

I am an avid writer of both creative and critical works and this app makes my life easier. The ability to collapse paragraphs to get an overview of the project is invaluable. It’s also visually clean and has a great interface. Love it.

The modern day word processor- much more efficient (5/5 stars)

by Lucy Unapologetic – Edited Nov 11, 2017

Author provides clean and effective way of writing in an organised manner whereby you won’t get lost in your ideas but instead be able to manage them in a more structured way. The ability to make and keep track of references is now ever so simple and the reference too really aids with the thought process when writing an essay or any sort of documentation. I strongly reccommend this programme to anyone to who wants t... more

Light, easy and attractive. (5/5 stars)

by AdnanSiddiqui68 – Nov 10, 2017

I have been looking for a word processer just like this one. MS Word is too heavy and drab for everyday tasks.

Author (5/5 stars)

by Bo Shavique – Oct 20, 2017

I’ve found this to be an exceptionally useful tool for my writing, it's simple, elegant and it has a brilliant citation support feature. For the price of an overpriced coffee, you can't go wrong.

Unique, delightful ‘words processor' (5/5 stars)

by thatkeith – Sep 23, 2017

There are many word processors, but this is the only ‘WORDS processor.’ Liquid Author is designed specifically and carefully to help craft your thoughts as well-structured writing – and nothing more. It presents a clean writing space with simple keyboard shortcuts for adding header (section) tagging, simple styling and lists, web links... and that magic ingredient for any academic writer: citations! Want an overview of your document? Pinch in to collapse down to just the headlines (aka ‘Contents' view), pinch out to jump back. The Escape key jumps in AND out of full-screen mode for distraction-free writing, and there’s a discreet live word count at the bottom. It uses its own .liquid file format, but internally it’s based on RTF; standards-based and extractable.

If you’re a writer, this is designed for you. It does just the core things writers need, and it does them very well.

Like the concept, but buggy (3/5 stars)

by Vermonter17032 – Sep 15, 2017

I looked at the videos on the developers web site and thought this app was worth a try, but unfortunately it appears to be buggy. Right off the bat I’ve been unable to set a heading. I follow the directions and nothing happens! Also, the back ground color is supposed to change between Edit and Read modes, but it just stays the same. I’ve found these two issues in just a couple of minutes. Hopefully the developer will fix these issues (and any others lurking within). If so, I think this app has a lot of promise.

Update: Indeed, the issue with the heading setting was fixed with the new update. Still trying the app out, so I’m only giving it three stars for now. I’ll be back to update again after more use.