Freewriter App Reviews
less is more
less is more - and this is a simple app made by a (simple?) person which is, if you are familiar with eastern philosophy, amazing LOVE
More frustrating than it is helpful
The idea behind it is SOLID, but the execution is poor. I've lost too much good material becuase of the app. It forces you to manually save your writings, or lose them forever. This in iteself is a huge distraction. I would recommend a full revision to the software.
Freewritr: a frustration!
I like the concept of Freewritr, but I'm not understanding completely how it works. I haven't discovered how to save a text. Once I put only the pieces of the texts I wanted to change on the right hand side and then, thought that those parts would be put into the text on the left hand side. So I hit save and all that was saved was the pieces of texts that I selected to work on the right hand side. If I can't see the whole writing how can I possibly change anything in its context. I can't work on the whole text I wrote. And as far as I can see, the app has no support or help page and when I go on the website, all I get is a rather sparse website with no contact details. So far this program has been a frustration for me and yet, I like the concept of writing as a game. It's too bad that one can't really use this for any serious writing at all. Your texts just vanish into thin air.
Perfectionist? Give it a try.
Like many of you, sometimes I'm poked fun by the perfectionist syndrome. We can visualize how we'd like to present our thoughts. However, immediately the words scatter somewhere in the shadows of our mind like the game hide and seek. The key features I'd like to point out that has helped me is the cool timer feature, typing on one line, and the nifty focus measurement. I pretend I'm the seeker in the game, searching for the words in a set amount of time. As someone suggested 3y ago, I'd like to see a feature that allows us to disable backspacing.
Didn't save files
I have the same complaint as someone else on here. I saved my first writing piece and then when I went to open it again, it just started a new blank slate and had the clock ticking down. :(
Wouldn’t reopen documents
I liked the idea of the app like a lot of other people here, but when I tried to open up documents I had saved from the app, they appeared blank and had erased all of my content.
I like it; can be improved
I like this app, though I have a couple of suggestions for making it better. What I like: The falling text encourages you to keep writing. If the words hit the bottom of the screen, nothing dire happens (like the words disappearing completely). The fullscreen mode blocks out other distractions. It tells you at the end (in a percentage) what your focus was. What would make it better: Ability to adjust the timer—it doesn’t do any more or less than 5 minutes at a time. Sometimes, I like to free write for 10 or even 20 minutes at a time. You can hit “continue writing” once the time is up, but it interrupts the flow of the free write. Also, I’d prefer if no backspaces were allowed. I don’t often backspace while free writing, but occasionally automatic instinct kicks in, and I backspace. You can train yourself to not backspace, but for those who are working towards it, no backspacing would make it even better.
Great idea, weak execution.
Freewriter in a nutshell: it’s a game where you try to keep your line of words from sinking to the bottom of a screen by not editing. Did you miss-hit some keys? Keep typing. Did the last thing you wrote sound dumb to you? Keep typing. This is good and bad. It’s the kind of writing you can decide to do with a pen and paper in a cafe somewhere, but here you’re doing it at your computer. With your computer, you get a text file so you don’t have to transcribe from handwriting later. You can edit out the bad stuff and neaten up the niceties, and your writer’s journey continues, huzzah! That’s the good part. The bad part is that it’s a one-trick-pony of a program with the completion and nuance of a highschool programming project. Freewriter has next to no controls, nearly no parameters or preferences to set. Want to scream along for one minute? Too bad. Want to grit your teeth and play it for ten uninterrupted minutes? Tough luck, buddy. You signed up for a one-size-fits all minds solution, and that means limits and sometimes the limits are galling. I understand the use of the thing, and I think I will continue to use it, but I’d be a lot happier if it were a little better. It would be a fine thing if it offered you a little more freedom. This review was written using only freewriter.
Tool for MBA student
As an MBA student I have a different subjects, topics, deadlines and homework on my mind at all times. This App affords focus and urgency - for just five minutes at a time. The imposed discipline is fantastic. I use Freewriter to get inside my head and into my subconscious, to create a stream of thought outline for papers, and to think ‘out loud’. Just a great App.
Very awesome!
This app is awesome and really well made! Easy 5 stars and something that I would pay for. My only wish was that it had a destructive consequence mode like Flowstate has. It does an amazing job of motiviating you to continue typing at a fast speed by seeing your words staying afloat, but some negative reinforcement (loosing your work) would also be a nice option. Thanks for making it!
Helps unclutter the mind
This app is fantastic. It really helps to get your brain flowing and unclog it, so to speak. I’m not really a writer, but this helps me to get clearer thoughts throughout the day. The only issue with this app is that I’m a pretty fast typer, and so I run out of room in the app with about 1 minute left. I can type, and it will show up once the timer runs out, but it won’t show on the screen.
Great app, very fun
I encourage free writing for everyone. No, not everything you write in a free write, especially one using an app like this, will create great art that you can be proud of. In fact, depending on how comfortable you ae with yourself in a loose stream-of-consciousness context, it may well be that a tiny sliver or none of what your write will pass muster with your inner editor. But it is a great way to warm up the brain and get the kinks and the gunk out. It’s perfect warm up for getting into the writing mood. It’s even welcome break from writing more formal writing that has you pulling your hair out. Stop writing that report and jump into five minutes of this then go back to the report. I’m not too sure how the focus score works. The first time I tried the app I received a 50% Focus score despite the fact that I was typing feversihly the whole time in complete sentences. Or maybe that was it? Myabe I shouldn’t have been constantly deleting and retyping when I mistyped a word or forgot a comma? Maybe I should have just gone with the flow? Well, whatever it is, I enjoyed it. I use plenty of writing apps and the old standby word processors - from MS Word (great all around for work related writing in common format, useful when printing as WYSIWYG) and MS One Note (ideal for note taking throughout the work day) to Day One Journal (name says it all), Rough Draft (again exactly what it says on the tin - I love that app because it keeps your old ideas in place in case you ever change your mind about your wording), and even Scrivener (best novel, short story writing app out there). They all do different things and you can integrate them well depending on your needs. Freewriter is a great tool to add to the arsenal. Maybe someday it may turn up a nugget of gold (I imagine it would be great for free verse poetry). I might add it’s also a great app for writing “Morning Pages” for those of you struggling with that part of Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way.
Helpful, free. Thank you.
This app is entirely free. It helps facilitate the process of free writing. Nuff said.