Apps and tools for a calm, enjoyable life

Calmly Writer

Free

Calmly Writer is a distraction-free writing tool that helps you focus on your text. It offers a minimalistic interface, night mode, and various customization options to enhance your writing experience.

Our take

Ideal for writers who crave simplicity.

So, I gave Calmly Writer a spin, and honestly, it's a pretty neat little tool if you're looking for a distraction-free writing experience. The whole interface is designed to keep things simple, which is a breath of fresh air in a world of cluttered writing apps. You open it up, and bam — you've got a blank page staring back at you. No flashy buttons, no unnecessary tabs. Just you and your words. It’s like the electronic equivalent of a plain piece of paper, which can be refreshing if you're easily sidetracked by all the bells and whistles of other apps.

That said, it’s not just a bare-bones text editor. There are some handy features tucked away if you need them. For instance, there's a focus mode that highlights the paragraph you're working on, which I found pretty useful for keeping my brain from wandering off. Also, it autosaves your work, so you won't have that heart-stopping moment of losing a masterpiece because you forgot to hit save. But here's where it gets a bit quirky: the formatting options are a bit hidden. If you're someone who likes to tweak the look of your text as you go, you might find yourself digging around a bit more than you'd like.

Now, let's talk about the downside. While the minimalist design is great for focusing, it can feel a bit too stripped down for those who need more robust features. If you're doing heavy-duty writing with lots of research, you might find yourself wishing for integrations or a more powerful search function. It's not trying to be all things to all people, which is both its strength and its weakness. You get a clean, straightforward space to write, but don't expect it to replace your full-fledged word processor if you're managing complex documents.

On the plus side, Calmly Writer is pretty easy on the eyes with its dark mode and other visual tweaks. The ability to adjust the background color and text size is something I didn't know I wanted until I tried it. These little touches make long writing sessions more comfortable, which is a big deal if you're cranking out a lot of words. It's like having a comfy chair for your eyeballs — not a bad deal if you ask me.

In a nutshell, if you need a straightforward space to get your thoughts down without interruption, Calmly Writer does the job admirably. It's not going to replace more feature-rich tools for everyone, especially if you need a lot of organization and collaboration options. But if your main goal is just to write and not fiddle with settings, it's definitely worth checking out. Just go in knowing what it is — and what it isn't — and you'll probably end up pretty satisfied with this no-nonsense writing app.

$299/month

Free with premium options

$9/month