ghostWriter Markdown

ghostWriter Markdown is an accessibility-first, plain-text writing app for notes, articles, documentation, and full manuscripts. Write individual documents, organize chapters, and compile your work into a finished export.

VoiceOver was at the center of the design from the first line of code. Created by a blind developer, ghostWriter gives screen reader users and anyone who loves plain text a clean, native place to write.

So what's Markdown?

Markdown adds structure using ordinary punctuation. A number sign makes a heading. A dash makes a list item. Your document stays readable as plain text, and you can render it to see the finished formatting.

You don't have to know Markdown to start. Insert Actions adds common elements, the Markdown Reference provides examples, and the included ghostWriter Help Manual explains writing, organizing, and exporting your work.

Writing Made Easy:

• A native editor that keeps Markdown punctuation visible and you in control of the source
• Insert links, images, headings, quotes, code, lists, tasks, tables, and rules
• Automatic continuation for bullets, numbered lists, and tasks
• Indent and outdent with tabs or spaces
• Native Find and Replace, dictation, braille input, and text selection
• A configurable Status Bar with line and column position, word, sentence, and character counts, heading level, and selection counts
• Automatic saving, plus collision detection if the same document is open on separate devices
• Start in the Library, a new document, or your last document

Useful Navigation:

• Use Outline to jump to document headings
• Move through headings with a three-finger horizontal VoiceOver swipe while editing
• Jump to Line in long documents
• Search document names and contents
• Return to your remembered editing position in each file

Keep Files Organized:

• Create, rename, and move nested folders
• Pin documents you keep coming back to
• Sort by name, created, modified, or last opened, or arrange files and folders manually
• Restore removed files from Recently Deleted
• Import Markdown, plain text, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations into Markdown

Build Your Manuscript:

• Compile documents from nested folders into a single export
• Choose which files to include and arrange chapters for each compilation
• Keep research and notes nearby while excluding them from compilations
• Track word, sentence, and character totals for individual files or whole folders
• Control heading structure when combining documents

Render and Share:

• Render Markdown as structured HTML with semantic headings, lists, tables, and links
• Export individual documents or compilations as Markdown, plain text, HTML, EPUB, PDF, Word, PowerPoint, eBraille, or BRF
• Customize Word exports with your own JSON stylesheets, optional title and subtitle styles, and a supplied Large Print stylesheet

Your Files, Your Devices:

• Ordinary Markdown files, visible in the Files app
• On-device storage or iCloud Drive syncing across iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• Open and edit your files in other apps that read text
• No proprietary format and no dependence on ghostWriter to keep your work

Accessibility:

Developed toward WCAG 2.2 Level AA and tested with VoiceOver as a primary interaction method.

• Native controls with familiar roles and behaviors
• Dynamic Type, including accessibility text sizes
• System, monospaced, rounded, and serif editor typefaces
• Light, dark, and system appearance
• Voice Control, Switch Control, and hardware keyboard support
• Optional keyboard shortcuts for common actions
• Reduced-motion support

Privacy:

No accounts. No sign-in. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. No data collection. No AI tools.

There is no server behind this app. Your documents stay on your device or in your own iCloud, and they never travel anywhere you don't send them.

Made by a blind developer who got tired of tools that treated screen reader support as an afterthought.