Writing requires focus and for some writers, focus is the biggest obstacle to getting things done. There are tons of distractions in a writer’s daily life that can cost them their productivity. Fortunately, there are a lot of distraction-free apps that writers can fully utilize to help them get rid of visual clutter that challenges their focus. Aside from these distraction-free apps for writers, there are also helpful software that detects common mistakes for better writing.
The Best Distraction-Free Apps for Writers 2022
With demands climbing and deadlines getting shorter, there should be no space and time left for distractions. Unfortunately, there are writers that struggle with interruptions. Be it outside noises, family members popping in and out of the room, pets asking for attention, and visual clutter.
And while the others are incidents you can’t completely avoid, visual clutter, on the other hand, is manageable if you know the right distraction-free apps to use.
Below, we’ve rounded up the best distraction-free apps for writers to use to improve their focus and boost their productivity.
Ulysses
For Mac and iOS users, one of the most powerful writing apps that allows you to freely write to your heart’s content is Ulysses. It is a Markdown-based text editor, which means your fingers won’t have to leave the keyboard ever! All the formatting will be done by placing hashtags before your text.
It has an ideal interface with no usual toolbars that you’d find in word processors, only shows the line you are working on, and removes all distractions. Despite focusing on simplicity, Ulysses also allows you to create rich documents with images, links, footnotes, and blockquotes.
Storyist
It’s such a shame that Storyist is only available for Mac and iOS users when it is such an excellent app designed for screenwriters, novelists, and creative storytellers. It provides a distraction-free interface and makes creating your plot, characters, settings, and every story element easier.
Aside from creative writers, Storyist’s features are also helpful for marketers and journalists who need to create stories around their objectives.
It has a minimalist interface that helps you focus, and an outlining tool for your plot, objectives, quotes, and other important elements. This is important since this helps the writer track the core essentials of his story. In addition, it also has story development tools where you can place images to character names for visual presentation.
Hemingway
Hemingway is an excellent app that not only helps with focus but also aims to make you a better writer. It has an advantageous tool that highlights sentences and paragraphs that are too long and any common mistake with the use of adverbs and the passive voice.
Despite being powered by intelligent technology, Hemingway is still a great distraction-free writing tool. It is simpler than usual word processors like Microsoft Word and helps improve the readability of your writing by highlighting common errors.
The app is available for both Mac and Windows and you can use it for free online, however, the online app won’t allow you to save your work.
Typora
For a free option, we think Typora is an exceptional app. It is a markdown editor with a twist. You type your hashtags and asterisks and Typora shows you what it’s going to look like real-time. It has complete markdown editor features too where you can import images by typing file paths, create tables and diagrams, and construct mathematics all with your keyboard.
Typora’s interface is just a normal text editor, like Notepad++, until you start typing. It is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Calmly Writer
When you visit the Calmly Writer, you are automatically greeted with a blank white page where you can immediately start writing. Talk about distraction-free! There’s no need to navigate to any pages and once it loads, it is ready for your disposal.
It is too simple which is perfect if you want fewer distractions. The interface disappears the moment you start typing and only highlights the paragraph you are working on with everything else faded.
Calmly Writer is a markdown writing app but there’s an option to change your preferences.
Scrivener
Scrivener is one of the popular writing apps where it allows you to turn on distraction-free writing mode that helps you focus. Scrivener is widely used to organize and manage large writing projects. This makes it beneficial for novelists and authors.
When you turn on the distraction-free mode, it’ll hide the interface and buttons. However, it’s not as distraction-free from the other writing apps on the list as it is still possible to change formatting and styles. There’s also a typewriter mode that keeps the cursor in the middle of the screen.
It is available on Mac, Windows, and iOS.
