Final Draft Mobile App Reviews

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It aint worth it.

It is advertisized you can edit the same file in ipad, but all margin and paragraphs settings are lost and there is no control in any option. Also, there is not an option to turn off the smart-type suggestions. I understood the risk when i bought. For me it is just not worth it. Lost money but that´s life...

Excellent but...

Great app, but missing iCloud sync! Dropbox just needs too much attention. 5* when iCloud included.

too slow

Browsing in the script takes ages. Disturbs my workflow pretty much. Please fix it!

No index cards, no automatic syncing

It is very nice to see this app finally released on the App Store after years of delays. For $30 (soon to be $50) it doesnt offer much you cant already get from other screenwriting apps. The Storyist app offers a one click sync with Dropbox and Final Draft index cards. Index cards, an easier sync method and a scene view should be available in this expensive app. Better sync should be at the top of their list. They could solve this with one button as Storyist does. You hit sync, and it looks to see if there is a more recent version in the Dropbox folder for it. In Final Draft Writer, one has to navigate to their Dropbox app, open a .fdx file in Final Draft Writer, delete the old version, then copy it to Final Draft just to round trip it with their desktop version of Final Draft. This is clumsy and a waste of time. Production features and revisions are nice to have, but what is the point if you cant reliably and conveniently round trip a script? And what is the point if you cant even use the powerful outlining tools in the desktop version such as colour coded index cards and scene view? Hopefully an update will address these shortcomings soon and make this app worthwhile and worth the wait.

At last but...

At last, Final Draft Writer is here! Yeah! Congrats FD. However, I wish they had more comprehensive explanations of all the features. If you dont have an internet connection and have been working for hrs on your script, I think it auto saves so no need to manually save... that was my main concern cause Im not interested in the dropbox feature quite yet, if ever, or emailing the script to myself. Just want it to save and then synch when I get home. Still have to discover the many features but just glad it has finally come out!

Strong Effort, Needs Work

I have been waiting for a while for this app, and in the mean time utilized other script writing iPad apps. The interface is attractive, with simple menus and a pretty decent design. Ive encountered a few instability problems when editing exported FDX files, crashing to springboard when attempting to edit scenes or scene names. The crashing has rendered the app unusuable for certain functions. And for $30, thats unacceptable. iPad2.

Its Final Draft on your iPad

Warts and all in the end this is still Final Draft on your iPad. What that means is, unlike other iPad screenwriting apps, you get perfect import and export of FDX files and perfect pagination and formatting.

App less than it appears.

So, in essence, the Final Draft Writer app only really works in creating brand new scripts on the iPad or as a companion software to the real Final Draft 8. Perhaps that information should be a lot clearer in its description within the App Store and, more specifically when I sought out more info (a little due diligence, perhaps) on their webpage, where I suppose I took "...Create new scripts or edit existing ones anytime, anywhere with core Final Draft features specifically designed for the iPad. Like Final Draft desktop, the Final Draft Writer app contains easy-to-use features such as Tab and Enter navigation, ScriptNotes™, SmartType™, and many more…." to mean such obvious abilities as to be able to Import .txt files as being part of the core and many more features available. If you are hoping to migrate folks away from the competition - such as the instructions in the real FD to move from Celtx using .txt - they need to do better with the app than simply suggest a $200 upgrade to the real thing - as their Support response did. As good as the is app may be when creating new scripts - and saving to FD 8 file type - the app has been a $30 waste of money for me. Back to my $8 Celtx, Im afraid.

A great app for the mobile Final Draft Screenwriter

This is almost as perfect as the computer version. My only personal hang-up is I have to tap the screen when I want to switch to dialogue, action, scene description, etc...I would love it if they had a "quick key" version like the computer version does. Also there is no Dual Dialogue feature yet. BUT those are the only two things missing. As far as needing to make my writing a bit more mobile so I dose up on coffee at Starbucks, the Final Draft Writer is fantastic! Its almost everything I dreamed of. And the two things missing arent enough fro me not to buy it or use it every day which I do.

Geat

Exactly what I expected from Final Draft. A near flawless transition from desktop to mobile device. Everything is just as smooth letting me just write and let the program worry about the finer details

Great app

The app is great. Working on iPhone & iPad is not so great.

director-writer guy

Used FD Writer for a script I wrote while travelling through Europe. With iPad and a logitech wireless keyboard/hard case - it was seamless & a pleasure to write with. I found I love the touchscreen abilities & prefer using it over my Macbook pro. Only snag I really have grievance with is making a Title Page requires much trial & error to get the spacing right as it creates a 2nd blank ghost page. Huge value for the price!

Horrible ...

The big flaw here is the price, which is outrageous. Its over 20 times (!) the average price of an AppStore app, and double (!) the price of even the most professional apps from Apple. Its also buggy, jumpy and rather slow. I tried to start a document by pasting some text in from a text file and even after saving in final draft format, it then refused to open the file ever again. Moving around in files is jerky and slow. If you have any screenplays already, YOU WILL HAVE TO RETYPE THEM IN BY HAND! Outrageous. Its basically a port of the original Final Draft desktop software to the iPad but given what it is, and given the other apps in the store, its really the kind of thing that should cost about $10.00, but instead you will pay $40.00. The worst thing of all is that it doesnt seem to integrate into iOS very well in that it doesnt use the system dictionary for spell check and a few other details. It doesnt however give you access to whatever dictionary it is using so if, like me, you write in English, every second word will be highlighted as "incorrect" even though Im writing on an iPad localised to Canada and using the built in UK dictionary. This is just lazy and INSULTING to the end user. Lastly, like many apps, it wont sync your documents unless you use the unsafe, insecure American "DropBox" service instead of iCloud so NONE OF YOUR DOCUMENTS ARE SAVED! Horrible, snotty, American only app. I guess an aspiring screenwriter could take this as their first lesson about Hollywood. You *will* be ripped off! :-)

Good but.....

Keeps crashing. Driving me crazy. Smooth app. Was going great but like I said, it keeps crazing and I cant continue on the script Im working on using this app

Good but Crashes a lot

Its a good app. Probably the best for writing on the iPad. But its pretty glitchy and crashes a lot. Very surprised we havent seen an update yet.

Very Happy

Very impressed with this app. I initially struggled with this purchase based on some less than stellar reviews but I am extremely happy with the result. No crashes and everything is working perfectly. I urge all screenwriters to get Final Draft Writer.

BEWARE - Save your hard-earned $$

You might think it would be a great convenience to be able to work on your script on your iPad, but this program winds up creating more work for you. After importing a script and then working on it in this app, then transferring it back to your desktop Final Draft, you will notice that about 90% of the italics in your original script have been converted to plain text. You cannot work in any font except Courier, which isnt a problem for film scripts but is if you are writing a stage play. If you insert text, the keyboard is set to automatically capitalize the first letter, whether you are inserting in the middle of a sentence or starting a new one. It doesnt support dual dialog. You cannot magnify the image, which would help with positioning the cursor, which is another bug. You think you have your cursor in place and start to type, but find that the cursor has jumped to a different place after you lifted your finger. This app caused me several hours of additional work, fixing the stripped italics alone. I wish I had my money back.

Crashes all of the time.

over the course of an hour the app has crashed three times. I have been losing half to a full page of work each time. The app is great, just not stable. Please update!

could be better

This is a veeery stripped down version of the Finaldraft... not impressed considering how much the team at Finaldraft is charging for this app. There are other screenwriting apps that are far better and for allot less.

Good, but...

Awesome in theory. Works simply. Good on the road. BUT, keeps crashing. Will be in middle of working and BAM, the app just closes on itself without saving my work. Annoying to say the least. Its become so bad that I cant go through one session of an hour writting without it crashing at least 2 or 3 times.

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