Write to finish
Unwip is a quiet writing app for novelists. Your formatting stays put across your PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad, your files stay on your own devices, and the whole book leaves with you whenever you like.
No account and no AI. Your writing stays on your devices unless you choose to send it. Free while it’s in beta.
Why Unwip
There’s no Unwip account and no Unwip server, so there’s nothing of yours to leak, sell or train an AI on.
Italics, headings, scene breaks, footnotes, comments and fonts look the same wherever you open the book.
Your books are ordinary files in a folder you choose, not locked inside an account or a cloud.
Started · in progress · finished
The three dots in Unwip’s name are the life of a book. Each one fills as you go.
Open a Scrivener project, an Obsidian vault, Word files or a whole folder. Your original stays untouched.
A calm page, a binder, goals and sprints. Switch on the corkboard, outline and timeline when you want them.
A print-ready paperback, an e-book, a Word file for an agent, or the whole project back to Scrivener.
Write
Start with only the manuscript. Your chapters and scenes live in the binder, the page is just the page, and Unwip saves every few seconds and keeps backups.
Everywhere
The same book on every device. Keep your books in Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud Drive and Unwip keeps them in step (on iPhone, iPad and the browser, that’s Dropbox for now); if two devices change the same chapter, it keeps both versions and lets you choose.
Switching is easy
Import a Scrivener project and see how it will land before anything is made. Folders, synopses, labels, icons, pictures and footnotes come across, and what you left out of the compile stays out. Your Scrivener project isn’t changed, and you can send the book back to Scrivener any time.
| In Scrivener | In Unwip |
|---|---|
| Binder | The binder, on the left |
| Corkboard and Outliner | Detailed mode |
| Labels and Status | Status, from the right-click menu |
| Compile | Export to PDF, e-book or Word |
| Snapshots | Snapshots |
| Composition mode | Writer mode |
| Project targets | Goals and sprints |
Import a Word file, or a Google Doc downloaded as Word, and Unwip splits it into chapters at your headings, “Chapter” lines or page breaks. You see the chapters before anything is made, and can change how it splits. Several files become several chapters.
Paste from Word or Google Docs and your italics and bold stay, while the stray blank lines, odd fonts and spacing are tidied. Want the blank lines back? One button.
Copy for Docs puts a chapter on the clipboard ready to paste into Google Docs with its formatting. Or export Word files: the standard manuscript format for agents, a beta-reader copy, a file per chapter, or one file for Vellum and Atticus.
Import a folder of chapter files and pick your vault. Sub-folders become folders in the binder, in order, with chapter 2 before chapter 10. Obsidian’s own settings and drawings are left out.
Properties, hidden comments, embedded pictures and callout labels are tidied away; [[links]] become plain words, and HTML like <u> or <b> becomes real formatting.
Export the book as a folder of Markdown files that Obsidian, iA Writer and Bear read the same way, with footnotes and a Pictures folder.
Say what you wrote with before and Unwip sets itself up to feel familiar, then brings your book straight in. An example book is there to poke at: the opening of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, its diary entries and letters laid out as scenes, with characters and a timeline.
A quick walk round the binder, the page and the modes, then out of your way. Help is always one key away (F1).
Characters, places and notes beside your manuscript, plus templates for magic systems, factions and more when your world gets bigger.
Features
Everything here is built. Not all of it has been tested on every device yet, so see what’s been tested for where each part stands.
Swipe the table sideways to see every device →
| Feature | Windowsbeta | Macbeta | iPadbeta | iPhonebeta | Browserbeta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing and planning | |||||
| Binder with chapters and scenes | |||||
| Focused and Detailed modes, outline | outline only | ||||
| Corkboard, moodboard and timeline | – | ||||
| Split view | – | ||||
| A chapter in its own window | – | – | – | ||
| Goals and timed sprints | – | ||||
| Snapshots and automatic backups | |||||
| Revise: repetition, long sentences, grammar (no AI) | |||||
| Read aloud | |||||
| Fonts: your own, the device’s and imported | |||||
| Bringing books in | |||||
| Scrivener projects | from Dropbox | from Dropbox | |||
| Word, Google Docs, text and Markdown files | |||||
| A whole folder or Obsidian vault | files, not folders | files, not folders | |||
| Taking it out | |||||
| Print-ready PDF | – | ||||
| EPUB e-book and Word | – | ||||
| Back to Scrivener | as a .zip | as a .zip | as a .zip | ||
| A folder of Word or Markdown files | as a .zip | as a .zip | as a .zip | ||
| Copy for Docs | |||||
| Your files | |||||
| Dropbox sync between devices | |||||
| OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud Drive folders | OneDrive, Google Drive | iCloud, OneDrive, Google Drive | – | – | – |
| Works offline | once opened | ||||
| Updates itself | |||||
| Proof of writing | |||||
| Replay, report and timelapse | |||||
| Screen video | untested | iPad’s own recorder | iPhone’s own recorder | ||
yes yes, with a note – not on this device. iPad and iPhone run Unwip from Safari on the Home Screen; Browser means a computer’s web browser.
New · Proof of writing
Turn on Replay and Unwip notes every change as you write: what you typed, what you deleted, what you pasted. Play it back like a film, save a report anyone can open, or make a timelapse for your readers.
Only on your device: replays are kept with the book (and in your own cloud folder if the book is there), never uploaded anywhere. A long writing day is about 1 MB. There’s a screen-video option too, with a clear warning first, because videos get big.
Finish
Exporting is built in, and nothing in Unwip changes when you export. Pick how you want the book packed up.
Opens in Scrivener 3. Your manuscript becomes the Draft; characters, places and notes become folders. Text, footnotes, pictures, synopses, status, labels and icons come with it.
Paperback interiors with page numbers and chapter openers, and e-books for Kindle, Apple Books and Kobo.
The standard manuscript format for agents, a copy for a beta reader, one file per chapter in folders that match your binder, or one file for Vellum and Atticus.
For Obsidian, iA Writer, Bear and other plain-text apps. Footnotes come with it, and pictures go in a Pictures folder.
Everything exactly as it is, in one file, in case you come back.
Not carried over to Scrivener: comments, tracked changes (suggested deletions are left out, additions are kept), connections, the timeline, your calendar and mood boards. They stay safe in Unwip.
Unwip is in beta. This is where each part stands, so you know what to trust with your book.
A beta: keep your original Scrivener project until you’re happy, and save a backup now and then (on the main screen, a book’s ⋯ menu › Save a full backup file).
Yes, while it’s in beta. Pricing, if there is any, hasn’t been decided.
No. Nothing in Unwip writes, rewrites or suggests for you. Spelling and grammar checks follow fixed rules and run on your device.
Yes. Unwip has no account and no server of its own, so your writing never passes through Unwip. It stays on your devices, and in your own cloud (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud Drive) if you connect it. Nothing is used to train AI, and there’s no tracking. Nothing leaves your device unless you choose to send it, such as a problem report you email or a Proof of writing report you share.
On your device, or in your own cloud: Dropbox works everywhere, and on a PC or Mac you can also use OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud Drive. Unwip doesn’t ask you to sign up, and your writing isn’t uploaded to Unwip.
No. Importing makes a new Unwip book, and your Scrivener project stays where it is.
Unwip isn’t registered with Microsoft or Apple yet (that costs a yearly fee). On Windows choose More info, then Run anyway. On a Mac, open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Open Anyway. You only do it once.
An optional record of how your book was written: every change, with the time, kept with the book. You can play it back, share a report that shows what was typed and what was pasted, or make a timelapse video. It shows how the words reached the page; on its own it can’t prove who was typing.
In Unwip, click Report a problem at the bottom of the main screen. It adds the details that help (your version and device, never your writing) and shows you exactly what’s sent. Or post it in the Discord.