Review: Write 2 HD for iOS keeps your notes secure

The $3 Write 2 HD note-taking app for iPhone and iPad is a solid offering: it gives users basic note taking and text-creation options, but it offers better-than-average security and multi-device use.

To start, the app prompts you to create a file (which is essentially a blank document) or a new folder to hold multiple files. Once you’ve started a document, you’re presented with a simple blank page. Well, perhaps the page is not so simple; it looks like a crinkly white sheet of paper that’s been run through a typewriter a couple of times without being written upon. Users can choose from a dozen or so different themes if this default isn’t to their liking.

The on-screen keyboard is similar to the one you usually see on your iPad, but with an extra row for numbers. A keyboard icon at the end of that row offers quick access to other commands. (This function is available only on the iPad; the iPhone version of the app offers only the basic iOS onscreen keyboard.)

If you turn on the app’s autosync feature, you can use Write 2 HD on multiple devices. This requires linking your Dropbox account to the app; once you’ve done that, you can start a document on your iPhone and continue writing on your iPad, or vice versa. It’s a handy feature for users who might want to take notes while in transit, and then flesh their thoughts out later on a device better suited to long-form writing.

While writing, you can turn on the app’s autotext and text expander features to help churn out copy at high speeds; once complete, you have the option to send the document via email or save to Dropbox as a text file, print it, or save it as a PDF. This is mostly pretty standard stuff that you’ll find on many composition apps, however.

Where Write 2 HD sets itself apart is in two features. One is security: Users can activate PIN-encoded security, making sure no one else can see their notes and documents without permission.

The other feature is the ability to use Write 2 HD in conjunction with another app from Daniel V.W., WriteMate. That app lets you use one iOS device as the external keyboard for another. That means you could use your iPhone to compose notes and essays directly on your iPad screen. It’s one way to avoid carrying a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard and keep your backpack a little lighter.

There are many good note-taking and composition apps in the App Store. It’s difficult for a new app to distinguish itself from the competition, and for the most part Write 2 HD doesn’t really meet that test. It’s solid and functional, and there’s nothing at all wrong with it. But app buyers might be able to duplicate many of this app’s features—and even add a couple—for a lower price.