How many people actually use a phone to write?

[NightPorter]

I wish we had polls on this board.

I've noticed people saying that they write their stories on their phone. This is wild to me. I suck at using a smart phone to write but have a pretty good word count on a keyboard and I certainly can't live without a spell check on a word processor. Maybe it's a generational thing. I grew up in the 90's when we had computer labs and typing classes.

I'm also curious how many people use word vs an online word processor like google docs.

 

[Britva415]

I for one would never.

A “real computer” is my preferred tool for this. I don’t use a word processor, though - I use a text editor. It has all the “word processing” features I would need, and I don’t miss the formatting tools because on the off chance I need to bold or italicize something, I know how to put those HTML tags into my plain text file. No other formatting is ever necessary for me.

 

[iwatchus]

I use Pages, the Mac equivalent of Word. I know I am not the only Pages user on here. I am several decades older than you. I grew up strictly with typewriters. My first word processor was nroff, after I had been working for a few years. If you do not know it, it is nothing like Word.

My eyes would not like writing on a phone and and my fingers have never been dextrous enough to do that, even before my older years.

 

[NuclearFairy]

When I first started I wrote everything out by hand and then transcribed it into the phone for the browser spell check and so my SO could edit it on the phone. Which was much easier than editing it with pencil and paper.

I was very happy when my SO and roommate pooled together to get me a chromebook for my birthday though.

 

[alohadave]

I write on my phone using Google Docs.

Sometimes I write on my PC, also using Google Docs so everything syncs up. After the first draft, it goes to Word for revisions.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I will write on my phone using Notes, then email it to my computer and do editing and on a Word processor.

It let's me work on stories when I have some time to kill and am not around a computer.

 

[FrancesScott]

I write on my phone using Google Docs.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Ideally I'd have lots of uninterrupted time at a PC with keyboard, and be able to sit at it and all.

But since early 2020 I've typed more and more on my phone, so now I'm as fast with a thumb or two plus predictive text as I am with a keyboard. I still prefer editing with a full size screen, but I've got to the point where I often do that on my phone too. It's also much easier to submit stories to Lit on the PC, but again, I've done it on my phone.

The main side effect is thinking 10-12 words is a line and 7 lines is a long paragraph.

I use Writerpad as the docs are neater, then Google Docs just for sharing and editing - it has spellcheck.

I learnt to type in the early 80s, was a whiz by the 90s, then had a period of not being able to, so had to adapt. I was rapidly better using a pen to tap keys than at dictation!

 

[ronde]

I'm dating myself here, but I write on a desktop running Windows 7 and I use Word 97. I like the click of each key because I touch type and that click tells me I hit the key. I've used a laptop, but I really like that clicking keyboard. My eyes really like the big screen monitor too.

I probably use about 10% of Word's capability, but it works for me. I do use the spell checker, but usually ignore most of the grammar suggestions.

I've also used Libre Office's word processor. It's enough like Word that I can navigate it without a problem.

 

[OddLove]

I get good ideas on the toilet, so I have a note app for my phone for when that happens. But aside from ideas, all my writing is done on a computer.

 

[Wonderer67]

I almost always start my stories and my poems on my phone, using voice to text.

Even dialogue in a story.

Then I copy/paste and email to myself and edit a few times in word.

I write almost all of my poetry on my phone.

 

[ThatNewGuy]

I almost always write on a PC. For Lit projects, I write in a password-protected Word doc stored locally. For non-Lit projects, I write in a Google Doc.

For those who've said they write on a phone, like @alohadave, @Kelliezgirl, and @FrancesScott, what do you prefer: tippy-tap typing, swipe typing, or speech-to-text dictation?

On the rare occasions I write on my phone, it's usually dictation in order to get an idea down quickly or capture a conversation between characters that I've been playing out in my head.

I want the ideas in my brain to flow to the page with as little friction as possible. I'm a fast typist, so a computer keyboard is the ideal medium for me. If I were just as fast using phone, then I'd probably have no problem doing so. But for me, the frustration of slower phone typing outweighs its anytime, anywhere convenience.

 

[FrancesScott]

For those who've said they write on a phone, like @alohadave, @Kelliezgirl, and @FrancesScott, what do you prefer: tippy-tap typing, swipe typing, or speech-to-text dictation?

Fingers with the normal iOS keyboard and no swipe enabled. I tend to type with my right index finger and left thumb for some reason. Depending on where the last letter was, the middle 50% of keys can be struck with either digit. I type quite quickly like this. I’ve never felt it was too slow for composition. And the convenience of being able to write anytime anywhere is worth it. In a line at the grocery store. At lunch at work. At my desk sometimes, but don’t tell anyone. In bed. I think I’m more productive than if I was using a laptop.

I think small fingers help.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

*Raises hand.*

From November 23rd of 2024 to June 25th of 2025, the thing that you see in my signature, the 10-minute novelist thing, was written entirely in my phone, using Obsidian. I managed to reach up to 40375 words before I decided to switch to the computer, not because it was uncomfortable to write (since, as the matter of fact, all I needed was to practice it), but because my phone is starting to show some issues, I mean, it's a very old phone to this point! 10 minutes writing in Obsidian means 10% of the battery gets eaten through, and I wish that was Obsidian's issue.

Even though now I know it's possible, and I pretty much can write in any support, I still prefer to use the computer to write instead of my phone. What I love about the phone is the convenience of it, but it has more drawbacks than the computer.

The real question should be how many people write by hand instead.

For those who've said they write on a phone, like @alohadave, @Kelliezgirl, and @FrancesScott, what do you prefer: tippy-tap typing, swipe typing, or speech-to-text dictation?

Swipe typing is a skill I haven't practiced. I would like to practice it though, but it feels like learning how to type again. Must make time for it.

Speech-to-text dictation... I don't like it. I don't like dictation in general because I have two speeds when I talk: I don't think my words, or I stutter because I need to think my words.

Tippy-tap typing is how I do it.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Changing a line I read somewhere - "The best writing tool (camera in the original) is the one you have when you need it."

I use Google docs for that on a computer, ipad or phone, depending on where I am. I only edit on the computer or ipad. The phone is too fiddly.

Edit... Most dictation programs hate Aussie accents. Even giving instructions to Android auto is painful.

 

[WittyUserName]

I wish we had polls on this board.

I've noticed people saying that they write their stories on their phone. This is wild to me. I suck at using a smart phone to write but have a pretty good word count on a keyboard and I certainly can't live without a spell check on a word processor. Maybe it's a generational thing. I grew up in the 90's when we had computer labs and typing classes.

I'm also curious how many people use word vs an online word processor like google docs.

Yeah, no way. I could never use a phone to write. I also grew up in the 90's, I need a keyboard. I do use my phone to make notes if I think of something when I can't get to a computer, that's about it.

 

[Erozetta]

I started writing on my phone so I can write until I drop the phone on my face when I eventually fall asleep typing.

And I write in Google docs then edit in either LibreOffice or Word. And then I compile the completed story in Scrivener.

 

[dirk2024]

I can't imagine wrtiting on a phone. As it is, the smallest screen I read on is a Kindle.

For writing, I use Microsoft Word.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Edit... Most dictation programs hate Aussie accents. Even giving instructions to Android auto is painful.

Not Aussie, but this reminded me of this:

 

[Areala-chan]

I cannot for one minute even imagine writing on a phone. When I get in the zone and am really cranking, I'm banging out over 100 WPM on a keyboard. There's no way I could get anywhere near that close on a rinky-dink phone screen keyboard. Putting up that kind of road block to my creativity would absolutely wreck my ability to produce. I can't imagine trying to do more than a quick email or text with a phone. A full, 30k+ word story? Get bent.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I almost always write on a PC. For Lit projects, I write in a password-protected Word doc stored locally. For non-Lit projects, I write in a Google Doc.

For those who've said they write on a phone, like @alohadave, @Kelliezgirl, and @FrancesScott, what do you prefer: tippy-tap typing, swipe typing, or speech-to-text dictation?

On the rare occasions I write on my phone, it's usually dictation in order to get an idea down quickly or capture a conversation between characters that I've been playing out in my head.

I want the ideas in my brain to flow to the page with as little friction as possible. I'm a fast typist, so a computer keyboard is the ideal medium for me. If I were just as fast using phone, then I'd probably have no problem doing so. But for me, the frustration of slower phone typing outweighs its anytime, anywhere convenience.

I tippy tap type. I've been doing it so long I'm almost as fast as I am on a full size keyboard.
Higher rate of typos, but worth it for the convenience.

 

[experimental_ficiton]

I have written on my phone but only when I had something I really needed to get down, and I was at work. I have to use Microsoft SwiftKey though, as my fingers are just too big, and I would spend more than half the time correcting typos without the autocorrect.

Normally I use Google Docs, but I also use Scrivener to get the formatting right before I submit. Also, allows me to keep stuff organized.

 

[FrancesScott]

I cannot for one minute even imagine writing on a phone. When I get in the zone and am really cranking, I'm banging out over 100 WPM on a keyboard. There's no way I could get anywhere near that close on a rinky-dink phone screen keyboard. Putting up that kind of road block to my creativity would absolutely wreck my ability to produce. I can't imagine trying to do more than a quick email or text with a phone. A full, 30k+ word story? Get bent.

I’ve written 80,000 word stories on my phone.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I do. I use Google docs and I write using a Bluetooth folding keyboard during my lunch breaks. It's very rough, I don't correct errors. When I have most of the story done, I copy it to Word, correct everything and then fully flesh out the story. My writing time has taken a major hit the last six months and this is a way to still get something down.

 

[alohadave]

For those who've said they write on a phone, like @alohadave, @Kelliezgirl, and @FrancesScott, what do you prefer: tippy-tap typing, swipe typing, or speech-to-text dictation?

Touch typing, no swype (though it's enabled on my phone, I never use it). I tried speech-to-text, and it was a jumbled mess, it wasn't even worth editing.