Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Tomoshibi – A writing app where your words fade by firelight
I spent ten years trying to write a novel. Every time I sat down, I'd write a sentence, decide it wasn't good enough, and rewrite it. The problem wasn't discipline — it was that I could always see what I'd written and go back to change it. I tried other approaches. Apps that delete your words when you stop typing — they fight fear with fear. That just made me panic. I wanted the opposite: not punishment, but permission. "Tomoshibi" is Japanese for a small light in the dark — just enough to see what's in front of you. You write on a dark screen. Older lines fade, but not when you hit return.…
Tomoshibi is a writing app designed to help writers focus on forward momentum rather than constant revision. It displays text on a dark screen where older lines gradually fade as you write new ones, allowing editing… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
- 1AF
I'm a long time lurker that recently quit my job to work on my own projects, a lot due to the inspiration from Hacker News. Now I have published my first serious project, an app for learning how to write Japanese characters. It's the app I always wanted but couldn't find when I was studying. It tries to be simple to use, you just start the quiz and go with the flow. There's no need to plan and manage your studies, and it uses spaced repetition for better retention. There's a promo page with more details up at http://www.kanjibyhand.com. It's only for Android so far. The free version includes…
2012 · kanjibyhand.com. · its alternatives →
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Don't stop typing, or all progress will be lost.
2016 · its alternatives →
- 5IO
Look, every journaling app out there wants you to organize things into folders and tags and templates. I just wanted to write something down every day. So I built this. One note per day. That's the whole deal. - Can't edit yesterday. What's done is done. Keeps you from fussing over old entries instead of writing today's. - Year view with dots showing which days you actually wrote. It's a streak chart. Works better than it should. - No signup required. Opens right up, stores everything locally in your browser. Optional cloud sync if you want it - E2E encrypted with AES-GCM, zero-knowledge,…
Mar 2026 · its alternatives →
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The only writing app that forces you to disconnect.
2020 · its alternatives →
- 9WA
2014 · writerkata.com · its alternatives →
- 10
A calm writing app with no complexity and no AI
May 2026 · magic-notebook.com · its alternatives →
- 11
Flowstate▲285A writing app that deletes everything if you stop typing
2016 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
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I quit my job last year and worked mostly on this full SwiftUI rewrite of my Japanese reading app, Manabi Reader. The rewrite gave me the opportunity to expand to macOS (and without Catalyst so it feels extra native) and redo the data layer to be offline-first via Realm with iCloud sync. The biggest differentiators compared with other language study apps are that it tracks every word/kanji you read so that you can see how much of a given webpage/article you're already familiar with and other features/analytics built on that foundation; it automatically builds a personal corpus…
2023 · reader.manabi.io · its alternatives →
- 14LA
Gun.io connects companies with elite freelance software developers. Vetted engineers, automated compliance, and guaranteed delivery for high-stakes projects.
2011 · gun.io · its alternatives →
- 15NF
Hey HN, I built a small experimental writing tool called nowrite.fun. The concept is brutally simple: You set a timer (e.g. 5 minutes), start writing — and if you stop typing, your text vanishes. No drafts, no recovery, no forgiveness. Inspired by apps like Write or Die, but rebuilt from scratch with a lightweight stack: Deno + TypeScript, XState, anime.js, and canvas-confetti. Hosted on Deno Deploy. It’s a tool for short, focused writing sprints — a tweet, a blog paragraph, a newsletter blurb. Keep typing → you win. Hesitate → it’s gone. It’s minimal, a bit stressful, and surprisingly…
2025 · nowrite.fun · its alternatives →
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Japanese Writing & Speaking App
Nov 2025 · play.google.com · its alternatives →
- 20
RewriteBar▲138Hey HN, I wanted to share a tool that I've been working on called RewriteBar. It's designed to help improve your writing without the need for context switching. With RewriteBar, you can simply select a sentence, choose an action from the menu bar, and watch as the text is transformed. It works seamlessly in any macOS application and is powered by OpenAI. Some of the key features of RewriteBar include: - Correcting grammar errors that even Grammarly may have missed. - Rewriting your text in a different style to give it a fresh perspective. - Translating sentences quickly without the hassle of…
2024 · rewritebar.com · its alternatives →
- 21
On iOS, I've flip-flopped back and forth between a bunch of note-taking and journaling apps. None would stick. My initial attempts at building such an app faded just the same, until I realized I wanted the same level of low-friction posting and browsing offered by social media apps, but for my quick notes. Not social, just easy posting, search, and a familiar feed. This is how Journelly came to be. I like to describe it as: tweeting, but for your eyes only (fully offline and in plain text). If you’re an Org markup user, you’ll be delighted to know it’s powered by unicorns under the hood. If…
2025 · xenodium.com · its alternatives →
- 22
Write▲117📝 A writing app to combat writer's block, distractions, etc.
2017 · write.surge.sh · its alternatives →
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Justwrite▲122A private, local-first writing space that works offline
Jun 2026 · justwrite.sbs · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →