The Daily App: OmmWriter for iPad

It’s hard to tell, once you’ve clicked into OmmWriter for iPad, whether you’re about to start writing or walking around a New Age health products store.

That’s because this app combines an aesthetically pleasing (and comfortably designed) on-screen keyboard with soothing, New Age music in an effort to block out distractions and give you a chance to summon your inner Walt Whitman.

In all seriousness, OmmWriter for iPad is a little bit more comfortable for longer writing sessions than the iPad’s own native keyboard; if your thing is loud Heavy Metal or Rock as background noise while you write, then you’d probably want to keep moving. Still we found that OmmWriter, a $4.99 download from Apple’s iTunes App Store, is a really nice keyboard and app that will make longer writing exercises on the tablet a bit easier and less stressful when trying to hit that stressful deadline.

A couple of minor drawbacks: it will save natively to a .txt file or to PDF, but not Word extensions. Navigation through the file-save or file-share process isn’t as intuitive as other word processing apps, like Documents To Go or Apple’s own Pages. But if you need to roll up your sleeves and block out distractions for a couple of hours while you write a lengthy document, OmmWriter is worth giving a try.