The One with the Unexpected Upgrade
WhyNote is getting rescued in style
A lot of you have been commenting and sending me emails about the progress on WhyNote. If you’ve missed the initial announcement, I shared the whole story in a previous post, which you can revisit right here.
To quickly recap: WhyNote is a minimal text editor I started building out of pure curiosity. The idea was simple—create something lightweight, clean, something I was missing myself.
WhyNote is a simple, no-frills text editor designed with a few particular things in mind:
Automatically strips formatting when you paste text. No more random fonts or colors sneaking in.
Includes a clean and reliable find & replace system—with options to go word-by-word or just replace everything in one go.
Offers a live word counter that quietly sits there doing its job.
And most importantly, it looks good. Minimal, distraction-free, and native-feeling.
The thing is, I am a total rookie when it comes to app development. So naturally, what started with a spark of inspiration quickly ran into all the predictable walls. Saving files didn’t work correctly, basic features were buggy, and progress stalled more than once because I always prioritize my YouTube content.
But then something unexpected happened. In the same video where I introduced WhyNote, I also mentioned a few other apps I’ve enjoyed using on the Mac. One of the developers of those apps, Ivan, the creator behind Launchy, saw the video, got in touch to say thanks… and then offered to help me finish WhyNote.
Just like that, this little passion project is now in much better hands and is slowly shaping up into something awesome! That means I’ll be releasing it on the App Store very soon 🎉
Now here’s where you come in:
Should WhyNote be a free download? Or should it have a small price tag that can allow it to grow over time?
Let me know what you think 👇🏻
And while you’re at it, if you haven’t watched the latest video, it’s right here waiting. A view, a like, a share—any of it goes a long way.
I really love WhyNote, it’s a great application, and I’m genuinely glad to hear there’s an update on the way.
As for your question about pricing: I’d personally love for it to be free, of course, who wouldn’t? But I also recognise that building something like this takes time, energy, and care, and I absolutely believe you should be rewarded for that work.
That said, I think pricing should stay affordable and, ideally, not go down the subscription route. If someone wants to own the app, they should be able to just own it. No limitations, no constant renewals. Something simple and fair.
For me, something like $5 feels spot on. I’ve seen apps that charge twice the price that don’t offer half the usability or thoughtful design WhyNote already has. It’s clean, focused, and does exactly what it promises, with a kind of ease that clearly took effort to build.
Looking forward to what’s next for it.
I would love for it to be free, but I don’t mind paying a small fee to own it. No subscription though.