Canvas Everywhere
Canvas for iOS is now available. Download it for your iPhone or iPad.
In case you’re just joining us, Canvas is ‘notes for teams of nerds’ — a realtime, Markdown-inspired editor designed for teams. It’s been available on the web for a few months, and now we have a full iOS app. Start writing on the web, move to your iPad on the coffee shop, invite the remote team and collaborate in realtime.
Close to the text
We constantly get the feedback that Canvas ‘feels right’. While it’s hard to say what ‘right’ means, we believe it’s a collection of things. It’s Markdown that folds and gets out of your way when you write. An interface that allows you stay in flow and work. Trivially easy sharing.
Underlying the feeling of ‘rightness’ is one of our core goals — the feeling that as you use Canvas, you always feel close to the text. On the web, this shows up in subtle ways that constantly reinforce the perception that Canvas ‘just works’. What happens when you select all? Does it select all, or just the paragraph? When you create a list, do basic operations like deleting and hitting enter work as expected? These and hundreds of other small factors add up to an editor that can feel like it’s nailed down and working exactly the way you expect.
When we set out to create the iOS app, we wanted to recreate this feeling, while remaining true to both the form factor and operating system differences. We (and by “we”, I mean mostly Sam Soffes) have spent months building the iOS app. Creating an editor that maintains the ‘close to the text’ feel with all the power of the native platform was a huge technical undertaking. After many rewrites, we’re incredibly proud to share what we think is the best editor available on iOS, let alone a collaborative, realtime one.
Respecting the form factor
An iPhone or iPad is not a desktop computer, and simply porting a web app to mobile isn’t a good experience. Clearly the biggest change with a mobile device is touch. While Markdown works great when you’re sitting at your desk, trying to type ‘- [ ]’ to create a list is highly inconvenient on the go.
We’ve added gestures to allow you to format a paragraph with a quick swipe. Swipe left to go “bigger” such as headers, or right for lists and indentation. When you swipe, you’ll instantly see an icon of the style about to be applied.
Take advantage of native
Creating a great native app isn’t just about the base functionality. iOS has a very rich set of convenient APIs to take advantage of these days. We’ve worked hard on making Canvas take advantage of all the little things that make using iOS delightful. An incomplete list includes:
- Safari keychain support. Save your password on your desktop and it’s a single click to login on your iOS device.
- 1Password integration.
- Split screen multitasking. Keep Canvas open as you chat in Slack.
- Force touch support.
- Keyboard shortcuts.
Better with a keyboard
We’ve started with an editor implementation from the ground up that allows us to both work well on a small iPhone screen with the virtual keyboard, as well as have full keyboard shortcut support for those of us using an iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard. I’m writing this blog post on an iPad Pro right now.
The iOS app has even better keyboard shortcuts than the web app. Swapping lines up and down in a list is a game changer for dealing with outlines for example. Taking notes together during a meeting is a pleasure with everyone on the device that fits them best.
Get it now
The iOS app is available now for free on the App Store. Download it and give it a try. Have feedback? Let us know!
