Provided that iOS supports them. When iOS Scrivener was written, it didn’t. I think that’s Devinganger’s point.
Katherine
Those weren’t around then, but they are now! That’s what updates are for, right?
I also have no idea how far iOS and iPadOS are going to diverge, and how hard it is going to be to maintain a codebase that is expected to run in both on the fairly diverse set of hardware that can run both. Were I KB, I would want to be cautious about the amount of version creep I introduced and special conditional code I needed to put in.
I do also think Scrivener iOS is ripe for a nice upgrade/update. I wouldn’t mind paying for it. But things like dropdown menu’s, multiwindow support, better navigation on iPadOS, etc. have been supported since iOS 13.0. Of course, I understand that it’s not easy to re-code your app, because I think Keith made a lot of workarounds just to be able to have a kind of multiwindow (quickview) when Apple didn’t support it yet. But it hasn’t had a substantial update since launch in 2017. I still like the app, except for the syncing process, but it’s hard to see how some other apps are getting nice updates with new iOS updates, and Scrivener iOS hasn’t adjusted since its launch. It is a testament to Keith’s design though, that even considering this, Scrivener iOS is still very powerful and nicely designed in my opinion.
I agree that iOS Scrivener should get some TLC. So should Mac Scapple. New minor issues have cropped up in Mac Scrivener, too.
It isn’t a question of diverting resources after Windows 3 release, The L&L Mac/iOS developer doesn’t do Windows; the two Windows developers don’t do Mac/iOS. I assume KB, the Mac/iOS developer, is doing something, but AFAIK there’s been no announcement about what. After recent controversy regarding release dates, I expect we’ll hear about it when it’s available and not before.
I understand that Apple doesn’t really make this very clear to general users, but iOS and macOS remain very different ecosystems. macOS still has the much fuller frameworks. If you have a fairly simple app (not necessarily in terms of the underlying code base but in terms of how a user interacts with it, such as, for example, Maps) it is entirely possible to have near parity across platforms. In other areas, this isn’t possible. The TextKit, on which Scrivener relies, is far more basic on iOS and does not have access to a lot of the more complex things that Scrivener on macOS does. Also, iOS has no “outline view”, which is what Scrivener uses for the binder and outliner on macOS. On iOS you have to take an entirely different approach for that sort of thing, in large part because of the touch interface. And of course, the existence of a menu bar on macOS makes it possible to add a whole bunch of niche features that don’t need icons anywhere.
That’s not to say that Scrivener for iOS isn’t overdue an update in certain areas; it is.
I certainly haven’t been resting on my laurels, but it’s become more difficult than ever to talk about future plans. With Windows v3 still not ready, we can’t talk about future plans for macOS or iOS without upsetting Windows users. And with Apple users torn between wanting something simpler and iCloud-supporting or maintaining all of the existing features (mutually exclusive options), we’re sure to upset a bunch of users no matter what route we take. But just because there won’t be any major announcements or releases related to iOS or macOS this year doesn’t mean I have my feet up!
I didn’t think you did. 
But as you say, Windows folks get first TLC, and I’m totally cool with that!
What do you use to organize your research? I also write research-heavy fiction and love to know about other people’s organizatio methods.
I use Evernote for a few reasons: the first is historical, as Evernote was available on multiple platforms when other info gathering options were not, and Scrivener was NOT on iOS. There’s a great deal of friction for me switching to another system.
Second, Evernote makes my handwritten notes searchable and I don’t know of another system that will. When I get story ideas I like to scribble them down, often on paper or a whiteboard. Evernote lets me just scan them in without the error-prone handwriting -to-text process. If it’s not going to be in the narrative it saves my time.
Third, I have ADHD, and with that goes struggles with organising—it’s hard for me to categorise stuff. While Evernote permits extensive tagging, etc., it works just fine without it. I put everything I need to remember into Evernote into a few large buckets (each project, a General Writing bucket, and an Everything Else bucket.) Evernote works just fine if I search the whole darn database for my garage opener code or my protagonist’s eye colour, so there’s no difficulty if I miscategorise something. If I remember anything about the piece of info, I can find it. Believe me, this is a vast improvement, for me, over paper filing cabinets—I might as well trash a piece of paper as to expect to be able to find it in a file when I need it. Databases that depend heavily on categories and tags to retrieve stuff are almost as bad for me.
So. There you have it. One Note and Scrivener itself are right out for me—handwriting is not indexed. Scrivener is also out because it doesn’t index text images, either. Not sure if it indexes PDFs with text in, I occasionally consider Devonthink, but then it won’t index handwriting either… no.
None of us thought you were ‘resting’ and figured when the time was right for the next announcement it would be made. FWIW, I for one would not wish for anything simpler just to support iCloud. Scrivener Mac being what it is attracted me to Scrivener and keeps me here. iOS Scrivener is just a bonus.
I think I read this year that Apple are intending to move their MACs over to the same processor, and possibly OS, as the iOS/iPad devices. Does that mean the MAC version of Scrivener will have to be fully ported to iOS?
Not claiming I understand exactly what they’re doing, but parity between the two versions would be great and might finally get me to move to MAC, instead of drafting on iPad and then sharing to my PC as I do currently. :mrgreen:
If you have a look at the post by KB (developer of Mac and iOS versions of Scrivener) earlier in this thread, you’ll see that’s unlikely to happen.
If anything, apps are more likely to go in the other direction – from iOS to MacOS. MacOS will continue to be much more capable than iOS for some time, I would think. You could take a look at this:
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/27/top-stories-wwdc-2020-ios-14-macos-big-sur/
Apple seem to be going to ARM chips so that they can get more performance out of Macs, not so that they can throttle them.
They are marketing the new OS as version 11, not 10, so that suggests the start of something, not the end.
Edit: this has the information about what is happening and why – https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-silicon/
Making iOS Scrivener more like Mac OS Scrivener would create huge problems for all of us that don’t use an external keyboard or use an iPhone. There simply isn’t screen space to fit everything you fit on a Mac and the built-in keyboard can’t do all that a physical keyboard can do.
When the iPad was introduced Apple made it clear that it would be something in itself, filling the space between iPhone and Mac, not a simpler Mac. Making it possible to run some iOS software on a Mac is a way for iOS developers to reach more customers with fairly simple apps. Going the other way doesn’t work unless Mac apps are downgraded to a simpler form, and who would want that.
If you want what a Mac can give you, get a Mac!
Taking off my L&L support hat, and speaking as a long time observer of the semiconductor industry for a moment …
I will not be buying a first generation ARM Mac, and will not recommend that others do, either. Regardless of Apple’s happy marketing talk, this is a big, big transition.
Katherine
No kidding. I’m glad my 2015 MBA is going strong and will run Big Sur should I choose to upgrade. I’ll let some other brave explorer find the pitfalls and booby traps of the new machines.
Yes. Not even Apple can change the laws of physics. Power consumption and heat dissipation are the primary limits on CPU/GPU performance these days, and those limits are much easier to address in a “computer” form factor rather than a tablet or phone form factor. Put a high end desktop microprocessor in a phone and it would melt down into a little bubble of metallic goo.
(Ok, maybe exaggerating there. It would probably throttle itself to prevent overheating first.)
Katherine
Now that I’d like to see. 
As a long time semiconductor industry and IT person (and I have other reasons) I will be getting one of the first ARM MacBooks and exploring its capabilities. I guess I’ll be running Scrivener under Rosetta for a while. I’ll keep my current 16” as I also run Win under Parallels.
Katherine, has Keith managed to score one of the dev systems, and has he given any feedback yet? The input I’m getting is they are stable and reasonably fast despite not being Mac optimised silicon.
Thanks. Had no idea who anyone was on the Apple side of development. :mrgreen:
Just remember that ARM is a processor architecture – a whole family of processors. And since Apple will be designing and making their own chips, scaling up off of what they already do, these are probably going to be much bigger and beefier ARM CPUs that are actually very suitable for higher-end tasks while being more power (and heat) efficient than Intel and AMD offerings.