It had been mentioned before that at this time there are no plans of adding keyword and custom metadata support to the iOS version, and yet I would like to express a deepest desire to have those… My chapters are folders, containing scenes, each scene’s metadata contains info about place, characters involved, time of the day, etc; and each scene if marked by a keyword, which is a name of POV character. I have several Collections which allow me to track each POV character’s narrative and it is a great tool for ensuring consistency of story delivery. When I need to start a new chapter, I just duplicate a blank one, containing pre-set blank scenes, with keywords already assigned, and carry on.
When I edit a chapter on iOS, the keywords and metadata are preserved, but when I duplicate a scene or a chapter, they do not carry over.
Adding those features (maybe in a distant future?) would make me (and I am sure, many other people) very happy. I would gladly pay extra for that upgrade.
Way more important than cosmetic niceties like “night mode”…
Hi,
While of course I do not rule out anything for the distant future, there are certainly no plans to add these any time soon, sorry. Custom meta-data is definitely way out of scope. In the next desktop version of Scrivener, you will be able to create different kinds of meta-data (dates, pop-up buttons, checkboxes), and this would be very difficult to implement and use on iOS. Keywords would also be awkward to use on iOS.
The iOS version is not intended to reproduce all of the features of the desktop version. iOS is not as powerful as macOS or Windows, and its more simplified UI means that developers have to pick and choose what is included. Trying to add everything would make the iOS version very awkward to use.
All the best,
Keith
G’day KB,
I’m loving the iOS version – definitely worth it! 
The only downside for me is the lack of Keywords – after finally getting a system going that I can sustain (impressive for me), I am now having to rethink how (and even if) I use Keywords. I know that the iOS version isn’t meant to replace the computer version, but the way I use Keywords in some projects is closely linked to content creation. I’m feeling their absence keenly.
Would you mind sharing some of the reasons for their exclusion? Please know I don’t question your decision, it’s just that in my teeth gnashing, “if only I could access my keywords!” moments it would help to talk myself back from the edge with the calm voice* of reason.
[size=85]*I’ll take a grumpy & exasperated voice if calm is asking too much… 
[/size]
I don’t suppose your mind has changed about keywords on iOS since last year? 
Just adding my wishes for this feature in IOS. I just purchased a used Surface Pro specifically for using Scrivener (new Windows Beta) when I’m on the road. The custom metadata feature in the full version is a godsend in keeping my 36 characters and their interconnected plot arcs in order.
I think the addition of Keyword functionality for the iOS version was last addressed in 2019, well before even version 3 for MacOS. With processors now better and more storage space available, I don’t think those two are limitations anymore. Keywords are one of the most versatile elements of Scrivener, and it would be a delight to have them available in the mobile Scrivener. While I can get by without them on mobile, it would be nice to be able to abandon the workaround and just use keywords right there in the mobile app. If it’s too much to be considered, I understand. It would be a very nice thing, indeed, though.
The amount of storage space or chip size would have no impact on whether keywords are viable to add to the UI. They would be no more a burden than the already supported Label or Status, in those regards (they are extremely similar in terms of the amount of data is used to store them.
In fact it already does store them, along with the entire rest of the project, it just doesn’t use them beyond a very limited way of making sure they are processed in the mobile updates, so that they don’t get lost. The same is true for all binder item metadata and settings you can’t access.
The original answer given above remains, and no amount of CPU upgrades will really change that problem fundamentally. For you it is this thing, for others something else might be more desired—for myself I would far prefer document bookmarks to take up whatever space in the UI keywords would have to take up. I use those too, but document bookmarks are way more impactful to how I use Scrivener on the whole, and I feel blind in my projects without them.
The original answer is also from a decade ago, and includes the proviso ‘While of course I do not rule out anything for the distant future….’ While a decade may not be ‘the distant future’, it did seem worth asking again, as so much time has passed.
In any case, thank you for your answer. I suppose it was too much to hope for a ‘I think you may be pleasantly surprised by our new iOS version’, but a boy can dream! Keep cool wherever you are!