Tom Hanks can add “created most popular iPad app” to his long list of accomplishments. The Oscar-winning actor’s Hanx Writer app, which gives the illusion of typing on a manual typewriter, sat at number one on iTunes’ app store for the iPad as of Monday evening.
Hanx Writer, which was launched on Aug. 14, mimics the look and feel of old typewriters on a touchscreen, complete with the ding noise at the end of a line. Unlike real typewriters, however, this version has a handy delete key. The app is free, though users can purchase different colors, texts and styles.
On the app’s welcome screen, Hanks explains how he became a collector of typewriters: “I write without caring about typeovers, XXXX’d out words, goofy syntax, & bad spelling because the feel & sound of a typewriter is satisfying in ways that couldn’t be matched — Until now!” Hanks has written in the New York Times before about his nostalgia for the writing device. He even professed his love of typewriters on Twitter:
See TIME’s review of Hanx Writer here.
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