Write Search

One hand. One letter. Done. Write Search finds the person or the app you want without typing and without scrolling. Draw a letter on the screen with your thumb. The list shrinks. Draw another. You are usually there by the second or third letter. Everything you touch sits in the lower half of the screen, so the whole thing works one-handed — on the bus, with a bag in the other hand, walking the dog. WHAT IT DOES • Write, don't type. Draw letters with your thumb or a stylus. No tiny keyboard, no autocorrect. • Contacts and apps in one search. Write "ma" and get Matt, Martin and Maps. • Call, text, WhatsApp or email from the row itself. It remembers the number or address you usually use for that person. • Your regulars come first. The people and apps you open most rise to the top. • Your language. Keep up to three handwriting packs installed, downloaded when you want them. • Light, dark, or follow your phone. • A short tutorial the first time you open it, and you can replay it any time from settings. GOOD FOR • Long contact lists • Big phones and short thumbs • Anyone who finds an on-screen keyboard fiddly PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Nothing you search leaves your phone. • Your contacts are read so they can be searched, and kept only on the device. • Your app list is read so apps can be found by name. It stays here too. • Your handwriting is read on the phone itself, so it works with no signal and no stroke is ever sent anywhere. • Android's cloud backup is switched off, so none of it reaches Google Drive. Write Search is free, with one small banner ad. The advertising ID is the only thing that leaves the device, and in the EEA and UK you are asked before any ad loads. Permissions: Contacts, so it can search them. Phone, so a call starts on the first tap. Both are explained before they are asked for, and the app still works if you say no.