Second Draft 1.1.0

Version 1.1.0 is out. If your last update was 1.0.2, this post gathers everything since then in one place.

Choose your model

Second Draft is still private and on-device. The change is choice: you are no longer tied to a single engine.

On supported iPhones, Apple Intelligence stays the default you already rely on. When you want a different tradeoff, or your device is not eligible, open Settings → Manage Models. Download an optional on-device model if you need one, pick what fits, and switch later without leaving the app. Progress, storage use, and the active model stay on that screen.

After you get your first result, a short tip may nudge you toward Manage Models if you want to experiment. If Apple Intelligence is not available on your device, onboarding can take you through a compact model setup so you never hit a wall on day one.

Past drafts, your way

Past Drafts now includes a grid as well as the list. Use the layout toggle and stick with whichever view matches how you skim what you have already written.

Sharper results in every mode

Rewrite, reply, bullet, and roast all got prompt and parsing tune-ups, so results stay closer to what each mode promises.

Pushback replies were reworked so the options feel different, not like the same answer with light edits. A new mode guidance sheet spells out what each mode is for before you invest a tap. The main writing screen is smoother to use, and when generation starts the view scrolls so progress stays visible.

Paste without the friction

Where it matters, the custom paste control is gone. The system Paste button is there instead, so you are not fighting permission prompts just to drop text in.

Onboarding and polish

Long onboarding text no longer clips on smaller screens. The paywall shows a sensible placeholder when pricing is not ready yet. Copyright and about include clearer ways to send feedback.

Under the hood

History and the core writing flow were reorganized for reliability. Model downloads are checked for integrity; bad or partial files are cleaned up, and storage totals stay accurate. Output from local models is scrubbed so internal reasoning tags and stray formatting do not end up in what you copy.

1.0.2 expanded what each mode could sound like. 1.1.0 is about what powers those modes on your phone, and about skimming history in a layout that fits how you think.

Second Draft 1.0.2

Version 1.0.2 is out. Here is what changed.

@handles and #hashtags

They now stay intact across all rewrite modes. No more broken mentions.

More variety in every mode

Rewrites span casual, professional, and concise. Pushback replies give you genuinely different angles (a straight no, an alternative, or a redirect) instead of three similar answers. Roasts hit different comedic tones: sarcastic, deadpan, over-the-top.

Tighter outputs

Results stay closer to the length of your original text, so you can copy and send without trimming.

Reliability for new users

A few fixes to make the experience more stable.

Under the hood

Better dictation performance and a smoother experience overall.

Second Draft 1.0.0

I build apps for myself first. Second Draft is no different.

I kept catching myself spending way too long on short things. A reply to a comment that rubbed me the wrong way. A message that needed just the right tone. A caption that felt flat no matter how many times I rewrote it. I was not struggling with big ideas. I was struggling with the last 10% of a sentence.

The obvious fix was to paste it into one of the big AI chat tools. But that always felt like overkill. Open a new tab, wait for it to load, explain what you want, get back five paragraphs when you needed one sentence. And honestly, I was not comfortable pasting personal messages or work drafts into a chat box connected to a server somewhere.

So I built Second Draft. A focused tool for that one specific problem.

Four modes, nothing else

The app does four things: rewrite, reply, bullet, and roast. Each one is a single tap. Paste your text, pick a mode, copy the result. No prompting, no conversation, no settings to dig through.

On Reply

Reply is more nuanced than it looks. When you want to respond to something, the tone you pick matters as much as the words. So Reply gives you two directions: a supportive response that leans into agreement and a positive outlook, or a pushback response when you need to hold your ground. Same message, very different results. It is probably the mode I find myself using in the widest range of situations.

On Roast

Roast rewrites anything with a sharper, more playful edge. It is genuinely hard to find in any other writing app because most tools are designed to make you sound more professional. Roast does the opposite. It is built for social media replies, punchy captions, and anything where personality matters more than polish. It started as an experiment and quickly became the mode I reach for the most.

Private by design

Everything runs on your device. No account, no server, no uploads. When you paste something into Second Draft, it never leaves your phone. That was not a feature we added later. It was the requirement the whole thing was built around.

Your history is stored locally too. Second Draft Pro unlocks full history access with a one-time purchase. No subscription, no renewal.

What is coming next

There is a lot more I want to build. The feature I am most excited about is My Voice. The idea is simple: instead of rewriting your text to sound better in a general sense, it rewrites it to sound more like you specifically. Your rhythm, your word choices, your style. Not a cleaned-up version of what you wrote. A version that actually sounds like you wrote it on a good day.

I have other ideas too. But My Voice is the one I keep coming back to.

I hope it saves you some time on the short stuff.