Turn your iPhone into a retro typewriter courtesy of Tom Hanks

My Cult of Mac colleague Killian is obsessed with the actor Tom Hanks to an almost worrying degree.

I’ve never been to his home before (Killian’s, not Hanks’ — although I’ve not been there either), but I like to imagine that it’s full of Forrest Gump and Castaway posters, with the focal point being a single lock of the actor’s hair kept in an airtight jar. Surrounded by candles, with an iPod dock playing the soundtrack to The Da Vinci Code on repeat.

At any other time of year this would seem irrelevant, were today not the occasion upon which Hanx Writer, a typewriter app created by actor and typewriter fan Hanks, went universal on iOS.

For those that haven’t used it before, Hanx Writer pretty much does what you’d expect: turning your iOS device (previously just iPads, but now iPhone and iPod touch) into an old-timey typewriter, complete with paper rolling and “ding” sound at the end of each line.

“I suppose some people who get the app may just be looking for a different sound, but really it’s for people searching for a more personalized experience when writing on an iPad,” Hanks told USA Today upon the app’s release. “There’s also the opportunity here to take your iPad to a coffee house and be really obnoxious with all the clickety-clacking.”

The app is available as a free download from the App Store. iPhone-owning Tom Hanks fans should also check out 2014’s Forrest Gump endless runner. Yes, really.

Via: App Advice

Luke Dormehl

Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.