Tom Hanks Made the App Store's No. 1 iPad App

Hanx Writer mimics an old typewriter
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2014 9:35 AM CDT
Tom Hanks Made the App Store's No. 1 iPad App
In this Jan. 4, 2014 file photo, Tom Hanks accepts the Chairman's award for "Captain Phillips" and "Saving Mr. Banks" at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala in Palm Springs, Calif.   (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Invision/AP, File)

Tom Hanks: beloved actor, slam poet, space enthusiast, and ... iPad app developer. And not just any developer, but developer of the most popular iPad app of the moment, Time reports. As of this writing, the Hanx Writer app, launched Thursday, sits in the No. 1 spot among free apps on the iPad App Store. Developed by the actor, the app simply allows your iPad to mimic various kinds of old-fashioned typewriters, complete with clicking keys and dings when you move to a new line.

Hanks, who has publicly discussed his love of typewriters in the past, says on the app's welcome screen: "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!" Unlike a real typewriter, the app has a delete key, but writers who'd prefer to experience what it was really like back in the day can turn the deleting function off, meaning any typos will result in a permanent mark on the page. (More Tom Hanks stories.)

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