Everything you need to know to get the most out of Quotator.
When you first open Quotator you'll see the empty library screen and a short tutorial. The tutorial walks through all the main features and can be replayed any time from Settings → Show Tutorial.
Tap Add Quote (the + button in the top-right corner) to write your first quote, or tap Load Sample Quotes to start with 21 styled examples you can explore, edit, or delete.
Tap the + button to open the Add Quote form.
Tap Save. If the same quote text already exists in your library, Quotator warns you and offers the option to save it anyway or cancel.
Tap any existing quote in the list to open it for editing.
The live preview card at the top of the edit form shows exactly how the quote will look in the widget. Use the Small / Medium / Large toggle to check the widget sizes before saving. A long author or source wraps to two lines (and then shrinks if needed); an ordinary name stays on one line. If you have turned on Light/Dark Mode Colors in Settings, a Light / Dark toggle appears above the preview too, so you can check both appearances without changing your phone.
Scroll down to the formatting section. The Default / Custom toggle controls whether the quote uses inherited defaults or its own style:
When Custom is on, the following options appear:
| Option | Choices |
|---|---|
| Font | 19 options — see list below |
| Text Color | 19 presets, or tap + for any custom color |
| Background | 19 presets, or tap + for any custom color |
| Alignment | Left, Center, Right |
System designs: System, Serif, Monospaced, Rounded
Curated fonts: Georgia, Palatino, Baskerville, Didot, American Typewriter, Courier New, Futura, Gill Sans, Helvetica Neue, Avenir Next, Optima, Copperplate, Marker Felt, Noteworthy, Snell Roundhand
The font picker shows each option in its own typeface so you can see exactly how it will look.
The color grid shows 19 preset colors. Tap the + tile to open the iOS color picker, where you can choose any fully opaque color using the spectrum, sliders, or hex input. Custom colors are saved alongside the presets.
Quotator uses a three-tier formatting system so you can style your library consistently without touching every quote individually:
Colors have an optional second layer too: see Light/Dark Mode colors, which works at all three levels.
This means you can set Georgia on a warm background as your app default, use Futura on a dark background for your "Evening" category, and override two specific quotes individually — all without changing the rest of your library.
Go to Settings → Manage Categories to create and manage categories.
Tap + to add a category. Each category has a name and an optional default formatting style. When you assign a default style to a category, all quotes in it that use Default formatting inherit that style.
Tap any category to edit its name or style.
To delete a category, swipe left. If it has quotes assigned, you'll be asked what to do with those quotes:
The Uncategorized virtual category appears throughout the app to represent quotes that haven't been assigned to any category.
Swipe left on any quote to reveal the Delete button. Deletion is permanent.
Swipe right to disable a quote. It stays in your library but is excluded from widget rotation. A dimmed eye icon marks disabled quotes. Swipe right again to re-enable.
Tap Edit in the top-left corner, then drag the handles to reorder quotes. This sets the Sequential rotation order. You can reorder inside a category: pick a category chip, tap Edit, and drag — only that category's quotes move, and every other quote keeps its place. Quotes can only be dragged in Edit mode, and search results can't be reordered (clear the search first).
The search bar is always visible at the top of the list. It filters by quote text and author simultaneously. Works together with category filter chips.
A row of chips appears at the top of the quotes list. Tap a chip to filter the list to that category. Tap All to clear the filter.
By default, tapping a Rotating Quote or Specific Quote widget opens the quote it is showing in a card, where you can share it (see Sharing a quote). The Next and Previous arrows do not open the card. If you would rather a tap just open the app, turn off Open Share Card on Tap in Settings → Widget Behavior.
Each Rotating Quote widget can be configured independently. Long-press the widget and tap Edit Widget to open its settings:
Which quotes to show in this widget:
How often the widget shows a new quote: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, or once a day.
Each widget you add can have a different interval — one widget for hourly rotation, another for daily.
iOS controls when widgets refresh; apps can request an update but iOS may delay it to conserve battery. If your widget looks stale for more than a few minutes after the interval should have passed, try removing the widget and re-adding it. See also the FAQ.
Rotating Quote widgets can show small arrows in their bottom corners so you can move through quotes without waiting for the interval.
Turn either one on or off in Settings → Widget Behavior (Next Quote Button, Previous Quote Button). A third switch, Open Share Card on Tap (on by default), controls whether tapping a widget opens the quote in a share card. Next and Previous are hidden when a widget is pinned to one quote (Manual mode), and the Specific Quote widget never shows them.
What Previous does: in Sequential mode it steps back one quote in your list order. In Random mode it walks back through the last 10 quotes the widget showed; Next then walks forward through them again before picking a new one. With no history yet, Previous does nothing.
Your widgets can use one set of colors in Light Mode and a different set in Dark Mode.
It works at every level, exactly like light colors: the app-wide default, then the category, then the individual quote — the most specific setting wins. A quote with no dark pair simply keeps its light colors. The setting is off by default, and the app behaves exactly as before until you turn it on. The Light / Dark toggle above each preview lets you check both.
By default the author appears below the quote. You can show it above the quote instead (with no leading dash):
The most specific setting wins: a category set to Above or Below overrides the app-wide choice.
The Specific Quote widget always shows exactly one quote you choose during configuration. It never changes unless you edit the widget.
To set it up: add the widget → long-press → Edit Widget → tap the quote field → search for and select the quote you want.
Perfect for a daily mantra, a personal mission statement, or a quote you want to see every single day without it being replaced by rotation.
Quotator registers a Focus filter in iOS, which lets you assign a different quote category and rotation mode to each Focus mode you have configured.
When this Focus mode is active, your Rotating Quote widgets will use the category and rotation you set here, overriding their individual widget settings. The interval you set on each widget still applies.
You can send any single quote as text, as an image, or as a file that keeps its formatting.
The long-press menu is not shown while you are in Edit mode.
Open an existing quote and scroll to the Share section. It shares what the preview shows, including changes you have not saved yet. New quotes need to be saved first.
Tap a Rotating Quote or Specific Quote widget (while Open Share Card on Tap is on in Settings → Widget Behavior, the default). The quote opens in a card over the app with the share buttons. Tap the ✕ or swipe down to close it and return to where you were. If the quote was deleted or disabled since the widget last refreshed, Quotator just opens normally.
Choose Share With Formatting in the long-press menu, in the edit screen's Share section, or on the widget-tap card. Quotator sends one quote as a .quotator file through the iOS share sheet.
When your friend opens the file, Quotator shows the quote in your font and colors, lets them pick a category (none, yours, one of theirs, or a new one), and saves it only when they tap Add. If they already have the quote, it says Already in your library and Add is unavailable. A damaged or unsupported file shows an alert and saves nothing. This is separate from quote sets, which send a whole collection as a .json file.
Quote sets let you share formatted collections of quotes with anyone — styles, categories, and all formatting are preserved in a single .json file.
Quotator backs up your entire library — quotes, categories, settings, and all formatting — to your personal iCloud Drive.
Quotator creates a backup automatically once per day when you open the app. Backups are kept in your iCloud Drive under Quotator → Backups. The 10 most recent backups are kept; older ones are deleted automatically.
Requires iCloud Drive to be enabled on your device. If iCloud is not available, an error message is shown.
Tip: Create a backup before any major import or deletion — it's the easiest way to undo a mistake.
Go to Settings → Import from CSV. Select a .csv file. The file should have one quote per row with up to three columns:
"Quote text","Author","Category name"
Author and category are optional. Leave a column blank or omit it entirely. After selecting a file, you'll be asked whether to:
Go to Settings → Export to CSV. Quotator saves your entire library as a CSV file you can share, open in Numbers or Excel, or import into another app.