Doesn't macOS already have Text Replacement for this?
Sort of — but it's built for short, exact-match phrases. Its replacement field isn't made for more than a line, so a signature or a mailing address is awkward to enter, and iOS flattens it to one line anyway. It only expands on an exact case match, so a shortcut you defined lowercase won't fire if you capitalize it at the start of a sentence. And it's noticeably unreliable in apps that manage their own text fields, like Chrome, Slack, or VS Code.
Abbreviate! reads your actual keystrokes rather than going through the system's text-substitution service, so it works the same way in every app, handles paragraph-length expansions, and matches capitalization automatically.
What about just dictating it instead?
Dictation is good for getting something new down, but it doesn't save you from saying the same thing twice — you'd still have to speak an entire severability clause, a "vital signs are within normal limits" line, or a doc-comment stub out loud, every single time. And even inside something you're actually composing fresh, there are usually a few phrases worth an abbreviation anyway — a case citation, a standard finding, a recurring function signature.
How do I remember all my abbreviations?
Use patterns, so you can work an abbreviation out instead of memorizing it. Double the last letter of a short contraction: cantt for can't, dontt for don't. Add a "t" to a root word for its negative: cld for could, cldt for couldn't. For long words, take the first syllable or two and add a letter for the ending — "t" for -ate, "n" for -ion, "z" for -ize — so assoc is associate and assocn is association. Define only the root word: orgz gives organize, and orgzs, orgzg, and orgzd give organizes, organizing, and organized on their own.
Avoid real words and single letters — any punctuation finishes an abbreviation, so i for "I" would turn "i.e." into "I.e." Build punctuation in where it helps: ie for "i.e.," with the comma. Forgot one? The search box in your list searches the expansions too. A new copy of Abbreviate! starts with a set of these examples, which you can always restore, and Help's "Choosing Abbreviations" section has the rest. Read it here.
Will my abbreviations show up on my other devices?
Yes — your abbreviations, learned vocabulary, and emoji order are saved to your own private iCloud account so they can sync across every Mac, iPhone, and iPad you use Abbreviate! on. There's no separate Abbreviate! account or server involved; it's the same iCloud any Apple app uses.
On Android, they stay on the phone they're on: Android doesn't sync with your Apple devices, or yet with your other Android devices. To move a set, use Share… on one device and Import… on the other — that works between Android and Apple devices too.
On each device, that same data is encrypted at rest by Abbreviate! itself, with AES-256 and a key kept in your iCloud Keychain — not just readable plain files sitting on disk. (That protects the files themselves, e.g. from someone copying them off your disk or a backup; it doesn't lock the app's own window, so anyone who's already signed in and unlocked your Mac or device can still open Abbreviate! and see your data there, the same as any app.) Your abbreviations and learned words are encrypted with that same key before they're synced, so the copy in iCloud can be read only by your own devices — not by us, and not by Apple, since the key never leaves your iCloud Keychain. Your emoji order and keyboard setting sync under iCloud's own protection.
Does Abbreviate! see what I type?
Yes — every keystroke. A text expander has to: it can't recognize omw without seeing the o, the m, and the w. What matters is what it does with them.
On the Mac, Abbreviate! keeps only the word you're typing — and the word you just finished, until you start the next one, so backspacing into it still works — in memory, so it can tell whether it's one of your abbreviations. Nothing you type is saved, logged, or learned from, and nothing is sent anywhere. That's why it needs Accessibility access in System Settings, the permission macOS requires of any app that watches the keyboard system-wide. Password fields are off-limits: macOS hides those keystrokes from every app.
On iPhone and iPad, the Abbreviate! keyboard learns the words and phrases you use so it can suggest them — that's what word prediction is. What it learns is encrypted and stays on your devices and in your own iCloud account; it's never sent to us. Nothing is learned from credit card or one-time-code fields, iOS always switches to its own keyboard for passwords, and any learned word can be removed. "Allow Full Access" lets the keyboard reach that data and sync it, the same permission iOS requires of any keyboard that does more than type letters.
On Android, the keyboard learns the words and phrases you use the same way, and what it learns stays on your phone: the Android app never sends it anywhere. Nothing is learned in password fields, or in fields that ask keyboards not to learn, such as a browser's private tabs, and any learned word can be removed.
The only thing that ever reaches us is what you write in Send Feedback.From a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, the only thing that ever reaches us is what you write in Send Feedback; from Android, nothing does.
How does one purchase cover my Mac and my iPhone?
You buy Abbreviate! once, in the App Store on your iPhone or iPad. The purchase belongs to your Apple Account, so your other iPhones and iPads restore it for free, and any Mac signed into the same iCloud account unlocks by itself — there's no license key to type.
With Family Sharing turned on, up to six people in your Family Sharing group, including you, can use it on their own devices without buying it again.
The Mac app is a free download from this site, and anyone can try it for 14 days. To keep using it after that, you'll need an iPhone or iPad to buy it on: there's no way to buy it on the Mac alone yet.
Does my purchase cover Android?
No — Android is bought separately, once, on Google Play, for $19.95 (an introductory price; regularly $29.95), with its own 14-day free trial. Each store only knows its own purchases, so the App Store purchase can't unlock Android, and a Google Play purchase can't unlock a Mac, iPhone, or iPad. A Google Play purchase does carry over to your other Android phones and tablets signed into the same Google account.
The two don't sync with each other either, but a set shared from one can be imported on the other.
If my family shares one purchase, do we share abbreviations too?
No — Family Sharing shares the purchase, not what's in it. Each person's abbreviations, and their learned words on iPhone and iPad, sync only among their own devices through their own Apple Account, encrypted with a key only their devices hold. What one person adds, changes, or deletes never reaches anyone else.
To give someone your abbreviations, use Share… or Export and have them import the file. That's a copy, so later changes on either side stay on that side.
Where do I find help?
Help is built into the app on every device, and it's kept up to date from this site — a correction reaches your devices without waiting for an app update. (On Android, Help is the copy built into the app, updated with the app itself.) You can also read it here.
Abbreviate!