Steer is a comprehensive tool for smooth and professional communication
download from SteerI’ve used dozens of writing tools over the years and have never quite found the ‘best’ companion option. Most tools are ‘in your face’ with suggestions and I really want something that is in the background. Steer AI Writing Utility is the best option I’ve found to help my writing be concise and correct.
Overview
Steer is a native application designed to enhance your writing. It intelligently fixes and improves your text in any application, making your communication more professional and concise. With quick, in-place shortcuts, Steer allows you to correct spelling and refine wording in just two seconds, all without leaving your current app. It works seamlessly in any language, tailoring the tone to match the application you’re using. Lightweight and streamlined, Steer is always ready to assist, helping you save time on emails and messages.
Purpose, Audience & Design
The purpose of Steer is to reduce the time commitment and mental effort required to write professional emails – or any other written communication. It especially helps when writing in a language that is not the writer’s native language. The main audience for the app is those who communicate online through various mediums such as email, Slack, and Teams. The development team took some design inspiration from Raycast and Apple’s Spotlight as pioneers of using a shortcut to invoke a transient window with handy commands.
The user has been at the heart of the app’s design. The developer has kept the user at the center of the the app’s interface by observing the app’s usage data and by listening to direct feedback received through emails and Discord.
Tech Stack & Development Challenges
The macOS app is written in Swift in combination with AppKit and SwiftUI. The backend is written in Python’s FastAPI, wrapping both OpenAI and Anthropic APIs. For user management and tracking free tier usage, Steer uses Supabase and Redis. To keep the backend transparent, they open sourced.
A version for Microsoft Windows was recently released. That version was written in React and running on Electron. Creating this version was a technical challenge due to the limitations of Electron and the requirements of external libraries to access system-level APIs.
We first thought of having a single codebase for both Mac and Windows but we just couldn’t bend Electron enough to make it look pixel-perfect and feel native. There are some unresolved bugs in the electron github we ran into (like windows blinking white for a split second, completely ruining the experience) which led us into dropping this idea.We decided to stick with native for Mac and keep Electron for Windows as even with some flaws it was the best tech we could make work.The final process of shipping a production build was also quite challenging. We definitely spent a good couple of days figuring out how to sign the app, so it’s compliant with Windows Defender, then how to publish it on some release server, figure out auto-updating and so on.
The developers of Steer employ a local testing environment to check flows before distributing updates. By taking this step, they are able to catch 95% of the bugs the app has. They also use Sentry to track errors to catch anything that makes it through local testing. Finally, user bug reports are helpful to identify any additional bugs. At the time of publishing, there are no critical bugs that Steer developers are working on.
Pricing and Availability
Steer is available for macOS directly from the developers website – steerapp.ai. It is entirely free to use, but slows down after 10 requests per day. The pro version is available for $2.49 per month or $149 for a lifetime subscription.
ScreenshotPrivacy Policy
Steer does not store any data. The app uses https protocol to ensure data is encrypted. Steer uses the server to only prepare and count usage, then it’s forwarded to the model provider. Data is sent strictly to OpenAI.
User Experience
Even though Steer is billed as an email companion, I use it wherever I can. As a content creator, I am constantly communicating with external sources and writing content. I utilize Notion quite a bit for drafting content, and while it has a built-in AI resource, it’s an additional paid service that I would have to subscribe to. I would much rather use Steer for my inline corrections and improvements. It’s a great tool that gives me the option to see an alternative and choose or not choose to use it. I’ve used Grammarly for years, but again, it doesn’t work well with Notion. It’s just too disruptive. Steer is only visible when I call on it. This is one of the big things that differentiates Steer from its competitors — the intuitive, clean UI/UX.
ScreenshotSteer takes the most useful parts of OpenAI for writing and makes it universally easy to use. I think it would be great if additional prompts could be incorporated and users could select in preference settings what they wanted in their pop-over but having proofreading, improving, and concise as the main tasks for writing tools is outstanding. I did find that if you have a prompt written into your document that Steer will execute it, but there is no place for a user to enter a specific prompt in the Steer interface directly.
I’ve been very impressed with the accuracy of Steer’s suggestions. There are many times that I will misspell a word and standard spell check doesn’t recognize it or provide suggestions (especially in Notion), but Steer has been able to give me corrections that make sense and are reliable. One small hitch I discovered was Steer’s ability to provide single-word suggestions. It can improve full sentences and paragraphs, but when I asked it to improve a single word, it wouldn’t provide any suggestions. Other than that, I haven’t found any fault with the app.
Conclusion
Steer is a versatile and efficient writing assistant that stands out for its smooth integration across various platforms and languages. It reduces the time and effort needed for crafting professional communication, making it especially helpful for non-native speakers. With its intuitive design and reliable performance, Steer proves to be a valuable tool for anyone looking to improve their writing experience.
For more information, visit steerapp.ai
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