Wish I could contact the developer
I just had one “wish list“ item, which is to transform an ellipsis (...) into a long dash (–). I went to try to contact the developer with this suggestion, but I could not find a way to do that, other than this review.
But in general, this app is a revelation! Many thanks!
Response from developer
Thanks for the detailed suggestion — ellipsis-to-em-dash is a great addition to the wishlist. You can reach me directly at support@pixelfolio.app; that's the best place to share ideas like this. I'll keep this one in mind as the transformation library grows.
Elegant, diverse, instant text transformations
For someone like me - who uses Textcrafts transformations both recreationally/socially and has used them in development-ish tasks - its $4.99 and featherweight 3.7 MB were/are more than worth the experience. It’s super configurable, capable, and robust.
Response from developer
Hi there, thank you for the great feedback and very kind words! - Shihab
App crashed immediately
Response from developer
Hi there, thank you for the great feedback. This has now been resolved with the latest set of updates. - Shihab
Crashes/will not reopen
Response from developer
TextCraft is under new ownership, and the crash issue you encountered has been fixed. The lack of response was from the previous owner — support is active now at support@pixelfolio.app if you run into anything.
Differently useful than I expected
One can type in any snippet of text, and the app will immediately present an array of dozens of alternative snippets, most of them either making simple changes (like a d d i n g w h i t e s p a c e or Changing Things to Title Case) or doing some clever processing (like rapbqvat in Rot13) or — coolest of all — taking advantage of exotic Unicode characters for formatting like sᴍᴀʟʟ ᴄᴀᴘs or 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨𝔩𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯 or uʍop ǝpısdn or 🅑🅤🅑🅑🅛🅔🅢 or š̷̟p̶̰̙͂õ̴̤̲̾õ̴̤̲̾k̸̛̝͒y̸̺̓͊ d̸̢̩̚ỉ̵̹͎̀a̷͇͝c̶̱͒r̶͓͑ỉ̵̹͎̀t̴̪̩̍ỉ̵̹͎̀c̶̱͒a̷͇͝ļ̵̳̕š̷̟.
Response from developer
A pleasant surprise is the best kind of discovery. The Unicode formatting tools are the core of TextCraft, and you've clearly explored the full range — from the subtle (whitespace spacing, title case) to the delightfully unhinged (spooky zalgo diacritics). Appreciate you writing it up so vividly, Jonathan.
App crashes on beta iOS and macOS
Response from developer
Hi there, thank you for the great feedback. I'm sorry to hear this. Does this also happen after reinstalling the app? Also, can you send me a crash log via the in-app email option (also listed on the App Store page), as it would help in narrowing down the crash if it still persists for you. - Shihab
Clever app, super useful
Response from developer
Hi there, thank you for the great feedback. - Shihab
Great focused utility
Response from developer
Hi there, thank you for the great feedback. You're correct about the lack of paste ability being an iOS limitation. - Shihab
Functions, but UI clumsy
While after some cursory testing the app does seem to work as promised in terms of text transformations, the user interface is pretty basic.
Specific issues:
- what you get is a long scrolling presentation of all the various transformations after entering or pasting into the topmost slot. Finding the output you're looking for can be very cumbersome. Pasting in a full page of HTML source results in a huge amount of scrolling before you find the plain text output (which is surely what 99% of users would be looking for in that scenario). Some context sensitivity would help here. Or my suggestion would be, if possible, to collapse the headers, allowing the user to select the desired output, upon which that style could be displayed as an expanded text; or maybe just select the copy/send actions direct from the header.
- Deletion of the entered source text is very clumsy, not to say frustrating. This is because the standard iOS select/copy functions don't work as far as I can tell. The only option seems to be to (repeatedly) position the cursor after the last text, then hold onto the delete key for as long as you can before it runs out of steam.
If the dev fixes just those two main issues, I will be happy. Until then, I've blown seven quid on a semi-useful tool.
Response from developer
Hi there, thank you for the great feedback. The latest version now adds the ability to long-press text transformation types to pin them to the top of the list for quick access, as well as the ability to search for transformation types to narrow them down. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to quickly go-to, select, and edit text. The standard iOS select/copy functionality also works as expected. Hope this helps! - Shihab EDIT: The latest update now also allows you to toggle displaying specific sections (via settings).
App Review: Textcraft
This app performs great, especially for a 1.0 release. However, there are still a few tiny things I would like to see changed or added. First is a “Random Case” option. Yes, this app includes an “Alternating Case” option, but sometimes completely randomizing the case looks better and seems more fit for mocking somebody on the internet. I’ll show an example:
Here is the app’s “Alternating Case” option: I Am mOcKiNg yOu, InTeRnEt pErSoN.
Here is the result from an online “Random Case” generator: I Am MOCKIng YOu, INtErnEt pERsoN.
For me, at least, the second result seems to be more appealing, both visually and while reading it. This is an addition I would love to see.
Next, the shape and size of this app’s icon on macOS is not the same shape and size as the other icons on macOS Big Sur. It certainly looks like it was created to be the same shape and size, but it is not. It’s a minor difference, but still noticeable. I actually believe Apple provides templates for macOS Big Sur app icons at their Apple Design Resources website. Again, not a major deal.
In the end, this app is still great. It’s exactly what somebody would expect. And because this app is so new, that means that there is room for improvement in the future. I rate it five stars.
