# TextExpander + Keyboard — user reviews > 54 indexed App Store user reviews of TextExpander + Keyboard by SmileOnMyMac, LLC, rated 2.63/5 from 49 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/textexpander-plus-keyboard/id1075927186/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/textexpander-plus-keyboard/id1075927186.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 15 · 4★ 2 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 10 · 1★ 19 ## Newest reviews (15 of 54) ### 2/5 — Great product that needs revamp! *2023-04-17* Great product that needs a revamp. Hasn’t been updated for 2 years! If there was something better I would switch, but I don’t want to! Please update this puppy. It is too glitchy to use on iOS, which is what I need it most. Again, I love this product, just wish it was up to date. ### 2/5 — The removal of features *2022-09-24, version 4.6.5* I’ll be honest, I’m extremely disappointed with removal of text expander functionality with apps such as drafts. The keyboard doesn’t provide the same functionality… for instance, I can’t use fill in fields in my expansions on iOS with the keyboard, it expands the entire snippet without allowing me to edit my fill in fields. The in app Drafts functionality allowed me to do this. I have been a long time user of this app and want to continue but breaking my workflows feels like a complete reverse to the automation your company and app support. I hope the in app keyboard gains more functionality or you reconsider the current moves because the way things are currently has me as an extremely dissatisfied user. ### 2/5 — Neglected app *2022-06-04, version 4.6.5* TextExpander is an essential service, but the iOS app looks like it hasn’t been updated since 1972 and it lacks key functions (such as editing snippets containing variables with preselected options). ### 2/5 — Wish it was better *2021-07-23, version 4.6.5* My love for Text expander goes back a long time. There is so much you can do with the native Mac app. Unfortunately the iOS version is not great. Some of it has to do with the developer and some of it has to do with the restrictions in iOS. The other issue I have is the moving to the subscription model. I am moved away from TE and shortly after that switch and went with ATEXT on the Mac which works exactly the same and it is only a one time low cost fee. Update… the app has gotten even worse. With the switch to the new app it doesn’t recognize my snippets. I’ve paid the developer 2 twice for a stand alone purchase and for 1 year subscription (through stack social, which i was never able to get it active) Unfortunately there are too many blocks to use this program. I undertand you need to make money but the restrictions put on paying clients is too much. I love TextExpander but moving to Atext on the Mac :( ### 2/5 — Keeps Crashing, not as good on iPad *2021-01-03, version 4.6.5* Been a long time user. Works great on a Mac and even a PC. Edits sync well. There’s my two stars. The app is not nearly as user friendly on the iPad. A TE shortcut doesn’t work where you are typing like on a computer, you have to activate within the app then copy and paste or share to wherever you are trying to use the expanded text. It works but not as smoothly. My complaint is that every time I try to edit an existing snippet, the iPad app crashes, making it basically worthless and unusable. ### 2/5 — Great Idea ... Sucky Execution. *2020-12-15, version 4.6.5* App crashes constantly on my iPad (latest iOS, Dec 2020). Too often fails to expand snippets (using the correct keyboard, which itself is prone to error). Seems like the company has given up on making this app genuinely useful on anything except desktop (where it saves me TONS of time ... also works ok on my iPhone, but still kinda sucky there). ### 2/5 — No lite version? Rental only? 😢 *2020-04-27, version 4.6.1* Bottom Line - My complaint is that there’s no lite version for casual users. I’ve been a customer of SmileOnMyMac since they were a start up company. Both the company and TextExpander are top notch, that’s why I’m disappointed. Apple‘s OS keyboard snippets do everything except “insert current date”. I hate to install an app for one little thing but decided to give TextExpander a try. There’s no option for that. It’s $3.33 per month (pay entire year upfront). $4.16 Per month if I don’t. 😞 Free enterprise. I get that. If I don’t want to rent, I can move along. I will but before I go, I am simply suggesting, requesting that there be a scaled down, lite version for the casual user. If I were more clever I’d figure out how to write something to insert the date. I don’t understand why it’s not built into Apple’s system but since it’s not, and I am not more clever, I wish SmileOnMyMac would offer a textexpander light version to insert today’s date. ### 3/5 — Awesome Desktop Experience, Not the Case on iOS *2019-12-20, version 4.6.1* I’m a long time user of TextExpander. I have it on all my devices but I rarely use it on my iOS devices. For the iPhone my complaint is the keyboard. The buttons are either too small or too close together and I spend more time correcting errors. On the iPad I use a Bluetooth keyboard so using TextExpander is not an option. I hope these issues are being addressed in the future. Awesome Desktop Experience, Not the Case on iOS. ### 4/5 — With one modification this will be a 5 star app *2019-12-19, version 4.6.1* I’ve been using text expander for years. While I’m not thrilled about the monthly access fees, it’s not expensive so I find it worth the monthly charge. The ONLY thing I’m not thrilled about on the mobile app version is the inability for it to insert images into the snippets as well as the text. On the full laptop version for example, I have a details list of directions to my office, complete with pictures of every landmark. When I insert the snippet via phone or iPad it doesn’t transfer the graphics, only the text. When I insert the snippit on my signature card on my laptop it inserts the graphic with my company branding. On the mobile app version it doesn’t. I’m sure there’s a technical reason for it, but it today’s tech age, I’m sure there’s a technical solution to it as well. Once that happens, this mobile app will get 5 stars from me. ### 1/5 — It doesn’t work. *2019-10-26, version 4.6.1* IOS 13. This app on iPhone won’t let the keyboard close (?) so you can’t read the introduction or perform any other action. The modal window won’t dismiss and there’s no [x] provided. So I tried it on the iPad. I was able to close the keyboard but once again the modal window would not dismiss and no [x] provided. The only available option was “sign in” and I couldn’t, since that requires an account, one of the many things I couldn’t get to because the modal window wouldn’t dismiss. There’s also colored text in the intro screen that looked like links, but either were not, or were also non-functional. I would wait until they update this app for iOS 13. At time of writing this app was last updated 1m ago. ### 4/5 — Desktop rocks; iOS helps on the road *2019-07-01, version 4.5.5* I’m a hard core TextExpander desktop user—can’t work without it. Literally. While the iOS iteration has limitations (baked in, as a result of Apple restrictions), it’s still useful during my on-site research expeditions. Do I wish it worked with bluetooth keyboards? Sure, but again, that’s an Apple limitation—not the app’s. Customer service has been bashed a few times here in the reviews, but my experience has been positive. Quick email response (within 24 hours) and an even quicker email exchange to find resolution to my problem. No complaints there. ### 1/5 — Hiding from reviews? *2019-04-04, version 4.5.5* I left a one star review if this app because of the support experience. They were short, rude and rather obnoxious. They replied to my review and said they had no record of me contacting them. I forwarded them my original correspondence and they said they would give it “the attention it deserves”. Well about a week later I hear back from them and they basically said well even though it was you using the trial version of our mobile app that is causing you to fail the license check, we will not help resolve that issue for you, even though you are not using the professional features and have removed the trial mobile software from your phone. To quote them, We kindly ask for your understanding, that technical support is reserved for paying customers. If you opt not to pay for our work, we will NOT work for you. Please use our software as-is or uninstall if you experience difficulties configuring it. I guess my difficulty is the condescending tone of this response and the fact that their mobile app is what broke it and caused it to quit working to begin with. Don’t look to this company for help even if they are at fault. ### 2/5 — Why did you cram a desktop interface on an iPad? *2018-11-26, version 4.5.5* I love everything about TextExpander except its interface. The lack of (yes, irony) keyboard accessibility on the Mac and PC is bad enough, but the iPad app is just a PC/Java-based application crammed on a touch-screen. The touch-targets for the WYSIWYG buttons in the editor are far too small, the text is so small that it’s barely legible on my iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and the stability of this app is hit or miss (frequent crashing). ### 4/5 — 4 stars but a short jump to 5 *2018-10-22, version 4.5.4* I think the real magic of TE happens when you use it cross-platform. For me, I’m a regular Mac, iPhone, and iPad Pro user. I love the functionality in drafts. Saves me HOURS!! Here’s my issue. On iOS, the app performs spotty. I get a lot of crashes. I’ll open the app on the iPhone, tap a snippet and boom, it shuts down. Does this over and over. On the Mac - 6 stars! I have no problems! If the iOS app were less buggy, it’d easily be 5 stars! ### 2/5 — Trouble with Mac and iOS apps *2018-10-16, version 4.5.4* As other reviewers said, this requires you to install an additional keyboard in iOS and to switch to that keyboard before text expanding. Tedious and seems less convenient than just typing everything out. Then on Mac it works ... most of the time. About once a day I type my short text and it just disappears and freezes for a bit. Sometimes the expanded text finally appears, sometimes not. I’m deleting and certainly not paying for a subscription. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — what the .hh?? *2023-04-13* If the app is called TEXT EXPANDER and it is “sold” as a Mac app, A iPhone app and an iPad app, please then pray tell why will it not expand in ipad or iPhone? It used to. If it doesn’t expand on iOS then what DOES it do? That is, if you still want my money next month. Right now, it’s regally sitting on my iOS devices without doing a thing in the world. There are the keyboards, sure, but why do they keep defaulting back to whatever keyboard that is not the one branded by Text Expander. So many questions, so much frustration. Am I holding it wrong? ### 1/5 — Dead app. *2023-03-07* App hasn’t been updated in 2 years (as of March 2023). Great on Mac, though. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work on iPhone *2022-06-16, version 4.6.5* Works great on my Mac and allows my team to sync across members but it doesn’t work at all on iPhone. Thus one star. ### 1/5 — Horrible on iOS *2022-04-29, version 4.6.5* Given the subscription cost, this REALLY needs attention. Unbelievably awful. ### 1/5 — Fix Please *2022-02-13, version 4.6.5* This is all on Smile’s dev team, now. I don’t mind paying for the subscription, but the keyboard has to deliver. Make this keyboard able to search through all the snippets like yoink does for its files. Make the keyboard respond like the ios keyboard, so I don’t have to type somslowly and accurately to get the words out on it compared to the ios stock keyboard. Give me the option to get rid of the Text Expander T button. Add support for iOS autocomplete. Give us snippets search in spotlight. Allow for mousing the cursor by holding down spqcebar. Whatever Apple won’t help with, tell us and we’ll fule bugs. I hate that I can’t turn off Apple’s snippet expansion by toggle. There’s a lot Smile could do tomfix this and make it work for the annual fee. They just aren’t developing it. How about a safari extension? How about Grammarly support? Maybe work with Xsearch. Work closer with Drafts App and fantastical to eliminate app updates for snippets. ### 1/5 — Award for most crashes goes to this app *2021-11-24, version 4.6.5* My god…this app crashes 100% more than any of the apps on my iPad Air 4 because no other app crashes…. ### 1/5 — Can’t even set up! *2021-09-19, version 4.6.5* This app requires an account, for which I had to go to their site to register for the advertised “free trial.” After entering my info, it wanted me to click a link in an email they sent me to complete the sign up. Three hours later, and after hitting the “resend” button, I still have no email from them. (Yes, I’ve checked the spam box.) I work in marketing and this is a ridiculously bad waste of a lead. I was planning on subscribing after the trial period was up, but now I’ve just deleted the app altogether and will find another that doesn’t leave me hanging. When I want to make an account, I want to make it right then and there, not hours (or days) from then! **Developer response:** Hello - first off, oh no! Very sorry you had trouble. That's definitely not what is supposed to happen - the email verification is supposed to be an instant step that happens immediately. We're trying to get to the bottom of this, but it would help us if we can find your account to determine what went wrong with the email verification. Would you mind emailing us at support@textexpander.com? Without having an account email address to search for, we can't isolate the specific issue and fix the problem. Again, our apologies - while we don't want any of our customers to have problems with our app, we very much appreciate you letting us know so we can try and address it. ### 1/5 — Just didn’t work *2021-09-06, version 4.6.5* I tried this for three weeks on cross platforms and it didn’t work especially on the iPhone. Also when typing it would always change a word which was misspelled or had an apostrophe in it and in both occasions it would capitalizes the words; obviously it would have to be changed causing me to turn off Text Expander. ### 1/5 — :-( *2021-07-27, version 4.6.5* TextExpander used to be a great tool, but it's quickly become buggy and unusable since requiring an account and a subscription. ### 1/5 — Interested but *2020-10-29, version 4.6.5* See many places to sign in but no place to start an account? ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Textexpander: The "Beta Version" of this app is amazing. *2023-06-06* I received an email over a year ago, as a long-time use of TextExpander, telling me to try out the new "beta version" of the app. It’s not available here on the App Store, and its a different app in-and-of-itself, but it works so much better than this one that’s on the App Store. In fact, the one on the App Store is rated pretty accurately, I’d give it two stars, but the beta version app, which is been out for over a year works perfectly, and I would read it higher than the other snippet apps on the App Store, because it has snippet search functionality, along with syncing the same snippets that are on my computer. I have 400+ snippets and to be able to search quickly through all of them and quickly plug in the one I need, is so much more useful than all the other snippet apps that have folders and buttons. ### 5/5 — Works fine *2021-11-05, version 4.6.5* Purchased this hrough a BundleHunt deal and I have no regrets. Although switching keyboards is a bit of a hassle, it works exactly as advertised. Syncing can sometimes take a while but it is largely simultaneous. The main value for me is the cross-platform sync between Mac and iOS and the JavaScript functionality on iOS. Although, I do wish that it supports more languages e.g. Python (which is why I still keep Typinator around on my Mac). ### 5/5 — Hello ! , *2021-10-07, version 4.6.5* Ah I have not used this yet cause of one problem , the sign in thing , I do not have an account already for it , so I wanted to do sign up . But when I click on it it just disappears immediately when I click on it , it would be great help of how I can fix it ! ### 5/5 — Don’t listen to the whiners *2018-01-03, version 4.5.2* Nearly every negative review here refers to the pricing model, not the app itself. This is so unfair to the developers. Even the negativity about the keyboard is not warranted. The developer explains why the app can’t use the iOS keyboard and it’s a restriction levied by Apple. I’ve used TextExpander since 2008 and couldn’t live without it. The iOS app may not be perfect, but it’s the best they can do, given the constraints of Apple. ### 5/5 — Thank you for the upgrade! *2016-05-09, version 4.0.3* I'm so happy to have a cloud-based system now. I haven't encountered any of the bugs others have described and appreciate the integration between all of my computers and devices now. I am a long time text expander user and could not do without this app in my business. ### 5/5 — Exciting Update *2016-04-14, version 4.0* This update may not bring many new features I need but I’m really excited about some of the changes Smile is making across the TextExpander line and I have a feeling that using their own cloud service is going to lead to some awesome new features soon! I can’t wait to see what’s next. Regarding the pricing model, I think it’s absolutely fair, especially for existing users and I think they’re doing right by everyone keeping the old versions available. Software is very time consuming work and I’m happy to see developers find business models that will allow them to continue improving their applications and providing great support and Smile definitely delivers on both of those promises. ### 5/5 — Same great app, with fair pricing model *2016-04-07, version 4.0* This is the same A++ app TextExpander has always been. They've just changed to a fair subscription model, with which you get a free app updates. You get a discount for upgrading from a previous Mac license. My price for the first year was < $2/month upgrading from my TextExpander 5 Family License. I use TextExpander at least 50 times every day on iOS and my Mac. Anyone who thinks their pricing model isn't a great deal must not understand how to use the app. ### 5/5 — Love TextExpander so much! *2016-04-06, version 4.0* Don't listen to the 1-star reviews. They're upset about the pricing. There's not a day that goes by when I don't use TextExpander. It's the most awesome tool and I'm happy to pay anything for it. Keep up the great work everyone and thanks for an amazing app! ### 4/5 — Long time user on the Mac, but iPhone and iPad app needs work *2020-12-28, version 4.6.5* Been using TextExpander for years. I have no problem with their business model as the subscription is not really expensive for the value it provides. That said, while the macOS app works great (not so the Windows version but that is another topic), I experience that the iPad and iPhone app crashes quite a lot especially when editing a snippet. Also, the app feels a but “dusty” and just a clone of the desktop app on the iPad. Not sure why the app gets bad ratings on here as the tool itself is great and I couldn’t imagine working without. ### 4/5 — Good but initial launch issues *2020-06-05, version 4.6.1* The initial launch of this app was not a good intro which is hurting the reviews. When I first launched the tutorial screens came up obscured by the keyboard so you never saw the sign on button. I used the application picker to swipe away the app and it came up ok. Once I logged in the first suggestion was to replace snippets with server ones which I did. (I’m a new user so I had no server snippets). This wiped all snippets so the suggested tyvm sniper didn’t work making me think the app was broke. Finally it’s very important to follow the directions to enable the keyboard and give full access. The keyboard itself needs some work. Why not make the letters larger so they fill each key? The Apple keyboard dies this and is much easier to read. It also needs the key word suggestions and a swipe to type option. As for those complaining about a subscription $3.33/ month is a latte at Starbucks. As a software developer myself I will tell you it’s very difficult to sustain a software business over time. You can no longer make a 99 cent app every year and get a million downloads. Perhaps the developer could offer a free version limited to 5 or 10 snippets with an in app subscription purchase but that is up to their market analysis if it would be worth it. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*