# Vim — user reviews > 117 indexed App Store user reviews of Vim by Applidium, rated 2.90/5 from 21 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vim/id492668168/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vim/id492668168.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 7 · 4★ 2 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 2 · 1★ 8 ## What do users think of Vim? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - ✅ True Vim implementation with authentic commands and features - ⌨️ Works well with external Bluetooth keyboards - 🆓 Free application with no cost barrier - 🔒 Includes encryption functionality for secure editing - 📝 Supports .vimrc configuration files - 🎓 Good learning tool for Vim beginners - ⚡ Native performance when using external keyboards **Cons** - 🐛 Escape key mapping to backslash is cumbersome and unintuitive - 🐛 Space bar and other keys don't work with external keyboards - 🐛 Font rendering is illegible on Retina displays and newer devices - 🐛 Severe input lag and keystroke delay issues - 🐛 Window focus problems in multitasking environments - ❌ No file import/export functionality beyond iTunes - ❌ No Dropbox, iCloud, or cloud service integration - ❌ No copy/paste integration with other iOS apps - ❌ Limited virtual keyboard without essential keys (Esc, Tab, Ctrl) - ❌ No plugin support - ❌ Cannot execute external shell commands - ⚠️ App appears abandoned with no recent updates - ⚠️ Incompatible with many external keyboards (Magic Keyboard, Logitech K830) - ⚠️ Poor performance on older iPad models **Commonly reported bugs** - Escape key not recognized on external keyboards - Space bar non-functional with external keyboards - Font illegible on Retina and newer displays - Significant input lag between keystrokes and display - Window focus not maintained in multitasking - Keyboard recognition delays - Graphics scrambled on iPhone 6 and newer - Character rendering issues (missing 'f' character) - Command line errors with certain commands (:ls, :echo) - Syntax highlighting broken - App crashes on older iOS versions - 32-bit app incompatibility with iOS 11+ - Slow response to Bluetooth keyboard input **Most requested features** - Custom keyboard row with Esc, Tab, Ctrl, and common symbols - Dropbox and cloud service integration - iOS copy/paste and clipboard integration - File browser and file management system - Better font rendering and scaling options - Swipe gestures for common operations (Esc, Tab) - Plugin support - SSH/FTP connectivity - Customizable color schemes and themes - Better Bluetooth keyboard support and detection - MacVim-style tabs - iCloud synchronization - Open source project status - Support for external shell integration - Email attachment opening support ## Newest reviews (17 of 117) ### 4/5 — window focus *2026-04-26, version 1.2.1* iPad Air M3, with external keyboard & mouse. Using iVim simultaneous with other open windows, is proving to be not possable, because, iVim is not allowing the mouse pointer to focus in another window, when clicking in another window, the pointer focus will not hold, closing iVim down, fixes the problem. ### 3/5 — IVim is better *2025-12-26, version 1.2.1* With this it’s just vim, however it’s pretty hard to escape out of insert mode or visual mode bc they don’t put an esc directly on the keyboard. Use iVim instead, it puts the esc on the keyboard so it’s easy to use ### 2/5 — Serious problem in iOS 12 *2020-12-29, version 1.2.1* When using an external keyboard under iOS 14, there is no way to type the space, The same set up, iVim is working fine with all the keys. ### 2/5 — Great idea, but needs work *2019-12-26, version 1.2.1* I love the idea of having a VIM on my iPad. As other reviewers have pointed out, the app can be improved by deeper integration with iOS. Critically, my folio keyboard really doesn’t work with the app, with keys periodically becoming non-responsive. Since the development appears to be largely stalled, would the developer consider making the project as an open source? I doubt this will ever be a huge money maker, but could attract a small motivated community of developers. ### 4/5 — Need copy&paste funtion *2017-09-06, version 1.1.0* Thank you developer! Vim app is my saver! I understand full function is hard in iOS, but It is crutial to copy and paste from Vim and other App. So star(*) register needed to be clipboard register just like computer Vim. Command line error occured!!! - Found error :ls >> error !!!! :echo hi >>> backgroud error occured! ### 4/5 — Please, Update *2017-07-24, version 1.0.2* Soon iOS 11 will not support 32bit apps anymore, and this will no longer work. ### 3/5 — Vim on iOS devices *2017-05-24, version 1.0.2* Great contribution and commendable effort to bring and keep these tools alive. I used vi and later vim in my long years of computer programming, and system engineering. One suggestion. Can the font issue be fixed? ### 2/5 — Nice *2017-04-19, version 1.0.2* Its look like a very good app but It had some bugs on IPhone 6 so I can't use it ### 4/5 — Great App, Please Update *2017-01-05, version 1.0.2* If this app were updated to work with the Retina display and iPad Pro, I would be able to use it more often. It is a great application of existing technology, and a good introduction for students to learn to use Vim. ### 3/5 — Pretty Good, but... *2016-08-06, version 1.0.2* This is a good port of Vim. But there are many limitations due to iOS, that I think could be solved. Here are some suggested features that would be nice to have: - A customizable keyboard extension (a row or two above the keyboard with custom buttons like tab, escape, common programming symbols like <, >, =, /, \, +, [, ], {, }, ~, &, etc.), - A graphical file system viewer / manager / organizer (even if it only views files within the sandbox), - A viable means of transferring files to and from online services (like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.), as well as via iOS device to iOS device, PC , Macs through a browser or within the app, - separate terminal, - Customizable colour schemes. ### 4/5 — A Unix classic on iOS!! *2016-07-03, version 1.0.2* So delighted to find this. Text editors are few and far between on iOS and now I find the first one I ever learned! Yes, the interface is cryptic, but vi has always been that way. Vim added many new features, but the way we did things in the old days doesn't really translate well to iOS. This version does an admirable job. All the commands I struggled to learn years ago work just as expected. My only gripe is with the screen font. It is very thin and can be difficult to read. Granted, I'm using this on an iPad mini 2 and and even an iPhone 6, but the vertical on the lower case 'f' is completely missing and that can be very distracting. It often looks like it's supposed to be a '5'. If this could be fixed I would enjoy using this app more. For now it can be a struggle. ### 2/5 — Would be awesome.. *2016-06-28, version 1.0.2* iPad Pro smart keyboard has no esc key. Vim would be great if the dev added a soft escape. ### 1/5 — Unusable *2016-04-29, version 1.0.2* What a shame. As an avid vim user on the desktop, I was hopeful, but this is seriously unusable - at least with an external Bluetooth keyboard (frankly, trying to use vim without an external keyboard sounds like a joke to me, so the fact it's so broken with one amazes me - oh well). Don't get me wrong - it looks like a really good effort, and I'd love the developer to keep going with it - but alas, imo, it's not ready for the light of day yet. Keep up the good work though! ### 1/5 — Illegible text *2016-04-16, version 1.0.2* I can't read anything at all. It looks like the font doesn't really scale well on retina displays. ### 2/5 — Unfortunately unusable *2016-04-16, version 1.0.2* The font is illegible on iPhone 6 and only just legible on my iPad Pro. Seems it would be a simple fix to switch to a system font but it looks like the developers have abandoned it? Such a pity. ### 3/5 — Vim almost there *2016-04-04, version 1.0.2* As a vim user from the early 1990's an a vi user from the late 1970's this product is excellent except for one issue. It does not integrate with Dropbox. Such integration is trivial because there are already 30+ apps that Dropbox will launch on my iPhone to open a file on Dropbox. As it stands I cannot transfer a file to iOS vim or write a file any other app on my iPhone can see. What am I missing? Help!! ### 1/5 — Please Fix - Font Is Unreadable *2016-03-26, version 1.0.2* Illegible - complete junk. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Wouldn’t suggest it *2019-06-27, version 1.2.1* I wanted to use my magic keyboard with my ipad and use vim, but the space bar wouldn’t work. It’s extremely buggy. Would not suggest it. ### 1/5 — no esc key function *2018-12-06, version 1.2.0* When an external keyboard (magic keyboard 2) is connected, the esc key is not recognized. Without esc, vim is useless. ### 1/5 — No Logitech K830 keyboard support? *2018-05-25, version 1.1.0* And not enough Gvim in it for people who are intermittent users of Vim, & therefore don’t remember all the complicated mapping’s between char-sequences & functions... ( there is an excellent book, btw, called, iirc Practical Vim, which ups one’s Vimming spectacularly, which is what I wanted a Vim in iOS for: getting good at it, through my little bt keyboard! ) So, this is functionally broken, for me. IF IT WORKS FOR YOU, enjoy! It isn’t inherently no-good, it is no-good *for me*. Namaste! ( : ### 1/5 — Not very usable *2018-05-18, version 1.1.0* I use vim on the desktop all the time, but this app is nowhere ready for prime time. You need access to special keys to be productive, including backslash (which is remapped to esc). Check out iVim instead—it has a special row. ### 1/5 — proof-of-concept only *2017-11-30, version 1.1.0* This was an impressive proof-of-concept for porting vim to the iPad. Applidium deserves full credit to get the ball started on this and making their efforts open source. However, the app was never designed to actually be usable (broken font rendering, no way to actually open/close files, no ios-specific usability enhancements, etc). Even the recent beta update left much to be desired. Fortunately, others have continued the development. Currently, the iVim app is the actually useable version of this. Applidium should probably remove this from the app store at this point and contribute to the continued development of iVim instead. ### 1/5 — Doesn't work *2017-08-16, version 1.0.2* Doesn't work. Get iVim, that works... ### 1/5 — App needs updating or removal from app store *2017-05-17, version 1.0.2* App is out of date. ### 1/5 — Use cntl-[ for ESC *2017-01-12, version 1.0.2* Why doesn't anyone know this? Use VIM as the Unix gods intended, on a Digital Ocean cloud Linux/Unix instance. ;) There you can use all your fancy :! magic and more. Use Prompt 2 for the beautiful Menlo font option and Panic Palette. Get cellular data on your iPad with a Zagg/Logitech BT keyboard. If you really need local development (from the plane) use your Macbook Pro (that you can't really be without fully yet) or a cheap Linux laptop you've built just for such offline development. Don't pretend that using VIM to edit iPad files has any value at all. Most of the power is in shell integration and vimrc file macros. ### 1/5 — unfortunate *2016-08-01, version 1.0.2* I imagine in 2014 this was a great app, seeing as that was the last time it was updated. Right now, however, the text is illegible. This definitely creates some issues with a text editor. I agree with others that it would be nice for some integration with iCloud, but if there was at least an update to fix the legibility on newer devices that would be grand. ### 1/5 — Things that make you go...hmm? *2016-05-18, version 1.0.2* Without the esc key and just as importantly the ability to see the characters on an iPhone 6+ I don't think this even deserves 1 star. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — The real Vim *2025-01-30, version 1.2.1* Of course you’ll only benefit from this iOS port if using a physical keyboard, but that’s the whole point. It’s a true build of Vim, not a half-baked replica. ### 5/5 — As Described *2018-01-25, version 1.1.0* Great for trying out a daily vim tip on the train to work. Great app, thanks! ### 5/5 — Vim, not sure the use case, but like it’s what it is. *2017-11-26, version 1.1.0* Not sure the use case of this, but like it’s vim. I want to pull in some plugins and update my .vimrc, but I’m not sure if that’s possible, but at the same time, I’m just happy this exists. ### 5/5 — A great contribution to the ios ecosystem! *2015-01-03, version 1.0.2* Thank you for your quite faithful port of one of my favorite programs! Contrary to what other reviewers are saying, asking for cloud sync features and so forth, I appreciate that you seem to have simply done what you needed to do to build vim for ios and get it to work. No fancy weirdness, just vim. Since I use it with the built in keyboard, and since I downloaded the app years ago and haven't updated, it's true I have to make due without some "critical" keys and features. But vim is such a rich empowering environment that I can work around most issues by creating macros and maps that use the existing keys. Thanks again! I Applid your efforts! ### 5/5 — Great effort! Will download again 10/10 *2014-09-20, version 1.0.2* Thank you Applidium for making this app . The joke is deep and rings true for any vim user. It appears that Apple has not developed iOS to work like a UNIX computer but we can pretend, right? :open . is sort of a file browser. :! ls does not list files but fails because there is no shell to fork. Great effort! If you expect vim this is not vim. This is an art project for users with nostalgia for the age when computer operating systems used older metaphors, things like "files", "programs" and "directories". RIP to those days. It's bittersweet. Thanks again. ### 5/5 — Great app! *2014-09-08, version 1.0.2* Its just like vim except i cant connect to ftp servers. It always gives me an error. I normally use vim to edit my website through an ftp server and here i cant. Is it just me? ### 5/5 — Great way to learn vi on the go *2014-05-02, version 1.0.2* Says clearly (if you read) when you open the app that the escape key is mapped to the backslash. ### 5/5 — Nice *2014-02-23, version 1.0.1* Only seems to start in portrait though. ### 5/5 — Like *2013-02-23, version 1.0.0* This is a nice version of Vim. I like the developer's design philosophy to make it was close to the true Vim experience as possible. It just shows how much iOS has totally deviated from the original user experience (which isn't bad, in and if itself). If this app were to become less a cute art piece and more of an actual useful app that I'd want to use every day (it's *very* close), they would have to add a UI shell around the actual Vim app. That shell would enable things like cut/past, Dropbox, email, etc. In order to be useful, this app needs these things. I want to be able to push some code in, somehow, do something precise that is easy in Vim, the pop the code into something else (like Gist). This can't be done without the desktop (for iTunes), so I may as well SSH. I will keep an eye on this app. It's wonderful and fun just as it is. But I'd love to be able to use it for productivity. ### 5/5 — Love *2013-02-12, version 1.0.0* It's vim. Don't like it? Go somewhere else. --- *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 2026-06-09.*