# Clean Text vs Reading List

The clearest difference is price: Clean Text at Free against Reading List's $1.99. Reading List's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and device support (4 vs 2). On update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Clean Text is free to download; Reading List costs $1.99 up front. Clean Text sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Reading List asks for nothing beyond the download.

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Clean Text | Reading List |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $1.99 |
| Rating | **[4.6 (205 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/clean-text/id1039632918/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **205** | — |
| Positive reviews | 60.3% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 4 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 13 MB | 2 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | **13.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [Ivan Gobbo](https://appshunter.io/developer/320560024) | [晓涛 王](https://appshunter.io/developer/1387480495) |

## What reviewers say

### Clean Text

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/clean-text/id1039632918)

This app helps you edit, correct, and organize text quickly. It offers tools to fix formatting issues, standardize content, and improve readability for various writing tasks. Leverage AI-powered features and powerful search and replace for efficient text management.

**Highlights:** Fix formatting issues from various sources, Remove empty lines, extra spaces, and unwanted characters, Standardize content with a single tap, Integrates Apple Writing Tools for correction and summarization, Powerful find and replace with real-time highlighting, Access recent texts and reuse transformations, Seamless cross-device integration via iCloud

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Subscription | $0.99 | per month |
| Annual Subscription | $9.99 | per year |
| Lifetime License | $39.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Indispensable utility
- 🚀 Efficient text cleaning
- 👍 Easy to use
- 💡 Powerful text manipulation
- 👍 Saves significant time

**What reviewers complain about**

- 😞 Retroactive paywall for existing features
- 😞 Forced subscription model
- 😞 Expensive subscription/lifetime price
- 😞 Removed functionality for past purchasers
- 😞 Restore purchase not working (initially)

**Reported bugs**

- Restore purchase not working for past purchasers
- App crashes when using functions
- Input text turns white in Dark Mode
- Caret (^) for beginning of line in regex search fails
- App closes when trying a simple search

**Requested features**

- Bring back text sync between iPhones
- Customizable toolbar
- Optional iOS spell checker
- Support for parameters in shortcuts
- Create cleaning presets


### Reading List

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reading-list-read-later/id1501647738)

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Clean Text free?

Clean Text is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Reading List free?

Reading List costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Clean Text or Reading List have ads?

Neither Clean Text nor Reading List shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Clean Text or Reading List?

Clean Text ships an update every 4 months, and Reading List every 4 months. Most recently, Clean Text was updated on November 2, 2026 and Reading List on October 25, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*