Comparison

TextEdit vs EML Viewer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

TextEdit

A fast and versatile text editor for mobile devices, offering compatibility with various file formats and editors. It provides a distraction-free writing experience with advanced formatting, organization, and sharing features.

Highlights
  • Supports TXT, RTF, Markdown, TeX, and PDF formats
  • Cross-device and computer syncing via iCloud/Files
  • Distraction-free writing interface
  • Customizable keyboard extension for faster typing
  • Visual rich text formatting and one-tap options
  • Syntax highlighting for Markdown and TeX
  • Instant statistics and counters
Features
Read full description

TextEdit+ is the text editor your iPhone and iPad were missing. Like TextEdit on the Mac, it opens to a clean page and stays out of your way. Unlike it, it also speaks Markdown and LaTeX, marks up PDFs and puts an AI assistant right inside your document. Jot down a quick TXT, format a rich-text letter, write a README in Markdown or compile a LaTeX paper. One lightweight app, no clutter. ONE EDITOR, EVERY TEXT FORMAT • Create and edit TXT, RTF, RTFD, Markdown and LaTeX files • Open RTF files from macOS TextEdit, WordPad, Word and Scrivener, and keep working on them on your Mac or PC • Open PDFs and mark them up with highlights, notes and text • Work on files right where they live: Files, iCloud Drive or your cloud storage • Organize your documents in folders and subfolders A CLEAN PLACE TO WRITE • Distraction-free editor with Full Screen and Typewriter modes • Keep several documents open in tabs and switch with a tap • Extended keyboard row for cursor moves, selection and the characters you use most • Keyboard shortcuts for hardware keyboards • Read Aloud with your choice of voice and speed • Light and dark appearance, plus custom document colors RICH TEXT WITHOUT THE BLOAT • Fonts, sizes, colors, highlights, bold, italic, underline and strikethrough • Alignment, indents, lists, line and paragraph spacing, superscript and subscript • Insert images, tables and inline equations • Install your own fonts and use them in any document MARKDOWN AND LATEX, DONE PROPERLY • Syntax highlighting for Markdown and TeX • Live Markdown preview: edit, preview or split view side by side • Compile LaTeX right on your device and preview the PDF next to your source • Article, report, book and letter templates, command completion, error diagnostics and a document outline • Multi-file projects with included files and bibliographies AI THAT WORKS IN YOUR DOCUMENT • Turn a prompt into a first draft • Rewrite, shorten, expand, summarize or translate the selected text • Fix grammar, spelling and punctuation, or switch the tone between casual, concise, friendly and professional • Ask the assistant about your own documents and get answers with sources • Prefer to write without AI? Hide every AI feature with one switch TOOLS FOR EDITING • Find and replace across the whole document • Word, character, sentence, paragraph, line and page counts with reading time • Readability scores: Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch–Kincaid Grade, SMOG and Automated Readability Index • Automatic backups, so an edit is never lost • Scan paper documents with the camera EXPORT AND SHARE • Export to PDF, Word (DOCX), RTF, RTFD, Markdown, TXT, TeX and PNG • Print, email or send your work to any app • Send text, links and files to TextEdit+ from other apps with the share sheet • Shortcuts actions to create, open, search and rename documents Built for iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo, and localized in more than 70 languages. Privacy Policy https://www.noteswriter.com/Kairoos_Privacy_Policy.html Terms of Use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

EML Viewer

Easily view saved emails in EML format directly on your iOS device. Open attachments, share them with other applications, or print them. You can also compose a new email using the content of an EML file.

Highlights
  • View EML files
  • Access attachments
  • Share attachments
  • Print attachments
  • Compose new emails from EML
Features
Read full description

View .EML files on your iOS device, including attachments within them. These are usually emails saved in the EML format. Tap on an EML file in another app, "Open In..." and select EML Viewer to view your saved email. You may tap "open a sample EML" to see an example email open up. Attachments may be shared with other apps or printed. Tap the compose icon to open your EML as a new Mail message This app is for .EML files. If you also need to view Outlook .MSG files, check out our related apps MSG View and Message Viewer Pro on the App Store.

Screenshots

TextEdit4 screens
EML Viewer2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: TextEdit at Free against EML Viewer's $1.99. TextEdit also leads on rating (3.7 vs 3.0) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). EML Viewer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and review sentiment (49% vs 17%). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

TextEdit is free to download; EML Viewer costs $1.99 up front. TextEdit sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. EML Viewer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TextEdit holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TextEdit has 380 ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 17% of TextEdit's written reviews are positive against 49% of EML Viewer's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TextEdit ships an update weekly, EML Viewer every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
TextEdit versus EML Viewer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTextEditEML Viewer
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating3.7 (380 ratings) — better3.0 (21 ratings)
Positive reviews17.1% of reviews49.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings380 — better21
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size461 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKairoos Solutions SLMatrix Logic Corporation

Customer experience

TextEdit

All ratings380 ratings
Positive65.8%
Neutral5.0%
Negative29.2%
Written reviews210 reviews
Positive17.1%
Neutral7.1%
Negative75.7%

EML Viewer

All ratings21 ratings
Positive52.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative47.6%
Written reviews96 reviews
Positive49.0%
Neutral5.2%
Negative45.8%

User reviews

TextEdit

From 380 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📝 Simple and clean text editor
  • 🔗 Integrates well with iCloud
  • 👍 Useful for basic document editing

Room to improve

  • 💰 Requires subscription for full functionality
  • 🔒 Locks users out of previously purchased content
  • 🚫 Prevents access to app without subscription
  • 🤖 Forced AI integration that users don't want

EML Viewer

From 21 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✅ Opens .eml files
  • 👍 Works as advertised
  • 🚀 Quick updates and support
  • ✨ Displays attachments
  • 💡 Handles PEC emails

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes frequently
  • 🐛 Unusable due to crashes
  • 🐛 Does not read digitally signed emails
  • 🐛 Does not open files over 2MB
  • 🐛 Low memory errors

Bugs and requests

TextEdit

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when opening certain file types
  • Formatting issues when copying/pasting text
  • Inconsistent behavior across devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • Allow users to choose iCloud directory
  • Offer one-time purchase option instead of subscription
  • Restore previous paid versions without AI

EML Viewer

Reported bugs

34 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • App is unusable due to crashes
  • Does not read digitally signed emails
  • Does not open files over 2MB
  • Low memory errors
Show 29 more
  • Poor formatting and link browsing
  • Does not download attached images
  • Only displays email header
  • Does not support dark mode override
  • Clumsy to open files
  • Does not open attachments
  • Does not support Chinese characters
  • Does not display formatted text
  • Cannot open EML files from Calendar app
  • Does not support Reply and Forward
  • Does not open attachments from PEC
  • Blank screen on opening
  • Crashes on some EML files
  • Does not show up in share menu
  • Instructions not clear
  • Money wasted
  • Does not open EML files
  • Garbled Japanese characters
  • Does not open PDF attachments
  • Crashes browser
  • Does not open EML files on iPad
  • Does not support ISO2022JP
  • Does not display To/Cc Japanese names correctly
  • Price is slightly high
  • Does not support Outlook MSG to EML conversion
  • Does not support EML files from Lotus Notes
  • Does not allow printing or PDF export
  • Forwarding not compatible with default mail apps
  • Does not display external images by default

Requested features

12 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Option to create folders
  • Ability to print messages
  • Forwarding function
  • Prevent external images from loading by default
Show 7 more
  • Support for ISO2022JP character encoding
  • Support for Lotus Notes EML files
  • Improved handling of To/Cc Japanese names
  • Improved link browsing controls
  • Support for digitally signed emails
  • Support for emails over 2MB
  • Improved memory management

In-app purchases

4 purchases

TextEdit

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly$1.997 Days
  • TextEdit+ Monthly3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • TextEdit+ Annual3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • TextEdit+ Full Unlock$14.99
None

EML Viewer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is TextEdit free?
TextEdit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is EML Viewer free?
EML Viewer costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, TextEdit or EML Viewer?
TextEdit is rated higher. TextEdit averages 3.7 out of 5 from 380 ratings, while EML Viewer averages 3.0 from 21 ratings.
Do TextEdit or EML Viewer have ads?
Neither TextEdit nor EML Viewer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TextEdit or EML Viewer?
TextEdit ships an update weekly, and EML Viewer every 2 months. Most recently, TextEdit was updated on November 6, 2026 and EML Viewer on November 6, 2026.

Other comparisons