TextEdit vs Joplin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
Joplin
A privacy-focused note-taking and to-do application that allows you to capture multimedia notes, organize them with notebooks and tags, and sync across devices. It offers end-to-end encryption and an offline-first approach for secure and accessible information management.
- Capture multimedia notes (speech, photos, videos, PDFs)
- Organize notes with notebooks and tags
- Create to-dos and set reminders
- End-to-end encryption for privacy
- Cross-device synchronization (Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive)
- Offline-first access
- OCR search for text within images and PDFs
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Privacy-first app Capture your thoughts freely and without distractions, tracking, or ads. With Joplin’s end-to-end encryption and open-source code, you can concentrate on your ideas and tasks without worrying about your privacy. Capture multimedia notes Capture multimedia notes effortlessly. In Joplin you can : • create manuscript notes, • transcribe speech to note, • add multimedia: photos, videos, PDFs, and images, • insert documents as attachments, • create math expressions, add tables, write code and insert diagrams, • create to-dos and add reminders. Organise your ideas Organise your notes into notebooks. Connect your notes with tags by subject or priority. Use colours and rich text editor to format your notes with ease. Make task lists, create to-dos and add reminders. Effortlessly find your notes, even within PDFs and images, thanks to the powerful search feature enhanced by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Use Joplin to store your bills, lecture notes, photos or receipts. Reliable synchronisation Access your notes from computer, phone or tablet by synchronising with various services including Joplin Cloud, Dropbox and OneDrive. Seamlessly move from one device to another. Offline-first You can access your notes anytime and anywhere, even without Internet. If you’re using Joplin on multiple devices, they will synchronise and update once you regained the connection. Enhance your productivity across devices Extend your note-taking experience by using Joplin on additional devices such as a desktop computer or tablet. Make the most of each device by using its specific features. On the desktop app, use a web clipper extension, wide-range of community plugins and a Markdown editor. Experience flawless handwriting and drawing on your tablet. Join active community Connect with Joplin’s vibrant community on Joplin Forum. It’s a place where users can share ideas, ask questions, exchange information and give feedback. Joplin’s dynamic community also develops powerful plugins, so you can customise your app to suit your needs.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Joplin at 67% against TextEdit's 17%. Joplin also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and rating (4.1 vs 3.7). TextEdit's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. TextEdit sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Joplin asks for nothing beyond the download.
Joplin holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 380 and 480 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 17% of TextEdit's written reviews are positive against 67% of Joplin's.
TextEdit ships an update weekly, Joplin monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | TextEdit | Joplin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (380 ratings) | 4.1 (480 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 17.1% of reviews | 66.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 380 | 480 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 461 MB | 73 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kairoos Solutions SL | Laurent Cozic |
Customer experience
TextEdit
Joplin
User reviews
TextEdit
From 380 App Store ratingsWhat 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
Joplin
From 480 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app
- 🔒 End-to-end encryption
- 👍 Excellent cross-platform support
- 👍 Intuitive Markdown support
- 👍 Flexible sync options (Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV)
Room to improve
- 🐛 Sync issues, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Buggy UI, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Slow performance at times
- 🐛 Confusing interface, not very intuitive
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
Joplin
Reported bugs
5 issues- Sync issues with WebDAV and Dropbox
- Crashes when creating new notes
- Keyboard issues, text getting obscured
- Rendering problems in dark mode
- Compatibility issues with older iOS versions
Requested features
6 requests- Add web clipper functionality on iOS
- Implement nested notebooks on iOS
- Allow password/biometric protection for notes
- Improve text editing experience on mobile
- Add more font and formatting options
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- Implement a trash/recycle bin for deleted notes
In-app purchases
TextEdit
- Weekly$1.997 Days
- TextEdit+ Monthly3 Days trial$3.991 Month
- TextEdit+ Annual3 Days trial$14.991 Year
- TextEdit+ Full Unlock$14.99
Joplin
No in-app purchases









