Comparison

TextEdit vs SmartPDF

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

SmartPDF

Features
Read full description

SmartPDF — PDF Toolkit Pro is your complete PDF toolkit for iPhone. Scan, read, organize, edit, sign, and protect documents in one fast and clean workflow. 12 powerful PDF tools • Image to PDF • Word to PDF • Merge PDF • Split PDF • Compress PDF • Page Manager • OCR Extract • Annotate • Sign PDF • Watermark • Redact Text • Password Protect Scan, Read & Create • Scan documents with your camera • Import images and turn them into PDFs • Open PDFs in a built-in reader • Search text inside documents • Browse pages with thumbnails • Save bookmarks and continue where you left off Premium • 7-day free trial for premium features • One-time purchase after trial, no subscription • Restore purchases on devices using the same Apple ID SmartPDF helps you stay productive wherever you are — whether you need to scan paperwork, sign a contract, extract text with OCR, or protect sensitive files.

Screenshots

TextEdit4 screens
SmartPDF4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: SmartPDF at 15.0 against TextEdit's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. TextEdit sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and SmartPDF sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TextEdit ships an update weekly, SmartPDF every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
TextEdit versus SmartPDF: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTextEditSmartPDF
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (380 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews17.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings380 — better—
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size461 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKairoos Solutions SLSergino Elisha A.

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

SmartPDF

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
1 purchases

SmartPDF

One-time1
  • SmartPDF Premium$4.99

Questions

Is TextEdit free?
TextEdit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SmartPDF free?
SmartPDF is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do TextEdit or SmartPDF have ads?
Neither TextEdit nor SmartPDF shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TextEdit or SmartPDF?
TextEdit ships an update weekly, and SmartPDF every 5 days. Most recently, TextEdit was updated on November 6, 2026 and SmartPDF on October 31, 2026.

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