CleverSnippets vs Firstext
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CleverSnippets
Save time by creating reusable text templates with powerful placeholders. Quickly generate personalized messages, emails, and more for any situation. The free version offers unlimited snippets and essential features, with optional upgrades for advanced functionality.
- Create unlimited snippets
- Use placeholder types (input, clipboard, photo, date)
- Share snippets via sharing sheet
- Save snippets as text, RTF, PNG, PDF, HTML
- Copy snippets to clipboard
- iCloud synchronization (Pro version)
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*** Start now into a more convenient future of faster texts, mails and messages! *** Did you ever find yourself in the situation where you asked yourself: "Wait a minute - haven't I wrote almost the same text/mail/message before!?"? THE SITUATION Almost everybody wastes time by writing nearly identical texts over and over again. Some examples: • The always same "Happy birthday!"-Message you send to your friends & family • The message you send out after selling something on the internet • The reply to the recruiter who just sent you a job opening • ... For all of these and more situations CleverSnippets can help you to speed things up a lot! By creating snippets with powerful placeholders you will be able to generate extensive personalized and adapted texts, mails and messages in seconds in the future. See the app preview video for an example. BASIC VERSION The base version of CleverSnippets is and will forever stay free. It enables you to: • Create an unlimited amount of snippets. • Add the two placeholder types "Prompt for input" and "Use clipboard content" - which will be sufficient for many cases. • Share your processed snippets via sharing sheet with the applications on your device - for example to your Mail app. • Save your processed snippets to the Files App as plain text or in Rich Text Format. • Copy your processed snippets to the clipboard as plain text or in Rich Text Format. • Amaze people with the speed of your replies ;-) UPGRADES (You will keep hold of your upgrades FOREVER - and even get additional features for free if these are added within your upgrade category. CleverSnippets will NEVER change to a subscription based model!) If you decide to get even more, we got you covered. There are four upgrades available: PlaceholderTypes+ • Unlocks placeholder type "Take photo". • Unlocks placeholder type "Select image". • Unlocks placeholder type "Select date". • Unlocks placeholder type "Select date & time". • Unlocks fixed images in snippets. • Unlocks fixed links in snippets. FileTypes+ • Unlocks the file type "RTF (MS Windows™)" for saving. • Unlocks the file type "PNG (image)" for saving and/or copying. • Unlocks the file type "PDF" for saving and/or copying. • Unlocks the file type "HTML" for saving and/or copying. Appearance+ • Disables advertising (will be displayed with more than three snippets). • Adds the dark mode (for iOS < version 13 - from iOS 13 on CleverSnippets will use the system setting). ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE If you like to get serious about speeding up your world this is your upgrade: CleverSnippetsPro • All of the other upgrades included • iCloud synchronization • All future enhancements of the iOS app included TAKING ABOUT FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS There is still a lot to come: • Share your snippets with friends & family • More placeholder types • Even more powerful snippets THANK YOU FOR READING TO THIS POINT We know long texts can be cumbersome. Anyhow with CleverSnippets creating such should be fast and easy for you in the future :-)
Firstext
This app is a straightforward text editor designed for quick note-taking and text creation. It automatically saves your work and allows for easy sharing to other applications with customizable actions. Advanced features like search, replace, and character counting are also included.
- Instant text input on launch
- Automatic text saving and restoration
- Customizable text sharing actions
- Cursor movement by swiping
- Search and replace functionality
- Character and line counting
- Font size adjustment
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Firstext is a simple text editor application. I named it "First" + "Text" = "Firstext" with the aim of making it the "first step" in all kinds of text creation. Firstext has the following features. ・Start typing as soon as the application is launched. ・The text you type is automatically saved and can be restored at any time. ・Ability to freely share text to other apps by creating and adding share actions to suit your needs. There is no functionality for managing multiple texts or notes, decorating text, or inserting photos. *Before removing the limitation by in-app purchase, the number of shared actions is limited to 10, and the number of saved history is limited to 20. Please understand. After confirming the usability of the application, you can use it without restrictions by making an in-app purchase. Main functions and features ・Input text as soon as the application is launched. ・Automatic saving and restoration of text ・Ability to create and add shared actions. ・Ability to move the cursor by swiping left and right. ・Ability to search and replace text. ・Ability to search and delete history. ・Ability to count the number of characters and lines. ・Ability to change the font size of text. ・Ability to change icons. ・URL scheme support - Launch → firstext:// - Startup by replacing the current text with the clipboard contents → firstext://clipReplace - Starts by appending the clipboard contents to the end of the current text → firstext://clipAdd - Inserts the clipboard content at the cursor position of the current text → firstext://clipInsert - Starts with replacing the current text with the specified text → firstext://textReplace?text=[text] - Appends the specified text to the end of the current text → firstext://textAdd?text=[text] - Inserts the specified text at the cursor position of the current text → firstext://textInsert?text=[text] The following features will be added in future updates Synchronization of text, shared actions, and history with other devices via iCloud *I have confirmed an issue where an alert regarding pasting is displayed every time when using clipboard-related URL schemes on iOS 16 or later. This issue can be avoided by updating to iOS16.1 or later and making the following settings from the Settings app. (1) Select "Firstext" in the Settings app and select "Paste from Other Apps". (2) Change the setting to "Allow". *Notification about pasting will appear even after changing to "Allow". Due to the limitation of iOS, you cannot turn off this notification.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: CleverSnippets at 100% against Firstext's 50%. CleverSnippets also leads on ads (none vs shown) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. CleverSnippets sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Firstext sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
CleverSnippets ships an update monthly, Firstext every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CleverSnippets | Firstext |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stephan Sann | Akihiro Usui |
Customer experience
CleverSnippets
Firstext
In-app purchases
CleverSnippets
- PlaceholderTypes+$1.99
- FileTypes+$1.99
- Appearance+$1.99
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- CleverSnippetsPro$4.99
Firstext
- Snack-Sized Tip$0.49
- Restriction Removal$1.99
- Coffee-Sized Tip$1.99
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- Lunch-Sized Tip$3.99









