# Penned vs Text4Me

The clearest difference is rating: Penned at 4.6 against Text4Me's 4.2. Text4Me's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and price ($2.99 vs $4.99). On review sentiment, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Penned costs $4.99 and Text4Me $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Penned holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 87 and 95 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 50% and 50% positive.

Penned ships an update every 2 months, Text4Me every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Penned | Text4Me |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $4.99 | **$2.99** |
| Rating | **[4.6 (87 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/penned-private-notes/id1480653765/reviews)** | [4.2 (95 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/text4me/id1530535446/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 87 | **95** |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 3 weeks** |
| Monetization | Paid | **Free** |
| Size | 1 MB | 13 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | **15.6** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Edwing H Santos Mena](https://appshunter.io/developer/1851857999) | [Dmytro Hrebeniuk](https://appshunter.io/developer/1458758581) |

## What reviewers say

### Penned

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/penned-private-notes/id1480653765)

A minimalist handwriting app designed for privacy, keeping all your notes securely on your device. It features natural writing with Apple Pencil, on-device AI text recognition, and smart tagging for easy searching. Export your notes as PDFs in a clean, distraction-free interface.

**Highlights:** Natural Apple Pencil writing, On-device AI text recognition, 100% private, no cloud, Export beautiful PDFs, Smart tagging and search, Distraction-free interface

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


### Text4Me

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/text4me/id1530535446)

This app transcribes text from popular messaging apps, videos, and audio files. It utilizes internal device functionality for secure audio processing, ensuring your data remains private. Simply install and set up the extension to begin converting speech to text.

**Highlights:** Transcribe messages from popular apps, Recognize text from videos, Convert audio files to text, Secure internal audio processing, Easy extension setup

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Penned free?

Penned costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Text4Me free?

Text4Me costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Penned or Text4Me?

Penned is rated higher. Penned averages 4.6 out of 5 from 87 ratings, while Text4Me averages 4.2 from 95 ratings.

### Do Penned or Text4Me have ads?

Neither Penned nor Text4Me shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Penned or Text4Me?

Penned ships an update every 2 months, and Text4Me every 3 weeks. Most recently, Penned was updated on September 22, 2026 and Text4Me on September 10, 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.*