Comparison

Hieroglyph Pro vs Pen Capture

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

Head to head
About

Hieroglyph Pro

Unlock the secrets of Ancient Egyptian language with a comprehensive dictionary and translator. Explore thousands of hieroglyphic signs, words, and phrases, with multiple search and input methods. Offers beginner to professional modes for all learning levels.

Highlights
  • 4124 hieroglyphic signs
  • 221,120 words, phrases, titles, epithets, and locations
  • Beginner, Student, and Pro modes
  • Glyph search by frequency of use
  • 6 ways to enter hieroglyphs for translation
  • Supports Hieratic glyphs and evolution
  • Custom word storage and transmission
Read full description

Read and understand Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs with a professional-grade dictionary and translation tool used by students, researchers, and Egyptologists. This powerful App is simply the best interactive, most complete, self contained dictionary and translator between English and Ancient Egyptian! Our dictionary is vetted against modern professional references, including the popular online Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae, and standard references including Hannig, and the Worterbuch. Hieroglyphics Pro has been developed and evolved in consultation with professional Egyptologists. This app explains what the ancient symbols mean, how they may have been pronounced and how they formed words and phrases.  The App contains: - 4124 hieroglyphic signs - 223,111 words, phrases, titles, epithets, and locations used in Ancient Egypt.  - The Horus, Birth, and Throne names of all the known Pharaohs and Queens of Egypt. Our dictionary has almost triple the content of any other smartphone dictionary/translation apps. Hieroglyphics Pro has several modes:  - Beginner mode simplifies the App with a minimal set of 200 glyphs for easy searching and an easy pronunciation guide.  - Student mode show the standard Middle Egyptian Gardiner set of about 700 glyphs, organized by shape, and standard transliteration.  - Pro mode uses all 1,071 glyphs in Gardiner's classic categories plus more than 3000 additional signs used in the dictionary.   A unique, powerful feature of Hieroglyphics Pro is the ability to find glyphs by how often they are used in inscriptions. This makes adding common signs to a phrase or word a snap!  Egyptian words and phrases in the dictionary are drawn graphically in quadrat groups, in the artistic style of the ancient inscriptions. The App offers 6 ways to enter Hieroglyphs for translation:   • Graphically from Gardiner groupings, or in Beginner Mode, plus Gardiner's/Manley's Groupings by shape - A unique feature allows finding glyphs sorted by their frequency of use! • Direct keyboard text entry of Gardiner codes (i.e., A1, D21, Aa2) • Typing in phonetic shortcuts as defined by the MdC (i.e., Htp, nTr, r, etc.) • By transliteration symbol from the Phonetic shortcuts table • Searching for keywords in a glyph's description or determinative words Text entries of Gardiner Codes and MdC can now be edited with a cursor and finger swiping, just like other text editing apps! Very quick and convenient! Egyptians wrote Right to Left, Left to Right, and Top to Bottom. The App allows you to enter Left to Right, and then view the Glyphs in reverse direction if you wish. HieroglyphPro allows you to add/store/transmit their own custom words to the dictionary. Hieroglyph Pro is the first and only mobile App to introduce Hieratic (a style of cursive, handwritten Egyptian) glyphs, and illustrate how they evolved over the centuries. Hieroglyphics Pro is a modern iOS 26 App, back compatible back to iOS 16, Dark Mode and all. It contains help files and links to both on-line references and to printed books for advanced study. The app and its dictionary data are entirely self-contained. No internet or cell phone required. The new optional link to the Thesaurus-Linguae-Aegyptiae (TLA) academic database does, however, require wifi or cell connection. When you have found the translation your were seeking, with a tap it is copied on to the clipboard and can be pasted into another App, an Email, message, etc. Hieroglyph Pro is a one-time purchase! No ads! No subscriptions!

About

Pen Capture

Features
Read full description

Pen Capture is an app for participating in handwriting research studies. It was created as part of the Writing Through Time project. You use the app to select an experiment, follow a short set of writing tasks, and record handwriting data using Apple Pencil. The app guides you through each session step by step. Instructional videos are also provided for additional clarity. If you are invited to participate in a handwriting study, this app provides the tools needed to do so.

Screenshots

Hieroglyph Pro4 screens
Pen Capture4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pen Capture at Free against Hieroglyph Pro's $4.99. Hieroglyph Pro's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.5). On ads, in-app purchases 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

Pen Capture is free to download; Hieroglyph Pro costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hieroglyph Pro ships an update every 10 days, Pen Capture every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 11, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Hieroglyph Pro versus Pen Capture: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHieroglyph ProPen Capture
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (26 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews88.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings26 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.5
Further details — not scored
Size260 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAviametrix, LLCChristian Dane Casey

In-app purchases

None

Hieroglyph Pro

No in-app purchases

None

Pen Capture

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hieroglyph Pro free?
Hieroglyph Pro costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pen Capture free?
Pen Capture is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hieroglyph Pro or Pen Capture have ads?
Neither Hieroglyph Pro nor Pen Capture shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hieroglyph Pro or Pen Capture?
Hieroglyph Pro ships an update every 10 days, and Pen Capture every 4 months. Most recently, Hieroglyph Pro was updated on September 11, 2026 and Pen Capture on September 18, 2026.

Other comparisons