Runestone Text Editor vs Packet Sender
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Runestone Text Editor
A powerful plain text and code editor for iPhone and iPad. Offers syntax highlighting, line numbers, find and replace, and extensive customization options for developers and writers.
- Syntax highlighting for many languages
- Customizable themes and fonts
- Advanced find and replace
- Line numbers and cursor location
- Code formatting with Prettier.js
- Multiple windows on iPad
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A plain text editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers, search and replace, page guide, and much more. It's like TextEdit but more powerful and optimised for iPhone and iPad. Runestone is made by a single person with a love for text editors and a vision of building the most lightweight text editor for iPhone and iPad that still has the core features for editing code. Features: - Syntax highlighting of many languages including HTML, JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, Swift, Python, PHP, YAML, and many more. - Select one of the twelve standard themes including popular themes like Tomorrow, Dracula, Solarized, and One Dark Pro. - Innovative find and replace for searching and modifying text while still viewing your file. - Choose font and font size, including support for custom fonts imported using another third-party app. - Show the line and column the cursor is located on. - Uses the standard document browser for an experience similar to the Files app. - Quickly navigate to a specific line. - Automatically close opening brackets and quotes. - Multiple windows on the iPad. - Format code using Prettier.js. Supported languages include CSS,HTML, JavaScript, JSON, PHP and more. - Choose text encoding between popular encodings like UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO Latin 1, and many more. - Enable or disable autocorrection, autocapitalization, and smart punctuation. - Set default file extension of new files. - Open files in Runestone from the Share Sheet. - Print documents. Premium features: - Choose between eight app icons. - Show line numbers. - Highlight the selected line. - Increase line height and letter spacing. - Disable line wrapping to allow horizontal scrolling. - Show tabs, spaces, and line breaks using a selected symbol. - Enable page guide at a specific column to easily tell when lines are getting too long. - Add vertical and horizontal overscroll. - Remember the selected language per file. - Save file extensions and filenames that should always be treated as plain text files. - Enable soft tabs and choose the width of the tab character. - Specify whether pressing the tab key should insert a tab or indent the line. - Adjust the scaling of Markdown headings and disable highlighting of code blocks in Markdown. Runestone was built on the open-source framework with the same name. Find more information on the Runestone framework at github.com/simonbs/runestone
Packet Sender
This network utility allows users to send UDP, TCP, and SSL packets with mixed ASCII or HEX input. It also supports sending HTTP GET/POST requests and receiving unsolicited packets on chosen ports. Data can be copied and pasted in various formats, and desktop packets can be transferred via cloud.
- Send UDP, TCP, SSL packets
- Mixed ASCII or HEX input
- Send HTTP GET/POST requests
- Receive unsolicited packets
- Copy/Paste data in ASCII/HEX/RAW
- Transfer desktop packets via cloud
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The core features of the award-winning Packet Sender has been rewritten from scratch to provide the best possible experience on your mobile device. - Send UDP, TCP, SSL packets using mixed ASCII notation or direct HEX input. - Send HTTP GET/POST/PUT/DELETE/QUERY requests. - Receive unsolicited UDP or TCP from the built-in servers on the port of your choosing. - Copy/Paste the incoming data in ASCII/HEX/RAW formats - Transfer your desktop packets using Packet Sender Cloud
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Runestone Text Editor at Free against Packet Sender's $1.99. Runestone Text Editor also leads on review sentiment (76% vs 43%) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 8 months). Packet Sender's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On rating, ads and chart position 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
Runestone Text Editor is free to download; Packet Sender costs $1.99 up front. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Packet Sender asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Runestone Text Editor against 4.8 for Packet Sender. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Runestone Text Editor has 2K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Runestone Text Editor's written reviews are positive against 43% of Packet Sender's.
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, Packet Sender every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Runestone Text Editor | Packet Sender |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (2K ratings) | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.0% of reviews — better | 42.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #42 — better | #77 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 64 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Simon B. Støvring | NagleCode, LLC |
Customer experience
Runestone Text Editor
Packet Sender
Bugs and requests
Runestone Text Editor
Reported bugs
6 issues- Disappearing files
- Difficulty pasting text
- Scroll position not saved
- Hangs on startup
- Trouble opening large files
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- Issues after iOS updates
Requested features
6 requests- Markdown preview
- Code folding
- Syntax highlighting for more languages
- Ability to run/execute code
- Multiple file/window support
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- Improved undo/redo functionality
Packet Sender
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Runestone Text Editor
- Premium$9.99
Packet Sender
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Is Packet Sender free?
Which has better reviews, Runestone Text Editor or Packet Sender?
Do Runestone Text Editor or Packet Sender have ads?
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or Packet Sender?
Which is more popular, Runestone Text Editor or Packet Sender?
Other comparisons
