Runestone Text Editor vs Web Inspector
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
Web Inspector
This app provides a suite of web development tools for Safari on mobile devices. Inspect and edit the DOM, view element styles, execute JavaScript commands, monitor network requests, and examine stored resources like cookies.
- DOM inspection and editing
- Element style viewer
- JavaScript console
- Network request monitoring
- Resource storage details
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Web Inspector expands Safari on iPhone and iPad with a set of web development tools: Elements: Browse the DOM tree and tap elements on the page to inspect them. View node details, styles, and computed values. Search the DOM, edit an element's HTML, and copy or delete nodes. Console: Type JavaScript commands to debug, modify, and get information about your webpage. Sources: Read the webpage's source with syntax highlighting. Network: See a list of network requests made by the webpage, with headers and responses. Filter requests, or copy one as a cURL command. Resources: Find details about the data stored by a webpage, such as cookies, local storage, and session storage. Tip: If you tap the Web Inspector button and nothing happens, reload the page once..
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Runestone Text Editor at 4.7 against Web Inspector's 3.9. Runestone Text Editor also leads on ratings volume (2K vs 152) and review sentiment (76% vs 65%). Web Inspector's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Web Inspector asks for nothing beyond the download.
Runestone Text Editor holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Runestone Text Editor has 2K ratings behind it against 152, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Runestone Text Editor's written reviews are positive against 65% of Web Inspector's.
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, Web Inspector weekly. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.
| Parameter | Runestone Text Editor | Web Inspector |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2K ratings) — better | 3.9 (152 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.1% of reviews — better | 65.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2K — better | 152 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #41 — better | #42 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 64 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Simon B. Støvring | And a Dinosaur |
Customer experience
Runestone Text Editor
Web Inspector
User reviews
Runestone Text Editor
From 2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💎 Excellent text editor
- 🚀 Smooth and responsive
- 🎨 Customizable themes and appearance
- 🔒 Secure file storage and sync
- 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
- 🔍 Difficulty navigating files/folders
- 📝 Limited functionality without premium
- 🔌 Performance issues on older devices
- 🔒 Difficulty accessing files in cloud storage
Web Inspector
From 152 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Efficient web inspector
- 👍 Useful debugging tools
- 🔍 Helpful for web development
- 💡 Brings desktop-like functionality to mobile
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited functionality compared to desktop tools
- 🔍 Inconsistent performance
- 🔍 Difficult to use or navigate
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
Web Inspector
Reported bugs
4 issues- Disappears when reloading webpage
- Doesn't work on newer iOS versions
- Doesn't load on crashed tabs
- Permissions issues
Requested features
4 requests- CSS editing capabilities
- Resizable panel
- Improved console functionality
- Better integration with Safari
In-app purchases
Runestone Text Editor
- Premium$9.99
Web Inspector
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Is Web Inspector free?
Which has better reviews, Runestone Text Editor or Web Inspector?
Do Runestone Text Editor or Web Inspector have ads?
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or Web Inspector?
Which is more popular, Runestone Text Editor or Web Inspector?
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