Comparison

Runestone Text Editor vs Text Editing

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

About

Text Editing

A simple and fast text editor for iOS that works offline, prioritizing user privacy by keeping all data local. It offers automatic resizing for notes and a stable editing experience.

Highlights
  • Simple notepad interface
  • Automatic note resizing
  • Offline functionality
  • Enhanced privacy
  • Local data storage
  • Fast and stable editing
Features
Read full description

This is a really simple notepad application which is as easy to use as a notepad. Just put your notes to the notepad which grows and shrinks automatically to fit your needs. You can work everywhere, stay productive. Text editor is a fast, stable and full featured text editor. It has been optimised for use on ios Text editor, our core priority is to give you privacy our app works offline and does not require any data sharing to format and make edits to your text file Security and user data safety is our primary concern All text files and data stay locally on your device. [Text Editing Pro Subscription] - Text Editing Pro subscription is billed monthly or annually at the rate corresponding to the selected plan. In addition, a one-time payment will be offered if needed, which is not one of the subscription plan. - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. [Terms of Use] https://skyinfotechdeveloper.com/terms_and_condition_ios.html [Privacy Policy] https://skyinfotechdeveloper.com/privacy_policy_ios.html

Screenshots

Runestone Text Editor4 screens
Text Editing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Runestone Text Editor at 76% against Text Editing's 0%. Runestone Text Editor also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.2) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 13 months). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Text Editing sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Runestone Text Editor holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Runestone Text Editor has 2K ratings behind it against 6, 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 0% of Text Editing's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, Text Editing every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Runestone Text Editor versus Text Editing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunestone Text EditorText Editing
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2K ratings) — better3.2 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews76.1% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2K — better6
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 13 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#41 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better16
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB36 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon B. StøvringLaxay Gajera

Customer experience

Runestone Text Editor

All ratings1,962 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews351 reviews
Positive76.1%
Neutral9.7%
Negative14.2%

Text Editing

All ratings6 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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
Show 1 more
  • 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
Show 1 more
  • Improved undo/redo functionality

Text Editing

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99
3 purchases

Text Editing

Subscriptions3
  • Text Editing Pro - Weekly$0.997 Days
  • Text Editing Pro - Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Text Editing Pro - Yearly$9.991 Year

Questions

Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Text Editing free?
Text Editing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Runestone Text Editor or Text Editing?
Runestone Text Editor is rated higher. Runestone Text Editor averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2K ratings, while Text Editing averages 3.2 from 6 ratings.
Do Runestone Text Editor or Text Editing have ads?
Neither Runestone Text Editor nor Text Editing shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or Text Editing?
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, and Text Editing every 13 months. Most recently, Runestone Text Editor was updated on September 23, 2026 and Text Editing on September 9, 2026.

Other comparisons