Comparison

Runestone Text Editor vs Preloop

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

Preloop

This app acts as a human approval layer for AI agents, intercepting risky actions and routing them for your one-tap approval. It allows AI to handle routine tasks while you maintain control over critical decisions, ensuring compliance and an audit trail.

Highlights
  • Human approval for AI actions
  • Instant notifications with context
  • One-tap approve/decline
  • Audit trail for compliance
  • Risk-based policy enforcement
  • Works with Claude and Cursor
Features
Read full description

Preloop is the human approval layer for autonomous AI agents. When your agents attempt risky actions like deployments, refunds, or data changes, Preloop intercepts the request and routes it to you for approval right on your iPhone or Apple Watch. The right people in your organization get instant notifications with full context, approve or decline with one tap, while your organization maintains a complete audit trail for compliance. Preloop enables event-driven automation through Agentic Flows - let AI agents handle routine work automatically while you control critical decisions. Setup takes 3 minutes as an MCP proxy, works with Claude and Cursor, and requires no infrastructure changes. Risk-based policies ensure only high-stakes actions need approval while low-risk operations run automatically. AI agents can't take legal or moral responsibility for their actions - Preloop ensures humans stay in control. Perfect for engineering teams, DevOps, and anyone deploying autonomous AI in production. Enterprise-ready, designed for SOC2 compliance, role-based access, and secure end-to-end encryption.

Screenshots

Runestone Text Editor4 screens
Preloop2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Preloop at none against Runestone Text Editor's 1. Preloop also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Runestone Text Editor's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (2K vs 1). On price, ads 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

Both are free to download. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Preloop asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Preloop holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Runestone Text Editor has 2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, Preloop every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Runestone Text Editor versus Preloop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunestone Text EditorPreloop
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings2K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#46 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.2
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSimon B. StøvringSpacecode AI Inc

Customer experience

Runestone Text Editor

All ratings1,962 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews353 reviews
Positive76.2%
Neutral9.6%
Negative14.2%

Preloop

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Preloop

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99
None

Preloop

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Preloop free?
Preloop is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Runestone Text Editor or Preloop?
Preloop is rated higher. Runestone Text Editor averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2K ratings, while Preloop averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Runestone Text Editor or Preloop have ads?
Neither Runestone Text Editor nor Preloop shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or Preloop?
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, and Preloop every 3 months. Most recently, Runestone Text Editor was updated on September 30, 2026 and Preloop on September 25, 2026.

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