Runestone Text Editor vs JavaScript Challenge
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
JavaScript Challenge
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Feed your brain. Level up. Learn to write real JavaScript by solving one puzzle at a time, right on your phone. JavaScript Challenge is a single path of original coding problems, from your first function to graphs, dynamic programming and beyond. Every solution runs on-device in real JavaScript and is checked against hidden tests, so passing means it actually works. Free to start: the opening levels are free, then unlock the full path with a single one-time purchase. No subscription, no ads, no account. WRITE REAL CODE • A coder keyboard built for JavaScript: tab, brackets, quotes, snippets, undo • Instant feedback with named tests, expected vs actual output • Some levels enforce rules (no built-in array helpers, recursion required) so you learn the technique, not the shortcut LEARN THE RIGHT WAY • Three-tier hints from Rhino, your smug but surprisingly helpful mentor • Curated solutions after you solve: naive vs optimal, time and space complexity • Topics: strings, arrays, objects, closures, recursion, dynamic programming, sorting, searching, graphs, trees, hashing, bit tricks, grids, greedy strategies, intervals STAY MOTIVATED • One path, no shortcuts: easy → medium → hard, with performance tests on the hardest levels • XP, player levels, daily streaks and badges • Six themes, dark and light PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Works fully offline, no account, no tracking — your progress stays on your device • No ads, ever
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Runestone Text Editor at Free against JavaScript Challenge's $2.99. Runestone Text Editor also leads on chart position (#44 vs unranked). On update cadence, 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
Runestone Text Editor is free to download; JavaScript Challenge costs $2.99 up front. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and JavaScript Challenge sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Runestone Text Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, JavaScript Challenge weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Runestone Text Editor | JavaScript Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (2K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 76.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #44 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 64 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Simon B. Støvring | MUSTAFA GURBUZ |
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
JavaScript Challenge
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Runestone Text Editor
- Premium$9.99
JavaScript Challenge
- Full Path$6.99
Questions
Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Is JavaScript Challenge free?
Do Runestone Text Editor or JavaScript Challenge have ads?
Which is updated more often, Runestone Text Editor or JavaScript Challenge?
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