Thermals vs Subtext
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Thermals
Monitor your device's thermal state and processor activity to diagnose performance issues. Understand why your phone might be running slowly, charging slowly, or have reduced brightness due to overheating. Export data for further analysis with other development tools.
- Displays device thermal state
- Shows active processor count
- Monitors device uptime
- Troubleshoots performance issues
- Helps diagnose slow charging
- Identifies brightness limitations
- Exports raw data for analysis
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Phone running slowly, charging slowly or low brightness? See if your device is overheating using Thermals. Thermals displays your device’s thermal state, as well as how many processors are active on your device and its uptime, as reported by iOS. Thermals helps troubleshoot: • Poor performance — iOS reduces processor speed and potentially disables processors temporarily when the device is hot. • Slow charging — battery charging causes a lot of heat and iOS can limit charging speed to reduce the additional heat that might make a device too hot. • Low maximum brightness — if your device screen stays dark despite being on full brightness, it could be limited by iOS due to heat. • Manufacturing defects — if not all processors are active when the device is cool and not in low power mode. Your device's thermal state is monitored regularly in the background and recorded in the app (if Background App Refresh is enabled). Open the app or tap the widget to record a data point manually. Export the raw data to file for corroboration with Screen Time, Xcode's Instruments, or other development tools. Also an independent Apple Watch app shows the thermal status, active processors and uptime, and thermal history of your watch.
Subtext
A straightforward text editor for iPhone and iPad, allowing direct creation and editing of files within iCloud. It offers advanced controls for line endings and character encoding, ideal for on-the-go code or data file modifications.
- Direct iCloud file editing
- No import/export required
- Line ending control
- Character set encoding control
- Quick edits for code and data
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Subtext is a simple, no-frills text editor for iPhone and iPad. Create or edit files directly on your device or in iCloud, with no need to import or export. Includes advanced features such as line ending and character set encoding control. Perfect for making quick edits to code or data files on the go!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Subtext at every 3 weeks against Thermals's every 3 months. Subtext also leads on iOS requirement (14.4 vs 18.6). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Thermals against 4.5 for Subtext. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 28 and 79 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 83% and 83% positive.
Thermals ships an update every 3 months, Subtext every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.
| Parameter | Thermals | Subtext |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (28 ratings) | 4.5 (79 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 83.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 28 | 79 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #135 | #99 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 14.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | George Garside | Charcoal Design |
Customer experience
Thermals
Subtext
Bugs and requests
Thermals
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Subtext
Reported bugs
11 issues- Fails to save work
- Jumps to top of document on blank lines
- Poor network behavior leading to data corruption
- Cannot open or create new text files
- Error when saving to network drive
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Cannot edit .tex files without renaming
- Chinese input method errors
- Random capitalization after paste
- Large text files cause errors
- File saving issues, creates extra copies
- Bug when using Chinese input method with delete key
Requested features
20 requests- Add 'Unselect all' option
- Add 'Replace all' function
- Add font size settings
- Add tab key
- Allow editing of non-text files
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Improve network drive handling
- Option to disable auto-save
- Add highlighter
- Add character count
- Add JetBrains Mono font
- Add 'reopen last file' option
- Add widget support
- Add highlighting
- Add font and background color settings
- Add distraction-free mode
- Add swipe to close gesture
- Option to release focus for collapsing skb
- Fix Chinese input method bugs
- Allow editing of files with arbitrary extensions
- Add Chinese input method bug fixes
In-app purchases
Thermals
No in-app purchases
Subtext
No in-app purchases
