TypeIt4Me Touch vs PaperTrail
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TypeIt4Me Touch
This app enhances note-taking and messaging with powerful text expansion. Define custom abbreviations that automatically convert to longer phrases as you type, saving time and effort. Seamlessly integrate with your Mac's abbreviations via iCloud for a unified experience across devices.
- Text expansion with custom abbreviations
- Create and store unlimited notes
- Share notes via email, message, or clipboard
- Bundled keyboard extension for any app
- iCloud sync with Mac TypeIt4Me
- Import snippets via email attachments
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TypeIt4Me Touch is a simple notepad app with built-in text expansion for swiftly composing notes and messages. Define your own custom shorthand abbreviations and they’ll instantly be replaced as you type with the longer texts they represent, saving you time and effort. Create and store snippet abbreviations on your iPhone or iPad and gradually build up your own custom shorthand library for quickly jotting things down. Store as many notes as you like to use and reuse later. These can be emailed, messaged and shared straight from within the app, or copied to the clipboard in a couple of taps. Install the bundled TypeIt4Me Touch keyboard extension and quickly bring it up in any app to access long snippets of frequently used text. Addresses, email signatures and boilerplate paragraphs stored locally or in iCloud will always be right at your fingertips. Use them in Mail, Safari, Messages or anywhere else you can type. (NB: the keyboard extension is for on-screen typing only. Bluetooth hardware support is limited to composing notes in the app itself.) Ever wished you could use your Mac TypeIt4Me abbreviations in iOS? This is the app for you. If you use TypeIt4Me 6 (or TypeIt4Me 5.4.x from the Mac App Store) and you keep your abbreviations in iCloud, you can use them on your iPhone and iPad. They will be available in the TypeIt4Me Touch app and keyboard as long as you’re signed in to iCloud. You can also add new snippets and sync them across all your Macs and iDevices. If you’re still using TypeIt4Me 5.5.3 (or earlier versions for Mac) downloaded directly from the Ettore Software website, automatic iCloud syncing of your abbreviations between Mac and iOS is not available. However, you can still use snippets created on your Mac. Just email your Mac TypeIt4Me snippet set files to yourself and open the attachments in TypeIt4Me Touch on your iPhone or iPad to import your abbreviations. With TypeIt4Me Touch installed on your iPhone or iPad, greetings, common phrases, boilerplate texts, URLs or even large chunks of programming code can all be just a couple of prods away. Enjoy :)
PaperTrail
This app provides a full TaskPaper editing experience on iOS and iPadOS, allowing you to manage projects, tasks, and notes using simple, flexible plain text files. Sync your work with iCloud and edit across devices, with powerful search and filtering capabilities.
- Full TaskPaper format support
- OPML import
- Distraction-free editing
- Full query language search
- Tag system with progress tracking
- iOS Reminders integration
- Shortcuts and Siri integration
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PaperTrail brings full TaskPaper editing to iOS and iPadOS. TaskPaper is plain text productivity—simple, fast, flexible. Projects, tasks, notes, and tags. Filter, search, and archive. All in plain text files you can sync via iCloud and edit in TaskPaper on your Mac. FEATURES • Full TaskPaper format support (.taskpaper, .todo, .txt, .md) • Open Bike (.bike) and OPML (.opml) outlines, with clear warnings when an import can't carry everything across • OPML and Bike-style export, so tags and done state round-trip back into Bike • Fold and focus into any subtree for distraction-free editing • Full query language with text, tag, boolean, and semantic search • Tag system with dates, progress tracking, and cost aggregation • Tag autocomplete ranked by how often you use each tag • Smart filters with edge-swipe gestures and an iPad side-by-side sidebar • Colour lines by priority, depth, or due date proximity • Natural date parsing and two-way iOS Reminders integration—import a Reminders list as a project • Quick capture: append tasks, notes, clipboard text, or web links to your most recent document • Planning shortcuts: Open in Today, Random Next Task, and Morning Brief • Shortcuts, Siri, Action Button, and Spotlight integration via App Intents • Find & update documents from Shortcuts: run queries, mark done, set tags, append tasks • Command palette for projects, searches, tags, and every editor command • iPadOS menu bar with Item, Tag, Outline, View, and Palette menus • Export documents as interactive HTML slide presentations or as OPML outlines • Built-in and custom document templates • 50+ keyboard shortcuts for power workflow • Native Swift app—tiny install size, built for speed • Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, and dark mode support
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: TypeIt4Me Touch at $4.99 against PaperTrail's $19.99. TypeIt4Me Touch also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). PaperTrail's advantage is rating (4.2 vs 3.5) and review sentiment (75% vs 39%). On ratings volume, 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
TypeIt4Me Touch costs $4.99 and PaperTrail $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
PaperTrail holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 15 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of TypeIt4Me Touch's written reviews are positive against 75% of PaperTrail's.
TypeIt4Me Touch ships an update every 3 months, PaperTrail every 10 days. Both last shipped on September 10, 2026.
| Parameter | TypeIt4Me Touch | PaperTrail |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $19.99 |
| Rating | 3.5 (11 ratings) | 4.2 (15 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 38.8% of reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11 | 15 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ettore Software Ltd. | gingerbeardman |
Customer experience
TypeIt4Me Touch
PaperTrail
In-app purchases
TypeIt4Me Touch
No in-app purchases
PaperTrail
No in-app purchases





