WhatTheFont vs Pattern Type
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
WhatTheFont
Instantly identify fonts from images. Simply upload a photo of a design, and this app will recognize the fonts and suggest matches. It's ideal for designers, crafters, and anyone curious about typography, helping you discover and try out new fonts.
- Identify fonts from photos
- Suggests font matches
- Type custom text in found fonts
- Browse similar fonts
- Font inspiration and learning
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Identify fonts in a snap! Take a photo of a design you love - WhatTheFont recognizes the fonts and shows font matches. Great for designers, crafters, and anyone who loves typography. Perfect for when you see a great design and want to identify the fonts, or when your client sends you an image but doesn’t know what fonts were used. - Type out words in the fonts you find – enter your own text to try them out on the spot. - Get ideas and inspiration for font options for your own projects. - Learn the names of cool fonts. - Browse fonts similar to the one in your image. WhatTheFont is powered by AI, making it fast and easy to use. Brought to you by the friendly people at MyFonts.
Pattern Type
Design unique patterns and generate custom typefaces composed of these patterns. Create geometric, caps-only fonts for personal or commercial use. Save and share your font creations with an intuitive graphical interface.
- Pattern design tools
- Typeface generation
- Geometric font creation
- Caps-only typefaces
- Save and share designs
- Private and commercial licenses
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The Pattern Type App allows you to design patterns and generate typefaces composed out of these patterns. You can choose between weights, draw patterns and preview the generated letters, share or save your designs etc... The results are geometrical, caps only typefaces. Design is made simple with the graphical user interface. Download the result and use it to give your documents a very personal note. You can download the fonts and choose between two different licences, for private or commercial use. The App is based on the same database as the typefaces of the Collection No. 1 by Mauve Type. The basic motivation is to explore the conceptual possibilities of generic type design.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Pattern Type at 5.0 against WhatTheFont's 2.4. Pattern Type also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.5). WhatTheFont's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (586 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Pattern Type sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. WhatTheFont asks for nothing beyond the download.
Pattern Type holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: WhatTheFont has 586 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
WhatTheFont ships an update every 4 months, Pattern Type every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | WhatTheFont | Pattern Type |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.4 (586 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 36.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 586 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 63 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MyFonts Inc. | TinkaTinka |
Customer experience
WhatTheFont
Pattern Type
Bugs and requests
WhatTheFont
Reported bugs
5 issues- Inability to accept terms and conditions
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- Endless loading and search failures
- Corrupted image uploads
- Incorrect font identification and suggestions
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to save identified fonts
- Option to search for free font alternatives
- Improved cropping and text selection tools
- Landscape mode support
- Better font database and matching algorithms
Pattern Type
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
WhatTheFont
No in-app purchases
Pattern Type
- Font (private use)$3.99
- Upgrade license$15.99
- Font (commercial use)$19.99
Questions
Is WhatTheFont free?
Is Pattern Type free?
Which has better reviews, WhatTheFont or Pattern Type?
Do WhatTheFont or Pattern Type have ads?
Which is updated more often, WhatTheFont or Pattern Type?
Other comparisons
