Dictionary Universal vs Alpus

Dictionary Universal is iPhone, iPod touch and iPad application for viewing StarDict dictionaries and dictionaries in Lingvo DSL format ¹. Many of these dictionaries are available on the Internet for free ². Features: * Very fast. After dictionary is indexed, minimal time is required to start before you can type text. List of matches appears without delay while you type. * Supports morphology for English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. * Fuzzy search. This functionality will help you find words if they are misspelled or when you don't know how to type word correctly. Just type in the text and hit Search button on the keyboard. * Pronunciation support. * Searching text in currently displayed article. * Profiles group dictionaries, pronunciation and morphology for quick switching. Useful if you work with several languages. * Favorites and Search History. * Ability to lookup word in clipboard when switching to the application. Copy word to clipboard and switch to Dictionary Universal to see translation. * Most complete StarDict format support in the AppStore (including images, synonyms, and various dictionary formats). * Color highlighting for better text readability (when supported by dictionary format). * Arbitrary word lookup. Tap any word in article to lookup it in loaded dictionaries. * Full screen mode support. * Compressed dictionaries and resources support. * Embedded web browser for downloading dictionaries from the Internet. ¹ Lingvo DSL format is a text format with dictionary source code. Dictionary Universal does not support compiled Lingvo dictionaries (LSD format). ² No dictionaries are bundled with the application. You will need StarDict or Lingvo DSL dictionaries to use them with the application.

Alpus is a viewer application for dictionaries in StarDict, DSL, XDXF, Dictd, and TSV/Plain formats ¹. Features: • Fast and fully offline operation • Searches ignoring case, diacritics, and punctuation • Wildcard search • Fuzzy search • Full-text search • In-page popup translator • History and bookmarks • Customization options Compatibility: Alpus is compatible with the following dictionary/file types: • StarDict dictionaries (*.idx) • DSL dictionaries (*.dsl) • XDXF dictionaries (*.xdxf) • Dictd dictionaries (*.index) • TSV/Plain dictionaries (*.txt, *.dic) • Hunspell dictionaries (*.aff) Setting up dictionaries: • Connect your mobile device to your computer. • Copy dictionary files to the app's documents/files folder on device ². See iOS help ² for details. • Select the dictionary index file as listed in the compatibility section above (or an archive of it) using the "Import Dictionary" option of the "Manage" menu. • Select multiple indexes/files, with each selection assumed and analyzed as one dictionary. (optional) • Select resource ZIP files (if any) to copy during importing. (optional) • Edit properties of the dictionary such as visible name using the "Edit Properties" option of the dictionary menu. (optional) • Create a full-text search index of the dictionary using the "Upgrade" option of the dictionary menu. (optional) • Create profiles to group and organize dictionaries. (optional) Resource files: Resource files of a dictionary can be put into multiple ZIP files with arbitrary sizes and file names. The resource ZIP files placed into the root folder of a dictionary (beside Main.props file) will be detected and indexed automatically. Full-text search: The app supports searching full-text of all dictionaries for exact matches. The feature requires a one-time upgrading ("Upgrade All" option of the "Manage" menu) of a dictionary which can take a very long time to complete, since every single word anywhere on the dictionary is made searchable during the process. Synchronizing between devices: Copying/moving dictionaries between devices is done using one of the two available methods: • "Export Dictionary" to an *.aaf file on the first device and then "Import Dictionary" that *.aaf file on the second • Copy/move whole "Alpus.Config" folder or individual dictionary folders using a file manager or built-in file operations Search types: There are five kinds of searches you can perform on dictionaries. • Regular search: Shows results exactly matching the query. • Extended matching search: Shows results matching the query with case, diacritics, and punctuations ignored. Suggestions include in-phrase and phonetic matches. • Full-text search: Shows list of articles containing exact matches of the query. The scope of search is not limited to headwords and includes all text in all articles (definitions, synonyms, examples, etc). • Fuzzy search: Shows list of articles most similar to the query. The search works like a spell checker for words you're not sure how it's written/spelled. • Wildcard search: Shows list of articles that match the criteria set with a wildcard query. Help and Support: • https://alpusapp.com ¹ No dictionaries are bundled with the application. You will need dictionaries in supported formats to use with the application. ² https://support.apple.com/HT201301