CharMap vs Bases
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CharMap
Explore and manage Unicode characters with this utility. Organize favorites, view details, and copy characters to your clipboard. Use the custom keyboard to insert them anywhere and sync collections across devices.
- Browse curated character categories
- Organize favorite characters
- View character details and copy to clipboard
- Insert characters with custom keyboard
- Discover characters and blocks
- Sync collections across devices
- Preview system fonts
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CharMap allows to you discover, organize, and use unicode characters. FEATURES • Browse a collection of curated character categories, and organize your favourite characters into custom collections. • View character details and copy characters to the clipboard. • Enable the CharMap keyboard to insert characters wherever custom keyboards are supported. • Discover unicode characters and blocks using a dedicated unicode browser. • Automatically sync your collections between devices. • Quickly access your custom collections using the collection widget. • Browse and preview system fonts. • No ads, trackers, or analytics. Your data is stored on-device, and optionally synced across your private iCloud account.
Bases
Convert between binary, decimal, and hexadecimal values. Displays the corresponding Unicode character and its description. Supports 8-bit and 16-bit modes with bit shifting and value increment/decrement.
- Binary, Decimal, Hexadecimal conversion
- Unicode character display
- Unicode descriptions
- 8-bit and 16-bit modes
- Bit shifting
- Value increment/decrement
- Sharing support
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Easily convert between Binary, Decimal and Hexadecimal values and display associated character or emoji. Bases is an easy to use, base converter. Type in hexadecimal, decimal or binary values (8 bit or 16 bit) and see the value converted and the unicode character equivalent along with the unicode descriptor text. The application can displays; - Decimal - Hexadecimal - Binary - Associated Character (if any) - Unicode Descriptions Note: This application was primarily designed for the iPhone but can also be used on an iPad. It actually works great on iPad Pro, if you share the the iPad screen with my HexToASCII application. Features: - 8 bit and 16 bit modes. - Unicode descriptions of various character and control code. - Increment or decrement values at the touch of a button. - Right shift or left bits. - If a value has an associated character it will be displayed. - Supports sharing Initially developed to assist me to explain both hexadecimal and binary arithmetic to my students. I thought it would be good to share. Enjoy!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Bases at 5.0 against CharMap's 4.0. Bases also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 26.0). CharMap's advantage is ratings volume (52 vs 2). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Bases holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CharMap has 52 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
CharMap ships an update every 5 months, Bases every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CharMap | Bases |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (52 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 52 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Conor Mulligan | Russell May |
Customer experience
CharMap
Bases
Bugs and requests
CharMap
Reported bugs
12 issues- Characters omitted in other apps
- Keyboard looks like white rectangle in some apps
- Private Use Area characters not shown
- Collections feature quit working
- App crashes every time it's opened
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- App crashes on iPad Pro
- App crashes on iPad
- Everything gone after update
- App doesn't open after update
- Some symbols are not shown
- Keyboard not showing up immediately
- Preferences -> font closes app
Requested features
20 requests- Add return/enter key
- Batch add characters to collections
- Multi-font support
- Unicode 18.0 support
- Add Unicode 17.0
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Ability to select characters with single click
- Add 'raised to the power of x' symbol
- Add superscripts in letter, equation, and inequality form
- Option to format characters (LTR/RTL)
- Make fonts usable in 'Unicode'
- Implement custom font API
- Search for character option
- Search by character name
- Add Sutton SignWriting block
- Add symbol search
- Update UI with SF symbols
- Add dark mode support
- Rename collections
- Backup and Restore collections
- Put collections on top of list when using as keyboard
Bases
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
CharMap
No in-app purchases
Bases
No in-app purchases








