CharMap vs Unicode viewer
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 in a variety of formats. • 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 system fonts and view font metadata. • No ads, trackers, or analytics. Your data is stored on-device, and optionally synced across your private iCloud account.
Unicode viewer
Explore the full range of Unicode characters from U+0000 to U+FFFF. This utility app provides a simple interface to view and understand various characters.
- View Unicode characters
- Supports U+0000 to U+FFFF range
- Simple interface
- Character exploration
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Unicode viewer, can view unicode $0000 ~ $FFFF
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: CharMap at 4.0 against Unicode viewer's 3.0. CharMap also leads on review sentiment (54% vs 33%) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 12 months). Unicode viewer's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 26.0). 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.
CharMap holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CharMap has 57 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of CharMap's written reviews are positive against 33% of Unicode viewer's.
CharMap ships an update every 4 months, Unicode viewer every 12 months. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.
| Parameter | CharMap | Unicode viewer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (57 ratings) — better | 3.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 53.7% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 57 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 12 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 28 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Conor Mulligan | amtb fate |
Customer experience
CharMap
Unicode viewer
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
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- 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
Unicode viewer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
CharMap
No in-app purchases
Unicode viewer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is CharMap free?
Is Unicode viewer free?
Which has better reviews, CharMap or Unicode viewer?
Do CharMap or Unicode viewer have ads?
Which is updated more often, CharMap or Unicode viewer?
Other comparisons
