Comparison

Unicode Pad vs Symbol Keypad for Texting

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Unicode Pad

Access and copy thousands of Unicode characters to use in any app. Create custom keyboards for frequently used symbols and share them with friends. Search characters by name, codepoint, or glyph, and view detailed descriptions.

Highlights
  • Copy characters to clipboard
  • Customizable keyboards
  • Share custom keyboards
  • Search characters by name/codepoint/glyph
  • View extended character descriptions
  • Thousands of symbols available
Read full description

Note: This app supports only in-app custom keyboards! For a fancier version which also supports iOS 8 and later custom keyboards, check out the Unicode Pad Pro app! • Tested on latest iOS 11 • Support for Unicode 11 standard • Copy characters to clipboard for use in other apps, like web, mail, chat, notes… practically any iOS app! • Notepad with customizable keyboards, for your often-used characters and for copying several characters at once. Great for casual writing, too! • Share your custom keyboards with your friends! • Send mail and tweets right from within the app! • Huge selection of symbols (thousands), in fact all that are available on your device. Database itself actually contains data for all Unicode characters (over 100,000), but only glyphs available in iOS system font are actually visible. • Quick acces to many groups of commonly used symbols! • Search for characters by name, hexadecimal codepoint or glyph! Find similar and related characters instantly! • Streamlined design, specifically optimized for each device. Support for all device orientations and Retina display. • Support for Backspace, New line, Shift and Alternate special keys on custom keyboards. • Custom keyboard sizes up to 6x16=96 keys. • View extended character descriptions on Wikipedia, right inside the app! This works particularly great for emoticons! • One universal application works on iPhone, iPod and iPad! • Reference booklet of characters available on modern computers! Paper Unicode maps are over 1000 pages long! • Developers: see which characters are available on your iOS device! • Great for scientific, mathematical and physics notation, handles many superscripts, subscripts and other symbols! • Excellent for phonetic notation! • Perfect for writing Unicode poetry! • Awesome for making interesting app names! • HTML entity names for relevant characters • UNIHAN english definitions for CJK ideograms for many characters • Flick left and right for next and previous characters in detail view • Affordable price!

About

Symbol Keypad for Texting

Easily insert a vast array of Unicode symbols and characters into your text messages and other applications. Explore thousands of symbols to express your information uniquely and enhance your communication.

Highlights
  • Access over 50,000 Unicode characters
  • Thousands of unique symbols available
  • Insert symbols into texts and other apps
  • Express information uniquely
  • Enhance communication with special characters
Read full description

Are you interested in Unicode symbols? There are over 50,000 characters and thousands of symbols. They can express your information totally.

Screenshots

Unicode Pad4 screens
Symbol Keypad for Texting4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Symbol Keypad for Texting at Free against Unicode Pad's $2.99. Symbol Keypad for Texting also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.5) and ratings volume (1.5K vs 8). Unicode Pad's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On review sentiment, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Symbol Keypad for Texting is free to download; Unicode Pad costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Symbol Keypad for Texting holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Symbol Keypad for Texting has 1.5K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Unicode Pad's written reviews are positive against 81% of Symbol Keypad for Texting's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Unicode Pad ships an update every 3 months, Symbol Keypad for Texting fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Unicode Pad versus Symbol Keypad for Texting: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUnicode PadSymbol Keypad for Texting
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating3.5 (8 ratings)4.7 (1.5K ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.7% of reviews80.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings81.5K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size140 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZiga Kranjec山 钟

Customer experience

Unicode Pad

All ratings8 ratings
Positive62.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews171 reviews
Positive73.7%
Neutral7.6%
Negative18.7%

Symbol Keypad for Texting

All ratings1,546 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral3.2%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews130 reviews
Positive80.8%
Neutral4.6%
Negative14.6%

User reviews

Unicode Pad

From 8 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Comprehensive symbol catalog
  • 💡 Customizable keyboards
  • 🚀 Easy to use interface
  • 🔍 Powerful search functionality
  • 🌟 Useful for nicknames and special characters

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes
  • 📦 Some characters display as boxes
  • 🐌 Laggy scrolling and slow loading
  • 🖱️ Manual copy-pasting required
  • ⌨️ Limited keyboard space for custom keyboards

Symbol Keypad for Texting

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for its niche
  • 👍 Convenient and useful
  • 👍 Lots of symbols to choose from
  • 👍 Easy to use and set up
  • 👍 Helpful for gaming and messaging

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Search and navigation issues
  • 🐛 Compatibility problems with new iOS updates
  • 🐛 Unintuitive interface
  • 🐛 Missing common symbols
  • 🔋 Ads can be intrusive

Bugs and requests

Unicode Pad

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • App crashes when selecting notepad
  • App crashes on startup
  • Scrolling is laggy
  • Custom keyboards take time to load
  • Characters not appearing on keyboard after adding
Show 12 more
  • Some symbols don't copy properly (show as boxes)
  • App won't update
  • App becomes very slow after updates
  • Custom keyboards are hard to see after update
  • Buttons disappear
  • Detail window cannot be closed
  • Glyph description length exceeds screen
  • App freezes and requires device reset
  • Favorites/copy buttons sometimes go invisible
  • Cannot get to clipboard to post to other apps
  • App doesn't work with Facebook
  • Characters not displayed (show as squares)

Requested features

15 requests
  • Ability to add keyboards to other apps
  • More space for custom keyboards
  • Integration with iOS keyboard
  • Add backspace/delete/return keys to custom keyboards
  • Ability to rearrange keys on custom keyboards
Show 10 more
  • Ability to remove custom keys while on the keyboard
  • Sort Unicode blocks numerically
  • Save/swap out keyboards from within the app
  • Option to hide iOS incompatible characters
  • Add space bar to custom keyboard layouts
  • Copy as HTML option
  • Precise selection and editing features
  • Macros for multiple keystrokes
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard

Symbol Keypad for Texting

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Keyboard not showing up properly on iPad
  • Favorites and history not syncing correctly
  • Some symbols not displaying correctly after iOS updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more symbols, especially common fractions and Egyptian hieroglyphics
  • Improve search functionality and navigation
  • Add iPad support and optimize the UI for larger screens
  • Allow customization of favorite symbols and their placement
  • Provide an option to disable the dark mode

In-app purchases

None

Unicode Pad

No in-app purchases

None

Symbol Keypad for Texting

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Unicode Pad free?
Unicode Pad costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Symbol Keypad for Texting free?
Symbol Keypad for Texting is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Unicode Pad or Symbol Keypad for Texting?
Symbol Keypad for Texting is rated higher. Unicode Pad averages 3.5 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Symbol Keypad for Texting averages 4.7 from 1.5K ratings.
Do Unicode Pad or Symbol Keypad for Texting have ads?
Symbol Keypad for Texting shows ads; Unicode Pad does not.
Which is updated more often, Unicode Pad or Symbol Keypad for Texting?
Unicode Pad ships an update every 3 months, and Symbol Keypad for Texting fortnightly. Most recently, Unicode Pad was updated on September 29, 2026 and Symbol Keypad for Texting on September 19, 2026.

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