Comparison

Pinyin Typist vs iEverText

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

Head to head
About

Pinyin Typist

Easily type Pīnyīn with accurate tone marks using system or third-party keyboards. This app simplifies writing Mandarin Chinese expressions, even without knowing Chinese characters. It offers a quick and intuitive typing experience for learners and educators.

Highlights
  • Type Pīnyīn with tone marks
  • Integrates with system and third-party keyboards
  • Predictive text and text replacement support
  • Automatic tone mark placement
  • Easy tone mark correction
  • Copy and paste functionality
  • Supports Cantonese Yale romanization
Features
Read full description

**Pīnyīn Typist lets you quickly and easily type Pīnyīn with tone marks while using Apple’s system keyboards, and it lets you benefit from their features, like predictive text, text replacement, etc., as well as future enhancements. Pīnyīn Typist similarly works with third-party keyboards like Fleksy, etc.** (THIS APP IS NOT AN ALTERNATIVE WAY TO TYPE CHINESE CHARACTERS—it supports the standard iOS ways of typing characters.) Pīnyīn makes reading and writing Mandarin Chinese as quick and easy as it ought to be, and Pīnyīn Typist makes typing real, professional-quality Pīnyīn as quick and easy as *it* ought to be. Pīnyīn Typist was the first iOS Pīnyīn typing app, and it’s still the best, especially for typing more than a word or two of Pīnyīn. On the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod touch, Pīnyīn Typist is *noticeably* the quickest, easiest, most natural, most fun, and most beautifully iOS-native way to type exactly the Pīnyīn you want, with proper tone marks. Its *nice, big* tone mark, Ü, hyphen, and apostrophe buttons work with *just a simple tap*, using the same rhythm and technique as regular typing. *It even puts the tone marks over the right vowels for you*, and *it also makes it easy to make corrections to tone marks without backspacing and retyping*. Pīnyīn Typist turns typing Pīnyīn from a pain into a pleasure. Pīnyīn Typist launches quickly, so with it on your Apple mobile device, you can quickly and easily type real Pīnyīn text to write down anything you hear or want to say in Mandarin, just about anytime the need arises or inspiration strikes. Pīnyīn Typist is thus a must-have app if you are learning or teaching Mandarin, or if sometimes you want or need to write down Mandarin expressions, but you or the one(s) you’re writing to don’t (or don’t want to have to) know all the Chinese characters involved. Note that like Chinese Braille (which is based on Pīnyīn), Pīnyīn is a *full writing system* for Mandarin, not just a pronunciation aid. And since, as linguists hold, speech is primary and writing is secondary, it’s good that Pīnyīn just works and lets you focus on speech, on *communicating*. All the text in the Pīnyīn Typing tab view can be copied with a single tap of the Copy All button, and then pasted in other apps, e.g. Pages, Word, Mail, Twitter, Messages, Drafts, etc. (iOS’s standard copying and pasting methods work too.) Pīnyīn Typist’s sharing functionality lets you share Pīnyīn, etc. text in the various ways enabled by iOS, including email, Messages, AirDrop, Twitter, etc. Pīnyīn Typist’s 1,2, and 4 tone buttons can also be used to add tone marks for Cantonese Yale romanization. *TYPING PĪNYĪN IN PĪNYĪN TYPIST* Type “a” → tap the 3rd tone button = “ǎ” Type “ai” → tap the 4th tone button = “ài” (not “aì”!) After “āi” or “aì”, tap the 4th tone button = “ài” Pīnyīn Typist can convert both lowercase and uppercase vowels. All the Pīnyīn Typist toolbar buttons enter typographically correct Unicode characters, making Pīnyīn Typist suitable for typing Pīnyīn for professional uses. Pīnyīn Typist works well with hardware keyboards. Hardware keyboard shortcuts are now available. *OTHER FEATURES* • Pīnyīn Typist can be used in both portrait and landscape orientations. • The size of the text in the Pīnyīn Typing tab view can be quickly and easily adjusted with a slider—all the better for seeing those little Pīnyīn tone marks. • The text in the Pīnyīn Typing tab view (and its size) can be saved as a snippet for future use, with a title that you can choose. A snippet can be shared in the various ways enabled by iOS. • An optional Night Theme is available. • Different fonts can be selected for the text in the Pīnyīn Typing tab view. *PĪNYĪN TEXT WITH FORMATTING* Pīnyīn Typist produces Unicode plain text, which can be used to produce Markdown, HTML, CSS, etc. code. When such code is rendered in supporting environments, formatting can be seen that’s like the formatting seen in web pages.

About

iEverText

A versatile text editor for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad that allows you to capture favorite expressions from webpages and ebooks directly into your notes. Edit shared texts seamlessly between devices and enjoy a full-featured writing experience on the go.

Highlights
  • Capture text from webpages and ebooks
  • Edit shared texts between devices
  • Multi-document editing
  • Email editing text instantly
  • Preview webpages and ebooks
  • TextExpander touch snippet expansion
Features
Read full description

iEverText is the Evernote client application. Do you want to pick favorite expressions out as you browse webpages or ebooks and store them in your notes directly? Do you want to edit a shared text between your computer and iPhone any time creative inspirations strike? That's easy with iEverText! iEverText is a powerful and versatile Text Editor having lots of nice features, available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. iEverText combines practicality with portability - that is what a Writer's Workshop should be. With iEverText, you have all the power you expect from a full-featured multipurpose text editing program - writing and editing several text documents at a time, saving each text onto the Evernote. You can email an editing text instantly, and preview webpages, ebooks, and downloaded files directly in iEverText to utilize their texts. iEverText also allows you to supports TextExpander touch snippet expansion. We sincerely hope iEverText will serve you well, being a good friend for your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. With iEverText, enjoy writing flexibly anytime, anywhere!

Screenshots

Pinyin Typist4 screens
iEverText4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: iEverText at 5.0 against Pinyin Typist's 2.7. iEverText also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 13.0). Pinyin Typist's advantage is chart position (#196 vs unranked) and ratings volume (7 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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

Pinyin Typist costs $1.99 and iEverText $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iEverText holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pinyin Typist has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 73% and 73% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pinyin Typist ships an update every 15 months, iEverText every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on September 1, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Pinyin Typist versus iEverText: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPinyin TypistiEverText
Price$1.99$1.99
Rating2.7 (7 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.7% of reviews72.7% of reviews
Number of ratings7 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 15 monthsEvery 8 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#196 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTroubadourWorksLIGHT,WAY.

Customer experience

Pinyin Typist

All ratings7 ratings
Positive28.6%
Neutral28.6%
Negative42.9%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral13.6%
Negative13.6%

iEverText

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral9.1%
Negative18.2%

In-app purchases

None

Pinyin Typist

No in-app purchases

None

iEverText

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pinyin Typist free?
Pinyin Typist costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is iEverText free?
iEverText costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pinyin Typist or iEverText?
iEverText is rated higher. Pinyin Typist averages 2.7 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while iEverText averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Pinyin Typist or iEverText have ads?
Neither Pinyin Typist nor iEverText shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pinyin Typist or iEverText?
Pinyin Typist ships an update every 15 months, and iEverText every 8 months. Most recently, Pinyin Typist was updated on September 1, 2026 and iEverText on September 9, 2026.

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