Texifier vs Pencility Handwritten Planner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Texifier
Write and typeset LaTeX, Plain TeX, and Markdown documents offline on your iPad or iPhone. Features include project navigation, syntax highlighting, autocomplete, and integrated cloud typesetting for rare compatibility issues.
- Offline LaTeX, Plain TeX, and Markdown editing
- Project outline view for navigation
- Syntax highlighting and command autocomplete
- Integrated typesetter with live mode
- Cloud typesetting for compatibility
- Error reporting and navigation
- File App integration
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Edit and typeset LaTeX, Plain TeX and Markdown on your iPad or iPhone, no internet connection required, using Texifier, formerly known as Texpad. Texifier is a LaTeX editor designed for straightforward navigation, editing and typesetting of projects of any size. Open a LaTeX root file, and Texifier will scan it, open any referenced files, extract the document structure for display in the outline view, and configure the typesetter according to the packages and tools used by your document. Texifier's editor comes with a choice of themes, syntax highlighting, autocomplete of commands, including those defined in your document, and autofill for \cite commands, \ref commands and others. The powerful sidebar can show you a summary of your document structure allowing you to navigate through large multi-file projects with ease. Additionally Texifier's outline lists all labels, figures, tables, todos and it contains a powerful search function that can search and replace across your entire project using either normal text searches or regular expression searches. TexpadTeX - Texifier's internal, no internet connection required, typesetter comes with PGF drivers, Native Fonts extensions, a Unicode and more, allow it to support almost any LaTeX package available. TexpadTeX also integrates a BibteX tool and a Makeindex compatible indexer for documents that require those tools. The integrated bundle manager takes care of downloading, installing and updating LaTeX packages for you, giving you access to almost the entire LaTeX ecosystem without using any more space on your device than needed. TexpadTeX can run in Live mode, updating the output as you type, so you never need wait for a typeset to finish again. For the rare cases of documents that are not compatible with TexpadTeX, you can use our free cloud typesetters. This is fully integrated into Texifier so press typeset, and Texifier will run the typeset in the Cloud, presenting the results just as if they were typeset on your device. After all typesets, any errors in your document are organised in a table of issues. Tap on an issue to jump directly to the offending line of LaTeX source, or the line in the original log if you wish to read the original output. Texifier works well with Files App, allowing you to store and work on your documents wherever you wish. On top of that Texifier Connect is directly integrated into Texifier for working across devices and collaborators. Texifier supports Markdown along with LaTeX. Edit your document in Texifier's syntax highlighting editor, browse the document by outline, then when you press Typeset, the document will be transparently converted and typeset by LaTeX (using a standard template), giving you the informal ease of Markdown with LaTeX's ability to create beautiful and high quality PDFs. Likewise Plain TeX users can edit and typeset their documents in Texifier. Features: - Universal binary for iPhone and iPad, optimised for the latest generation of devices. - Typeset LaTeX to PDF on your iPad and iPhone without need for an internet connection - Support for LaTeX, Plain Tex and Markdown - Navigate easily through even the largest projects using the Outline view - Search all files by string or regex with the global search view - Browse the typeset errors and warnings either as a raw log, or with the errors and warnings table view. - Texifier's editor autocompletes commands, and autofills commands such as \ref{...} or \cite{...} - Use iOS Files app to edit documents in any storage that supports file or folder access - Instant Live typeset using Texifier's built in TexpadTeX typesetter - The onboard typesetter supports virtually any LaTeX package or font, including, but not limited to: Beamer, Tikz, Fontspec, Koma Script, e-TeX, graphicx, pgfplots, AMS, RevTeX, Babel, Bibtex and Indices. - Free typesetting through our secure cloud servers gives you access to all packages in the latest TeXLive distribution.
Pencility Handwritten Planner
This digital planner offers a drawable canvas for each day, allowing users to schedule routines, plan tasks with drag-and-drop functionality, and add images. It syncs seamlessly across devices via iCloud and integrates with native calendar and reminder apps.
- Drawable daily canvas
- Drag-and-drop task scheduling
- iCloud synchronization
- Integration with Calendar and Reminders
- Customizable task visibility
- Handwriting to text conversion (English/Chinese)
- Reusable drawing storage
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Pencility is a digital planner, diary and a time manager for an iPad and an Apple Pencil. It features a drawable canvas for every day, and it is only up to you and your creativity what you write on it. The options are unlimited. Schedule your daily routines. Plan your tasks and reminders just by drag-and-dropping them to the timeline. Never miss a calendar event. Write down the moments worth remembering. Attach images from your library of from the web. Draw some beautiful pictures and sketches. Just take your paper planner and bring it to the iPad. And not only that. What you write into Pencility on the iPad is automatically synced through iCloud to your iPhone as well. Support for the Mac will arrive soon. TIMELINE, THE HEARTH OF THE APP * The timeline is composed of canvases, one for each day. * A canvas shows all of your notes, calendar events, tasks, reminders and pictures. * By default, it displays one day at a time. But if you need more insight, there is the Overview mode available. * Drag-and-drop pictures, tasks or drawings. SYNCHRONIZATION AT ITS CORE * Pencility works with the Calendar and Reminders apps. * If allowed, Pencility presents your events and tasks in the timeline so that you never miss an occasion, or fail to finish an assignment on time. * Any changes made to events and tasks are immediately synced back so that they are up to date on all your devices. * Pencility uploads your timeline content to iCloud to make it available on your iPhone. Support for a Mac will arrive soon. MOVE, RESIZE, RESCHEDULE * Pencility allows you to create, edit or delete events and tasks. * Create a new item by clicking on "Create a task" or on the calendar icon in the top-right corner and filling in the necessary info. * Reschedule an item by long-pressing and then dragging or resizing over the timeline. * Set a task completion date by dragging it into the timeline. * Edit item information by single-tapping on it either in the sidebar on the timeline. STUNNING WRITING EXPERIENCE * Pencility uses Apple's PencitKit to ensure the best writing experience. * A tool picker with different drawings tools (a pen, a pencil, a marker, an eraser and a lasso tool) and a vast pallet of colours is always at your hand on the iPad. * Write into the text areas and see your handwriting transform into typed text. This feature works for English and Chinese language only. DRAW, STORE AND REUSE * Do you find yourself drawing the same object every second day again and again? * Pencility has a solution to that. You create it just once, save it to your drawing storage and drag it back to any place in the timeline. ADJUST WHAT YOU SEE * We get that sometimes there is just too many of those events and tasks. Therefore, Pencility allows you to hide some of your reminder lists or calendars. * You can also customize what types of tasks you see in your task list. * Pencility is versatile and it will adjust to any screen conditions. Landscape or portrait, regular or split-screen, with or without the sidebar. ONE PURCHASE, LIFETIME USAGE * Usually, when buying a planner, you have to get a new one every year. With Pencility, you make only one purchase and use our app as long as your Apple account lives. * You can also benefit from the Family sharing feature and get a planner for all members of your family. We hope you will enjoy using Pencility. May it be a helpful tool for organizing both your professional and personal life. Please keep in mind that some of the features are not always available. Writing works only on those iPads which support Apple Pencil (iPad Pro, iPad 6th generation, iPad Mini 4th generation, iPad Air). Text recognition works only for English and Chinese. With any questions or requests, you can reach us at dev@pencility.app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Pencility Handwritten Planner at $9.99 against Texifier's $29.99. Pencility Handwritten Planner also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). Texifier's advantage is rating (4.3 vs 3.8) and ratings volume (691 vs 10). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Texifier costs $29.99 and Pencility Handwritten Planner $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Texifier holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Texifier has 691 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Texifier's written reviews are positive against 50% of Pencility Handwritten Planner's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Texifier | Pencility Handwritten Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29.99 | $9.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (691 ratings) — better | 3.8 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 56.7% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 691 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Valletta Ventures (UK) Ltd | Simon Urbanek |
Customer experience
Texifier
Pencility Handwritten Planner
Bugs and requests
Texifier
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes when compiling certain documents
- Inconsistent behavior when syncing with Dropbox
- Issues with inserting and displaying images
- Problems with bibliography and citation handling
- Unexpected text formatting and layout issues
Requested features
6 requests- Dark mode option
- Improved file management and organization
- Support for more LaTeX packages and features
- Better integration with other cloud storage services
- Keyboard shortcuts and advanced editing tools
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- Spell-checking and proofreading capabilities
Pencility Handwritten Planner
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Texifier
No in-app purchases
Pencility Handwritten Planner
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Texifier free?
Is Pencility Handwritten Planner free?
Which has better reviews, Texifier or Pencility Handwritten Planner?
Do Texifier or Pencility Handwritten Planner have ads?
Which is updated more often, Texifier or Pencility Handwritten Planner?
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