Comparison

Symbols vs Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards

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

Head to head
About

Symbols

Easily access and insert over 3000 special characters, emojis, and math symbols not found on your standard keyboard. Quickly find any glyph using search or browse by category, and save your favorites for instant access across all your devices.

Highlights
  • Over 3000 special characters
  • Custom keyboard extension
  • Search by Unicode name
  • Favorite symbols
  • iCloud sync for favorites
Read full description

All the symbols you need are just one tap away. Need a special character that’s not available on system keyboard? Use Symbols to quickly find and paste it. ● Choose from over 3000 special characters sorted by category. ● Access symbols instantly in any other app with custom Symbols keyboard. ● Use search inside the app to quickly find a glyph you need by its Unicode name. ● Press & hold to mark a symbol as favorite. ● Access Recent and Favorite symbols on all your devices (iCloud sync).

About

Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards

Access and use over 155,000 Unicode characters with this comprehensive character map app. It features customizable keyboards for any iOS app, bundled and importable fonts, and detailed character information. Seamlessly copy, search, and organize characters for diverse writing needs.

Highlights
  • Access 155,000+ Unicode characters
  • Customizable keyboards for any iOS app
  • Install and import custom fonts
  • Detailed character information and search
  • Copy characters to clipboard
  • Notepad for frequently used characters
  • Drag and drop support
Features
Read full description

Unicode Pad Pro is the ultimate Unicode character map app for the iPad. Offering an extensive database of over 155,000 characters, it supports the latest Unicode 16 standard. This powerful tool features customizable keyboards, which can be used across any iOS app, bundled fonts, and the ability to import custom fonts. Users can easily browse, search, and copy characters, access detailed character information, and enjoy seamless multitasking with other apps. Perfect for everything from scientific notation to creative writing, Features: • Custom keyboards can be used in any other iOS app • Install bundled fonts for use in other apps • Import and use any custom font into the app • Support for Unicode 15.1 standard, which has many new symbols. • Huge selection of symbols (thousands), in fact all that are available on your device. Database itself actually contains data for all characters (over 140000!). • Copy characters to clipboard for use in other apps, like web, mail, chat, notes... any iOS app! • Detailed information on each Unicode character, including encodings, extra info, similar characters and availability in fonts • Extensive gesture support for smooth workflow! • Drag and drop support for text, PNG and PDF graphics! • Notepad with customizable keyboards, for your often-used characters and for copying several characters at once. Great for casual writing, too! • HTML entity names for relevant characters • UNIHAN english definitions for CJK ideograms for many characters • Egyptian hieroglyph definitions • Ideographic Description Sequences (IDS) for CJK ideograms • Share your custom keyboards with your friends! • Search for characters by name, hexadecimal codepoint or glyph! Find similar and related characters instantly! • Great support for iPad multitasking - works great together with other apps • Streamlined design, specifically optimized for each device. Support for all device orientations and Retina display.  • Support for dark mode. • Fully tested on latest iOS • Support for Backspace, New line, Shift and Alternate special keys on custom keyboards. • Custom keyboard sizes up to 6x16=96 keys. • Flick left and right for next and previous characters in detail view • View extended character descriptions on Wikipedia, unicode.org charts or Emojipedia right from inside the app! • Copy glyphs as PDF graphics or PNG images • Sections of favourite and recently copied characters • 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! • Quick access to many groups of commonly used symbols! • Great for scientific, mathematical and physics notation, handles many superscripts, subscripts and other symbols! • Excellent for phonetic notation! • Developers: see which characters are available on your iOS device and in which fonts. • Perfect for writing Unicode poetry! • Awesome for making interesting app names!

Screenshots

Symbols4 screens
Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Symbols at $1.99 against Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards's $6.99. Symbols also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 13). Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards's advantage is ratings volume (200 vs 50). On rating, 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

Symbols costs $1.99 and Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for Symbols against 4.5 for Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 50 and 200 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 81% and 81% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Symbols ships an update every 6 months, Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Symbols versus Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSymbolsUnicode Pad Pro with keyboards
Price$1.99 — better$6.99
Rating4.4 (50 ratings)4.5 (200 ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.6% of reviews81.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings50200 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better13
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB259 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRinat KhanovZiga Kranjec

Customer experience

Symbols

All ratings50 ratings
Positive84.0%
Neutral2.0%
Negative14.0%
Written reviews139 reviews
Positive80.6%
Neutral4.3%
Negative15.1%

Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards

All ratings198 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral3.0%
Negative8.6%
Written reviews84 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral8.3%
Negative10.7%

In-app purchases

None

Symbols

No in-app purchases

None

Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Symbols free?
Symbols costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards free?
Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Symbols or Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards?
Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards is rated higher. Symbols averages 4.4 out of 5 from 50 ratings, while Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards averages 4.5 from 200 ratings.
Do Symbols or Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards have ads?
Neither Symbols nor Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Symbols or Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards?
Symbols ships an update every 6 months, and Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards every 4 months. Most recently, Symbols was updated on November 6, 2026 and Unicode Pad Pro with keyboards on November 6, 2026.

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