Comparison

Editorial vs Shorty

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

Head to head
About

Editorial

A plain text editor for iOS offering powerful automation and an inline preview for Markdown, TaskPaper, and Fountain documents. Enhance your writing with custom workflows, scripts, and a smart keyboard.

Highlights
  • Inline Markdown/Fountain Preview
  • Extensible Workflows and Python Scripts
  • Dropbox Sync
  • Smart Keyboard with Swipe Gestures
  • Snippets and TextExpander Support
  • In-App Browser
  • Document Section Folding
Features
Read full description

Editorial is a plain text editor for iOS with powerful automation tools and a beautiful inline preview for Markdown, TaskPaper, and Fountain documents. Features: * Inline Markdown/Fountain Preview – With Editorial's subtle syntax highlighting, you can see your document's formatting immediately while you're writing. And when you need a full HTML preview, it's just a swipe away. * Extensible with Workflows and Scripts – Select from over 50 text processing actions to create your own workflows for extending Editorial's feature set. For even more advanced automation, you can write Python scripts with an integrated code and UI editor. * Dropbox Sync – The sync folder is customizable, so you can easily edit your documents with multiple apps. * Smart Keyboard – The extended keyboard was specifically designed for writing Markdown and includes all the special characters you need. You can also control the cursor with simple swipe gestures. * Snippets – Quickly insert frequently-used pieces of text by typing abbreviations. Snippets can include dynamic text, e.g. the current date or clipboard contents. TextExpander™ snippets are also supported. * In-App Browser – If you need to do some quick research while writing, you don't have to leave the app for that. You can even open multiple tabs. * "Folding" allows you to quickly hide individual sections of your document while you're writing. *** *** *** “It would be hard to imagine a better editor, let alone recommend one that actually exists.” — The Verge “This is it. Editorial sets a new standard for third-party iOS automation, and, for me, there’s no going back.” — Federico Viticci, MacStories “Editorial just reinvented iOS text editing.” — Merlin Mann

About

Shorty

This application transforms long-form content like videos, podcasts, and documents into concise summaries. It helps users save time and stay informed by extracting key information efficiently.

Highlights
  • Summarize YouTube videos
  • Summarize podcasts
  • Summarize documents
  • Quick takeaways
  • Save time
  • Stay informed
Features
Read full description

Shorty is your AI toolbox for videos, audio, and files. SUMMARIZE • YouTube videos → clean bullet-point recaps in seconds • PDFs, Word docs, articles and webpages → the key points without the fluff TRANSCRIBE • Audio & video to text (TXT, SRT, VTT export) • Record meetings and get a live transcript with the realtime voice recorder SUBTITLES • Auto-generate subtitles (SRT/VTT/ASS) or burn them into the video • Styles for TikTok, podcasts, and clean minimal captions CONVERT & COMPRESS • 65 file conversions — MP4 to MP3, HEIC to JPG, WebP to PNG, PDF to JPG and more • Compress videos, images and PDFs to hit any size limit No signup needed to start. Free plan included. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Editorial4 screens
Shorty4 screens

Verdict

The call

Editorial and Shorty both sit at 4.1 stars, but that hides the real split: 73% of Editorial's written reviews are positive against 33% of Shorty's. Editorial also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ratings volume (238 vs 2). On price, rating, 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

Both are free to download. Shorty sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Editorial asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.1 for Editorial against 4.0 for Shorty. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Editorial has 238 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of Editorial's written reviews are positive against 33% of Shorty's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Editorial ships an update every 4 months, Shorty every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Editorial versus Shorty: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEditorialShorty
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (238 ratings) — better4.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews73.1% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings238 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size268 MB28 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developeromz:softwareDevino

Customer experience

Editorial

All ratings236 ratings
Positive75.8%
Neutral6.4%
Negative17.8%
Written reviews360 reviews
Positive73.1%
Neutral8.9%
Negative18.1%

Shorty

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

Editorial

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Dropbox sync issues leading to data loss
  • Crashes, freezes, and bugs
  • Incompatibility with newer iOS versions and devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • iCloud sync support
  • Folder sync options beyond Dropbox
  • Org-mode support
  • Better Python script editing

Shorty

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Editorial

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Shorty

Subscriptions4
  • Premium Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Pro Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Premium Annual7 Days trial$47.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$95.991 Year

Questions

Is Editorial free?
Editorial is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shorty free?
Shorty is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Editorial or Shorty?
Editorial is rated higher. Editorial averages 4.1 out of 5 from 238 ratings, while Shorty averages 4.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Editorial or Shorty have ads?
Neither Editorial nor Shorty shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Editorial or Shorty?
Editorial ships an update every 4 months, and Shorty every 3 months. Most recently, Editorial was updated on October 29, 2026 and Shorty on October 28, 2026.

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