Retrotype vs TypePress
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Retrotype
Experience the satisfying feel of a classic typewriter on your device. Choose from multiple vintage models, customize sounds and visuals, and enjoy distraction-free writing with authentic haptic and audio feedback.
- Authentic typewriter models
- Customizable sound packs
- Haptic feedback
- Multiple color palettes and paper themes
- External keyboard support
- Distraction-free writing environment
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Rediscover the joy of writing without distractions. Retrotype transforms your device into a beautiful, tactile typewriter — complete with the sounds, rhythm, and charm of the classics. CHOOSE YOUR MACHINE Four meticulously crafted typewriter models, each with a distinct personality: - Clean, timeless design. The one that started it all. - Vintage European style with warm, earthy tones. - Mid-century curves in playful pastel palettes. - Bold industrial form with exposed ribbon cartridges. MAKE IT YOURS 22+ hand-picked color palettes. 12 paper themes. 5 authentic sound packs — from the sharp snap of a classic to the soft press of a modern electric. Dial in your haptics, adjust your margins, and set your bell. FEEL EVERY KEYSTROKE Authentic sound and haptic feedback bring every key press to life. Carriage returns, margin bells, and the steady rhythm of typing pull you into a focused flow. WRITE ANYWHERE Designed for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with seamless external keyboard support. Your documents are always ready. ONE PRICE. EVERYTHING INCLUDED. Retrotype Premium is a single purchase — no subscriptions, no recurring fees. Every model, palette, sound pack, and future update is yours forever. Retrotype is a place to slow down, find your flow, and let words unfold one keystroke at a time.
TypePress
Experience distraction-free writing with a realistic typewriter simulation. Enjoy tactile key presses, authentic sounds, and a variety of fonts. Archive your work, track statistics, and export documents in multiple formats.
- Realistic animated typewriter simulation
- Authentic mechanical key sounds and carriage return bell
- Seven selectable fonts across four categories
- Auto-saving and document archiving with search
- Red ink option for highlighting
- iCloud sync across devices
- Export as PDF or plain text
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Write like it’s 1962. A typewriter for your words, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. TypePress puts a typewriter on your iPhone and iPad and lets you write on it. Press a key and it sinks. The type bar swings up and strikes the ribbon. The carriage slides with every letter, the paper creeps upward, and the bell rings near the end of the line. Pull the lever or turn the knob and the page feeds up one line. No notifications, no toolbars, no autocorrect. Just you, a sheet of paper and the sound of your own words landing. A KEYBOARD THAT FEELS LIKE KEYS On iPhone, a touch typewriter keyboard sits under the paper, so every thought is a few taps from the page. On iPad, the machine fills the bottom of the screen and its round keys are tappable right on the illustration. Using a hardware keyboard? The matching key dips under your fingers. Swipe the carriage either way to return it, or grab the knob and roll the paper yourself. FIVE MACHINES, DRAWN BY HAND Classic, Mehano, Mint, Coral and Hermes, with more on the way. Each one has its own keys, lever, knobs and personality, and every part moves on its own. You write on the machine, not beside it. INK THAT BEHAVES LIKE INK Black, red and blue ribbons. Switch colors mid-sentence and only the letters you type next change. Set the ink heavy, normal or light, crisp or soft, and change it for a single word whenever you like. Light ink fades unevenly from word to word, the way a tired ribbon really does. Make a mistake and type over it, or strike a letter through and keep it on the page as part of the story. PAPER YOU WANT TO TOUCH Vintage, Modern and Minimal come free. With Pro, six textured stocks join them. Cotton, Laid, Onionskin, Aged 1962, Kraft and Handmade, each with its own grain and fibre, carried right into your PDF exports. Set the left and right margins in centimetres or inches with a tap, choose how wide the line runs, and the page follows. NINE TYPEFACES Courier Prime and Special Elite for the classic look. Cutive Mono, Anonymous Pro, IBM Plex Mono, JetBrains Mono and Lekton for clean monospace. Cutive for an elegant serif and Limelight for Art Deco headlines. Every page remembers its own font. SOUNDS THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO WRITE Four key sounds rotate so no two strokes are identical. The bell rings, the carriage return slides, the paper feed rolls. All of it is synthesized, warm and analog. Prefer silence? Turn it off. ARCHIVE, FOLDERS AND TAGS Every page is saved as you write. Press and hold a page to pin it, put it in a folder or give it a tag, then find anything with search. Deleted pages wait 30 days in Recently Deleted. Your stats keep a quiet count of pages and words, and never a streak. YOURS, EVERYWHERE Turn on iCloud Sync and your pages, folders and tags follow you across iPhone, iPad and Mac. No account, no server, just your own iCloud. Lock the app with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Both stay off until you switch them on. EXPORT AND SHARE Export a page as a PDF or as plain text and send it anywhere from the share sheet, or save it straight to Files. Your first export is free. TYPEPRESS PRO After your free export, Pro unlocks unlimited exports, extra sounds, typewriter machines, textured papers and wide pages. · Monthly, $2.99 · Yearly, $19.99 (save 44%) · Lifetime, $49.99 one time One purchase works on your iPhone, iPad and Mac. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings. WHO IT IS FOR Journalers who want a ritual instead of an app. Poets who want constraint. Novelists doing morning pages. Students who would like their tabs to stop watching. Anyone who has ever thought, I just want to write. TypePress does not suggest, correct or nag. It gives you a machine, a page and a reason to keep going. Start typing. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Retrotype at 3.9 against TypePress's 2.5. Retrotype also leads on ratings volume (19 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). TypePress's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 months) and monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid). On price, ads, 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
Both are free to download. Retrotype sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and TypePress sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Retrotype holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Retrotype has 19 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Retrotype ships an update every 3 months, TypePress every 6 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Retrotype | TypePress |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (19 ratings) — better | 2.5 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 19 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 149 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Good Loop Software LLC | Ezgi Acar |
Customer experience
Retrotype
TypePress
In-app purchases
Retrotype
- Unlock Everything$4.99
TypePress
- TypePress Monthly3 Days trial$2.991 Month
- TypePress Yearly$19.991 Year
- TypePress Lifetime$49.99








