Comparison

Reference Board vs YWFT Fontlens

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

Head to head
About

Reference Board

This app offers an infinite canvas for visually organizing thoughts and inspiration. Users can drop in various media types, arrange them freely, and zoom in or out to explore connections. Instant search functionality helps locate specific items across all boards.

Highlights
  • Infinite canvas
  • Visual idea organization
  • Supports images, videos, quotes
  • Freeform arrangement
  • Instant search
  • Zoom in/out functionality
Features
Read full description

Reference Board is a private visual workspace for collecting inspiration, developing ideas, and keeping creative research close at hand on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. BUILD VISUAL BOARDS • Collect images, videos, links, text, colors, and PDFs in one place. • Arrange references freely on an infinite canvas or switch to an organized grid. • Move, resize, group, stack, crop, flip, and annotate without changing your original media. • Use the loupe to inspect fine details in images and videos. FIND WHAT YOU NEED • Search across boards and references. • Use on-device analysis, OCR, colors, metadata, and visual similarity to rediscover material quickly. • Keep notes and details attached to the work they describe. SYNC, COLLABORATE, AND SHARE • Keep your library in sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad with iCloud. • Invite others to collaborate on shared boards. • Publish a separate public, view-only webpage when you want to present your work more widely. • Update or unpublish a published board whenever you like. WORK YOUR WAY • Import from Photos, Files, Safari, drag and drop, or the Share Sheet. • Export boards as images, PDFs, or Reference Board archives. • Use widgets, Shortcuts, the screen saver, and optional MCP automation to connect Reference Board to your workflow. ONE PURCHASE. NO SUBSCRIPTION. New customers receive Reference Pro with their App Store purchase, including unlimited private boards and items, Publish to Web, AI metadata and visual discovery, new collaborations, PDF export, and MCP automation. People who acquired Reference while it was free keep their existing Free plan with one private board and up to 20 items. They can unlock lifetime Reference Pro with a one-time in-app purchase. Reaching a Free limit never deletes or hides existing work. Original paid-app customers and people who already purchased lifetime Reference Pro keep permanent Pro access automatically.

About

YWFT Fontlens

Discover fonts from a vast library by uploading photos, screenshots, or describing styles. It identifies exact matches or closest alternatives from over 270,000 typefaces worldwide.

Highlights
  • Identify fonts from photos
  • Search by font name
  • Describe font styles
  • Find closest alternatives
  • Access large typeface library
  • Visual font matching
Features
Read full description

Fontlens searches one of the largest independent type libraries available...over 270,000 typefaces from foundries around the world, covering every style from tight condensed sans-serifs to ornate display serifs, brush scripts to pixel fonts, variable fonts to blackletter designs. Upload a photo, drop in a screenshot, describe a style in plain words, or type a font name of a popular typeface. Fontlens reads the letterforms and returns ranked visual matches from the full catalog. When an exact match exists, it surfaces it. When it doesn't, the closest alternatives (and we have lots) are there instead.

Screenshots

Reference Board4 screens
YWFT Fontlens4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: YWFT Fontlens at Free against Reference Board's $5.99. YWFT Fontlens also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). Reference Board's advantage is chart position (#162 vs unranked) and ratings volume (7 vs 1). On 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

YWFT Fontlens is free to download; Reference Board costs $5.99 up front. Reference Board sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. YWFT Fontlens asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

YWFT Fontlens holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Reference Board has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Reference Board ships an update every 4 days, YWFT Fontlens weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Reference Board versus YWFT Fontlens: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReference BoardYWFT Fontlens
Price$5.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (7 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews63.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#162 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJordan RuchtieYouWorkForThem, Inc

Customer experience

Reference Board

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive63.6%
Neutral9.1%
Negative27.3%

YWFT Fontlens

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Reference Board

One-time1
  • Reference Pro$5.99
None

YWFT Fontlens

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Reference Board free?
Reference Board costs $5.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is YWFT Fontlens free?
YWFT Fontlens is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Reference Board or YWFT Fontlens?
YWFT Fontlens is rated higher. Reference Board averages 4.3 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while YWFT Fontlens averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Reference Board or YWFT Fontlens have ads?
Neither Reference Board nor YWFT Fontlens shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Reference Board or YWFT Fontlens?
Reference Board ships an update every 4 days, and YWFT Fontlens weekly. Most recently, Reference Board was updated on November 9, 2026 and YWFT Fontlens on October 31, 2026.

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