Comparison

Pinlet vs Cadence

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

Head to head
About

Pinlet

This app allows you to pin short text snippets to your iPhone's Dynamic Island and Lock Screen as Live Activities. It can extract text from screenshots, supports manual input, and keeps a history of your pinned items. Your data is private by default, with optional iCloud sync.

Highlights
  • Pin text to Dynamic Island and Lock Screen
  • Extract text from screenshots
  • Manual text input up to 120 characters
  • History of pinned text with favorites
  • Quick Input and Shortcuts integration
  • Private by default, no ads or analytics
Read full description

Keep what matters right where you can see it. Pinlet turns a short piece of text into a Live Activity, so it can stay visible on Dynamic Island and your Lock Screen while you move through your day. Add a deadline, a pickup code, a short intention, or anything else you do not want to lose in a list. PULL TEXT FROM ANY SCREENSHOT Circle any part of a screenshot or photo and Pinlet reads the text for you. Fine-tune the result word by word or character by character, then pin exactly what you need — no retyping. WRITE AND PIN Enter up to 120 characters and pin them in one tap. Update the text whenever the important thing changes, or unpin it when you are done. STAY VISIBLE On supported iPhone models, pinned text appears on Dynamic Island. It also appears as a Live Activity on the Lock Screen. iOS controls Live Activity availability and may end an activity according to system policy. START FROM ANYWHERE Long-press the Pinlet icon for Quick Input, or use Shortcuts to pin text, unpin, or open a screenshot in Pinlet from anywhere on your phone. RETURN TO WHAT MATTERED Pinlet keeps a history of successfully pinned text. Mark useful entries as favorites, reuse them as a new draft, delete individual entries, or automatically clean up older nonfavorite history. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Your content and any text recognition happen on your iPhone by default. Pinlet has no account system, advertising, third-party analytics, or custom server. OPTIONAL ICLOUD SYNC If you choose to enable iCloud sync, your history, favorites, and recent activity times are stored in your private CloudKit database and synced to devices using the same Apple Account. iCloud sync is off by default. Requires iOS 17 or later. Pinlet is designed for iPhone.

About

Cadence

Features
Read full description

Cadence is an iOS app dedicated to managing your subscription expenses. It’s perfect for keeping track of app memberships, cloud services, software utilities, streaming platforms, games, education, and other recurring fixed costs. For each subscription, you can log the amount, currency, billing cycle, renewal date, category, payment method, and reminder preferences. Cadence organizes this information into a clean monthly overview, letting you know exactly how much you need to pay this month, when your next charge will happen, and which subscriptions are eating up your budget. [Key Features] • Subscription Management: Easily add, edit, or delete recurring items. • Multi-Currency Support: Convert and view expenses across CNY, USD, EUR, JPY, KRW, and more. • Renewal Reminders: Get notified before you get charged to avoid unwanted automatic renewals. • Category Management: Group and view spending by Streaming, Music, AI Tools, Productivity, Cloud Storage, and more. • Payment Methods: Keep track of how you pay to easily verify bank or card statements. • Home Screen Widgets: Quickly glance at upcoming charges and fixed expenses. • Pro Analytics: Access category breakdowns, monthly trends, renewal calendars, and expense forecasting. • Pro iCloud Sync: Keep your subscription data in sync across all your Apple devices. • Import & Export: Back up and restore your subscription configurations via JSON files. By default, Cadence stores your subscription data locally on your device. Once Pro iCloud Sync is enabled, your data is securely saved to your personal iCloud container for multi-device synchronization. Cadence requires no account registration and never uploads your subscription records to private servers. Cadence Pro is available as a one-time lifetime purchase. Unlock advanced features including deep analytics, expense forecasting, Home Screen & widget calendars, iCloud multi-device sync, and seamless data import/export.

Screenshots

Pinlet4 screens
Cadence4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Pinlet at weekly against Cadence's every 5 weeks. Pinlet also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pinlet sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Cadence sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pinlet ships an update weekly, Cadence every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Pinlet versus Cadence: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPinletCadence
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB8 MB
Age rating4+9+
Developer文峰 黄诵权 田

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pinlet

One-time1
  • Coffee$1.99
1 purchases

Cadence

One-time1
  • Cadence Pro$1.99

Questions

Is Pinlet free?
Pinlet is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cadence free?
Cadence is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pinlet or Cadence have ads?
Neither Pinlet nor Cadence shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pinlet or Cadence?
Pinlet ships an update weekly, and Cadence every 5 weeks. Most recently, Pinlet was updated on November 10, 2026 and Cadence on November 5, 2026.

Other comparisons