Comparison

Pinlet vs Hourline

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

Hourline

Customize your device's appearance with illustrated cityscapes and dynamic weather widgets. Personalize your Home and Lock Screens with unique wallpapers, stickers, and time-based information. Access advanced features like detailed forecasts and city-specific alarms with a Pro subscription.

Highlights
  • Illustrated city wallpapers
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • Local weather display
  • Customizable widget designs
  • World time comparison
  • Live Activities integration
  • City-specific alarms (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Bring New York or San Francisco to your screen. Arrange Home Screen widgets, set a Live Photo Wallpaper of the city, then settle into Pomodoro Focus as its day passes. YOUR CITY, ON YOUR SCREEN • Style your Home Screen and Lock Screen with widgets. “Landmark Widget, Edge to Edge” and other premium widgets require Pro. • Export a Live Photo Wallpaper: the last three hours of the city's sky play as you wake your iPhone. Pro adds 3D. • See local weather free for six hours before and after now, along with the forecast’s update time. Pro unlocks weather for every city, hour by hour and for the next 10 days. • Holiday decorations dress the city scene for local celebrations, free for everyone. TIME TO FOCUS AND CONNECT • Pomodoro Focus is free: work and rest as the city's day passes, with a countdown on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Pro moves each round to the next city and shows the past week. • Compare world time with the time-zone ruler and day–night map. Open World Time’s Calendar to see events in your time and the selected city's; Pro adds each clock's daily weather. Event Alerts let you join a call or snooze an alert. • With Pro, Lock Screen Clock for the Weather starts when you open Hourline if rain, snow, storms or fog are happening or due within three hours. The Dynamic Island shows that weather. • What to Wear (Pro) dresses two people for the hour you choose and explains each outfit. MORE WITH HOURLINE PRO Every place and unlimited saved cities; “Another Place’s Weather on Your Wallpaper”; “Wallpaper Cards in Any Size”; 3D city scenes, including San Francisco and New York; city alarms (iOS 26+); holiday information and market hours; iCloud Sync; extra app icons and “Pro Complications on Apple Watch”. New places with their own landmarks, including Buffalo, New York. The free version includes up to six saved cities from the free collection, scenery wallpapers, many widgets, Focus, the calendar, Live Activities and the Apple Watch app. Places added since 1.0.1 require Pro. City Stroll (Pro after the first free exchange) needs iOS 26+ and Apple Intelligence on device or a model you configure. Day Brief needs iOS 26+ and Apple Intelligence; its text is written on device by default. Availability depends on device, language and region. Choose Yearly, an auto-renewing subscription, or Lifetime, a one-time purchase. Yearly renews automatically at the price shown in the app unless cancelled. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. Cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends; manage subscriptions in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://hourline.app/privacy

Screenshots

Pinlet4 screens
Hourline4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Pinlet at free against Hourline's freemium. Hourline's advantage is ratings volume (12 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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 Hourline sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Pinlet against 4.9 for Hourline. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hourline has 12 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pinlet ships an update weekly, Hourline every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Pinlet versus Hourline: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPinletHourline
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.9 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings112 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB170 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer文峰 黄成琦 李

Customer experience

Pinlet

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Hourline

All ratings11 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pinlet

One-time1
  • Coffee$1.99
3 purchases

Hourline

Subscriptions2
  • Hourline Pro Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Hourline Pro Yearly$7.991 Year
One-time1
  • Hourline Pro Lifetime$19.99

Questions

Is Pinlet free?
Pinlet is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hourline free?
Hourline is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pinlet or Hourline?
Pinlet is rated higher. Pinlet averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Hourline averages 4.9 from 12 ratings.
Do Pinlet or Hourline have ads?
Neither Pinlet nor Hourline shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pinlet or Hourline?
Pinlet ships an update weekly, and Hourline every 4 days. Most recently, Pinlet was updated on October 31, 2026 and Hourline on October 31, 2026.

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