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

Make your screen your own with Hourline. Create illustrated city wallpapers, add Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, and check local weather as the sky changes from day to night. Your city. Your wallpaper. Choose an illustrated city, adjust its position and zoom, and make it your Home Screen or Lock Screen wallpaper. Add stickers, or cut yourself out of a photo and stand in the scene. Set up and preview weather information for free; save it with Pro. Scenery wallpapers are free. Refresh with Shortcuts; automation needs your own Shortcuts setup. A little city on your screen. Keep city time, weather and the sky close with Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets: Now & Next, Year of Light, Moon Month, Two-City Calendar, Reminders Across Time, Golden Hour, a world timer dial and more. Design your own widget in Widget Studio. Many widgets are free. Postcard, Landmark, Illustration, City Status, Window, Departures and other premium widgets require Pro, as does adding a Widget Studio design to your Home Screen. Postcards from your cities. Print the clock's city as a postcard in color or in one of three inks, and decorate it with stickers from your photos. A place of your own. Add My Location to keep your own place beside your cities, with its time, weather and sun. It is free; Pro members can ask for an illustration of their place. World time, when you need it. • Compare cities on a shared time ruler and a day-and-night world map. Time zones and daylight saving changes follow the system. See calendar events alongside the hours you are comparing, and compare working hours when planning a meeting. • Open any city's day from the clock's calendar. With Pro, see its public holidays and stock market hours. • Check Apple Weather, then open the forecast. Choose color or ink, light or dark, and 12- or 24-hour time. • Free Live Activities show up to three cities on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Follow saved cities on Apple Watch; Pro adds weather details there. • With Pro on iOS 26+, set alarms in a city's local time, choose the weekdays they repeat, and hear the weather read aloud when you stop one. System alarm permission is required. CITY STROLL AND WEATHER BRIEF Follow a fictional conversation through real city places (iOS 27+), or read a short weather brief (iOS 26+). The first three City Stroll lines are free; Pro lets the walk continue. Use Apple Intelligence or a configured supported model. Availability depends on device, model, language and region. Model setup is free; third-party providers may charge separately. FREE AND HOURLINE PRO Free includes up to six saved cities, 199 places, your own place, the selected city's weather and Live Activities. Pro adds all 372 places and unlimited saved cities, weather for every city, hourly and ten-day forecasts, holidays and market hours, calendar event creation, city alarms, iCloud Sync, premium widgets, weather information in wallpapers and continued City Stroll conversations. 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 (9 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 9 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 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Pinlet versus Hourline: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPinletHourline
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.9 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings19 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB124 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 ratings9 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$17.99

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 9 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 3 days. Most recently, Pinlet was updated on October 25, 2026 and Hourline on October 26, 2026.

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