Comparison

Dearscript vs FontStudio

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

Head to head
About

Dearscript

Features
Read full description

Your handwriting deserves to be more than ink. Dearscript turns what you write with Apple Pencil into a real, installable font — free, with no accounts and no subscriptions. Write each letter once on a guided, notebook-style canvas, and watch a live preview assemble your handwriting into sentences as you go. When you're happy, install your font on your iPad or iPhone and use it in Pages, Keynote, Word, and any app that supports custom fonts — or export the font file and use it on your Mac or PC. HOW IT WORKS • Draw each letter with Apple Pencil on a compact, guided canvas — faint reference letters and typographic guidelines keep everything lined up • Watch the live preview render your own sample text in your handwriting as you draw • Install your font system-wide, or share the font file anywhere MAKE IT YOURS • Five brushes — pen, monoline, fountain pen, marker, pencil — with adjustable width • Pressure-sensitive strokes carry into the finished font: write light, write bold, it shows • Draw multiple versions of any letter and Dearscript rotates them naturally as you type, so nothing looks stamped or robotic • Letter combinations like "th" and "oo" can be drawn as connected pairs for a flowing, natural look • Tune character and word spacing; add designer and license info to the font file itself A REAL FONT, DONE RIGHT Dearscript builds genuine TrueType fonts with smooth curves — not images of your writing. 105 glyphs: uppercase, lowercase, numbers, punctuation, symbols, and combinations. EVERYWHERE YOU ARE Your fonts sync privately through iCloud across your devices. No account to create, no data collected, nothing to pay.

About

FontStudio

Transform your handwriting into usable digital fonts. Design and refine every letter with intuitive tools, then export your creations as TTF, OTF, or WOFF files. All your font projects are stored directly on your device.

Highlights
  • Handwriting to font conversion
  • Vector outline editing
  • Adjustable spacing and kerning
  • Printable handwriting sheets
  • Multiple export formats (TTF, OTF, WOFF)
  • Import artwork and existing fonts
Read full description

Turn your handwriting into a font you can actually use. FontStudio is a complete type design studio for iPhone and iPad: draw every letter, perfect the curves, tune spacing and kerning, then export a real TTF, OTF, or WOFF file. Everything is made and stored on your device. DRAW EVERY LETTER • Sketch each character with Apple Pencil or your finger on a pressure-sensitive canvas • Four nib profiles: Pressure, Monoline, Calligraphic with a pen angle dial, and Tapered • Guides for baseline, x-height, cap height, ascender, and descender, plus an adjustable grid • Trace or compare against a ghost reference letter shown in any font on your device • Pencil-only mode lets fingers pan and zoom while only Apple Pencil draws • Double-tap or squeeze your Apple Pencil to switch between drawing and erasing • Deep per-letter undo and redo that survives switching characters PRINT A SHEET, SCAN A WHOLE ALPHABET • Generate a printable handwriting sheet on US Letter or A4, ruled with your font's own metrics • Write your letters in the printed cells, then scan the pages with your camera • Registration marks align each page automatically, with manual adjustment if one is missed • Review every cell, exclude the ones you want to redo, and import a full alphabet at once PERFECT EVERY CURVE WITH VECTOR NODES • Edit true outlines with anchor points and bezier handles • Switch nodes between corner and smooth, add or delete points • Move, scale, and rotate selections with an on-canvas gizmo or lasso select WEIGHT, SPACING, AND KERNING • One slider makes the whole font lighter or bolder — your strokes stay intact, and reset is one tap away • Set left and right side bearings per letter with a live proof of its neighbors • Kern pairs by dragging letters closer or apart, with suggestions like AV, To, and LT TEST IT BEFORE YOU SHIP IT • The type tester compiles your font and renders live text in it • Type your own sample or use built-in specimens for pangrams, capitals, numerals, punctuation, and kerning • Adjust size and line height, and preview in light or dark IMPORT ARTWORK, OR OPEN A FONT YOU ALREADY HAVE • Bring in PNG or SVG artwork from Photos, Files, the clipboard, or by dragging it onto a letter • Tune ink detection and smoothing to control how artwork is traced • Open TTF, OTF, WOFF, and WOFF2 files to edit, straight from Files, AirDrop, or the share sheet EXPORT REAL FONT FILES • TrueType (.ttf) — the one file most people need; installs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Windows • OpenType CFF (.otf) — for design applications • WOFF — for @font-face on your website • Per-letter SVG files and a printable specimen PDF • Real kerning tables are compiled into the exported font • Export checks catch empty letters, unclosed outlines, and name conflicts, then jump you straight to the fix • Send your font with the share sheet or save it to Files YOUR FONT LIBRARY • Every font shows a live specimen drawn from your own letters • Grid, list, compact, and gallery layouts, favorites, and sorting • Duplicate a font, or duplicate as a variant to build a family • Choose your coverage: capitals, lowercase, numerals, punctuation, accented Latin, and your own custom characters • Set family name, style, PostScript name, version, author, copyright, and license — written into the font itself PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account, no sign-in, no upload — fonts are compiled entirely on your device • Optional iCloud sync keeps your library on all your devices and works offline • Lock the app with Face ID or Touch ID • Export and import a full backup of your fonts at any time FREE AND PRO Drawing, node editing, importing, weight, spacing, kerning, the type tester, and printing handwriting sheets are free forever. Pro unlocks font export and handwriting scanning, as a monthly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Dearscript4 screens
FontStudio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Dearscript at none against FontStudio's 2. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. FontStudio sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Dearscript asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference · 7 level
Dearscript versus FontStudio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDearscriptFontStudio
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.526.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDennis KochLife Utility Apps, LLC

In-app purchases

None

Dearscript

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

FontStudio

Subscriptions1
  • Monthly$3.991 Month
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$19.99

Questions

Is Dearscript free?
Dearscript is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is FontStudio free?
FontStudio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Dearscript or FontStudio have ads?
Neither Dearscript nor FontStudio shows ads.

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