Comparison

Lingua vs Font Maker

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

Head to head
About

Lingua

Create your own unique script and language, complete with custom keyboards and a dictionary. Share your creations with a global community and explore languages made by others.

Highlights
  • Custom script creation
  • Personalized keyboard layouts
  • Detailed language dictionary
  • Phonology and grammar tools
  • Community timeline for sharing
  • Exportable fonts and dictionaries
Features
Read full description

Lingua is where you make a language and then actually use it. YOUR SCRIPT Draw each letter with your finger. Lingua compiles your letters into a real font on your phone, and gives you a keyboard with your letters on the keys to type with in the app. You can also build keyboards of any existing characters (accented letters, IPA, symbols, other scripts) and use them in any app, free and as many as you like. Alphabet, abjad, syllabary, abugida or logography, written in any direction. Digits are letters too, in whatever base you choose. YOUR LANGUAGE A dictionary where every word has meanings, part of speech, examples, register and origin. Readings and IPA. A phonology page built from what you have written. A grammar of 44 chapters — cases, agreement, word order, negation, questions, derivation — whose rules really conjugate: describe a pattern once and every word in that class follows it. A calendar with your own month and weekday names, a notebook, and CSV import for a list you already have. A PLACE TO USE IT A timeline where people post lines in their own languages, in their own letters. Each post carries its letter shapes with it, so anyone can read your script without your font, and every post has a gloss so people can follow and reply even to a language nobody else speaks yet. Replies and threads, following, tags, a daily prompt everyone answers in their language, photos with your letters drawn on them, a 30-second voice clip, and a card that turns one line into a picture to share. Publish your language's page, and download the alphabet or dictionary of a language you like, to read. FREE AND PAID Free: a full a–z and 0–9 script, one language, a dictionary of 100 words, as many keyboards as you like, and the whole timeline. Plus and Pro add more letters, more words and more languages. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled. Terms: https://tokinets.com/lingua/terms.html Privacy: https://tokinets.com/lingua/privacy.html

About

Font Maker

Features
Read full description

Make a real font from the way you write. Font Maker: TypeMine is a handwriting studio for creators, students, teachers, and anyone who wants personal text. Draw characters on your iPhone, refine the spacing, preview your work, and export files you can keep. There is no account, advertising, analytics, or cloud upload. CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO DRAW Begin with Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, or Hebrew, no matter which language the app uses. You can also paste a phrase and let TypeMine make a compact drawing set from only the characters it contains. Small stages help you reach a usable result quickly, celebrate each completed set, and decide whether to create text now or continue. Every project is saved automatically and remains editable. You never have to finish an entire alphabet. Draw one useful set, preview it, compose with the characters you have, and add more later. For scripts that change letter shapes when characters join, contextual shaping is not supported in this version. The low-latency canvas supports a finger and Apple Pencil. Baseline, x-height, cap-height, and descender guides help letters sit together naturally. Choose among three stroke widths, undo or redo, fit a drawing to the guides, and tune each character's width. Clear actions ask for confirmation. PREVIEW WHILE YOU WORK TypeMine compiles your strokes locally and uses the resulting font for live previews. Export a TTF from any non-empty set you have drawn; you do not need to complete a preset alphabet first. Missing characters produce a clear warning and use the font's missing-character mark. Characters remain editable between exports. CREATE TEXT ART IN THE APP • Write multiline text with a live preview in your font • Change font size, alignment, and line spacing • Choose text and background colors • Use a transparent background when you need only the lettering • Switch among square, story, portrait, and page-shaped canvases Export a transparent PNG, styled PNG, PDF, TTF, or one package with every format. Image and PDF exports check your composition first. If a character has not been drawn, TypeMine tells you what is missing instead of silently replacing your work. AN OPTIONAL, HONEST KEYBOARD The optional TypeMine keyboard provides QWERTY keys, shift, delete, space, return, and keyboard switching. Normal typing works without Full Access. It previews a message in your selected local font. Host apps control text-field fonts, so a keyboard cannot force a custom TTF into normal text. Full Access is optional and used only to copy that rendered message as a transparent image. The keyboard does not inspect host text, connect to a server, collect keystrokes, or send your writing anywhere. FREE EXPORTS WITH YOUR BADGE Drawing, editing, previews, projects, keyboard typing, and exports are unlimited. Free images include a Made with TypeMine badge so others discover the app. TypeMine Plus is optional. Choose yearly or lifetime access to remove the badge from exported work. There is no trial or weekly plan, and Restore Purchases is in Settings. MADE TO BE CLEAR TypeMine combines a bright canvas with strong contrast, large controls, Dynamic Type, VoiceOver labels, dark mode, right-to-left layout, and Reduce Motion behavior. The language picker includes 50 choices, and character-set choice stays independent from the app language. TypeMine Plus purchase information - TypeMine Plus offers an auto-renewable yearly subscription and a one-time lifetime purchase. Both remove the Made with TypeMine badge from exports. - Payment is charged to your App Store account when you confirm the purchase. - The yearly subscription renews automatically unless you cancel it at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Lifetime access does not renew. - You can manage or cancel the subscription in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://yumcut.com/mobile/privacy

Screenshots

Lingua4 screens
Font Maker4 screens

Verdict

The call

Lingua and Font Maker are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Lingua sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Font Maker sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Lingua versus Font Maker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLinguaFont Maker
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTSUBASA IHIRAIhar Shaduryn

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Lingua

Subscriptions4
  • Lingua Plus$4.991 Month
  • Lingua Pro$9.991 Month
  • Lingua Plus Yearly$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Lingua Pro Yearly$99.991 Year
2 purchases

Font Maker

Subscriptions1
  • TypeMine Plus Annual$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • TypeMine Lifetime$19.99

Questions

Is Lingua free?
Lingua is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Font Maker free?
Font Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lingua or Font Maker have ads?
Neither Lingua nor Font Maker shows ads.

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