Comparison

LiquidText vs CRUMB

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

Head to head
About

LiquidText

This app provides a dynamic workspace for reviewing and organizing information from documents and webpages. It allows users to extract key facts, connect ideas across different sources, and annotate content for research, writing, or study.

Highlights
  • Import documents and webpages
  • Extract and organize excerpts
  • Connect ideas with ink links
  • Compare document sections
  • Annotate PDFs, Word, and PowerPoint
  • Search across all documents
Features
Read full description

*** Named “Most Innovative iPad App of the Year” by Apple App Store *** LiquidText offers a fast, natural way to review, gather, and organize information across all your documents and webpages—then apply the results to writing reports, meeting prep, or simply studying. Pull out key facts and connect them together, squeeze a document to compare sections, draw a line to connect ideas in different documents, comment on multiple pages at once, build upon your thoughts, and much more. ► WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: * "If you want to experience the power of going beyond paper, you can download LiquidText" – Cult of Mac * One of Macworld’s Top 24 Apps for iPad Pro * One of Time Magazine's Ten Best apps for iPad Pro * * "There's a better way to organize your research, and the app is it." – iMore, Serenity Caldwell * “All you need for deep research projects.” – Macworld, Jackie Dove * "The world changed with...LiquidText" – Law360, Paul Kiesel * "LiquidText may just be *the* app for reviewing and annotating PDFs using Apple's tablet and stylus." – CIO Magazine, James Martin * “One of the most powerful, original iPad apps I've tried in years” – Federico Viticci, MacStories.net ► LIQUIDTEXT’S COMPLETE FEATURE SET INCLUDES: (Features with * require a paid upgrade.) Import • Create a workspace and import all the documents and web pages you need • Compatible with PDF, Word, and PowerPoint document types • Import from Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Box, email, and more • Import content from webpage or send to LiquidText directly from Safari • Instant OCR to select text in scanned documents; do a full document-OCR to search as well!* • Import documents & metadata directly from reference managers (supports Zotero and Mendeley)* Interact • Pull excerpts from all the documents in your project into the Workspace area • Add your own notes (typed or written) to the Workspace area • Freely draw on your notes, or on the workspace itself* • Organize excerpts and notes into groups • Connect anything - draw live “ink links” that span pages, documents, notes, and more* • Create mind-maps by drawing “ink links” connecting your excerpts/notes to one another * • Get context - tap notes and excerpts to find original source Compare • Pinch a document to compare different distant pages side by side • Collapse text to see annotated parts side-by-side • Collapse text to view search results(s) side-by-side • Import unlimited number of documents into a project, view up to 3 at once* Annotate • Freely draw* or highlight on your document, notes, or the workspace itself • Add margin notes/comments to text, images, notes, and excerpts • Comment on two or more selections simultaneously • Replace document with a newer version (and annotations are brought to new doc)* Search • Search for keywords across all your LiquidText documents • Find keywords in title or text of your documents* • Bulk highlight, tag, or link to your search results* Realtime Collaboration • Invite colleagues into your shared projects and work together in near realtime* • Leave comments and notifications for your collaborators* • Privacy controls: set whether each workspace & document in your project is shared or private* Easy Export • Export your project as a PDF (includes your Workspace and documents) • Export your project as a Word file (converts your notes/excerpts into a linear document) • Send a full LiquidText file for those with the app. • Send files by email or to Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Zotero, and more* Sync & Backup* • Real-time, cross-platform sync • Continuous cloud backup • Multi-device display: • Use your desktop or tablet as additional display for your other device • Use your tablet for freehand inking while viewing and keyboarding on your desktop See our terms of use at https://www.liquidtext.net/terms-of-use Learn more at LiquidText.net | Better Than Paper

About

CRUMB

Explore and build electronic circuits in an interactive 3D environment. Learn circuit basics, experiment with components, and analyze performance with built-in tools without the risk of damaging real parts.

Highlights
  • Interactive 3D circuit construction
  • Wide selection of electronic components
  • Study transistors and audio filtering
  • Program EEPROMs
  • Built-in oscilloscope and analysis views
  • Prototype analysis before real-world construction
Features
Read full description

CRUMB offers an easy to use and interactive introduction to electronic circuits Fully realised in 3D, you can construct prototype circuits as you would at the workbench without the risk of terminal component failure or the hassle of ordering individual components CRUMB comes with a great selection of components to allow you to jump straight in to creating prototype circuits With the catalogue available, it is possible to study the workings of transistors & audio filtering, all the way to programming an EEPROM to run a basic program For the beginner, it is possible to learn and understand the basics of interactivity, and for the enthusiast it is possible to analyse and perfect prototypes before constructing real world models Using the built in oscilloscope and analysis views, it is possible to see clearly the interaction between components from within the wires themselves Through community feedback and suggestion, there will be many more components and features added. For a full feature list and development schedule please visit the website http://www.crumbsim.com

Screenshots

LiquidText4 screens
CRUMB4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: LiquidText at Free against CRUMB's $7.99. LiquidText also leads on ratings volume (6.4K vs 138). CRUMB's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 13) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.6). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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

LiquidText is free to download; CRUMB costs $7.99 up front. LiquidText sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $5.49 per month. CRUMB asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

LiquidText holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LiquidText has 6.4K ratings behind it against 138, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of LiquidText's written reviews are positive against 56% of CRUMB's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

LiquidText ships an update every 2 weeks, CRUMB weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
LiquidText versus CRUMB: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLiquidTextCRUMB
PriceFree — better$7.99
Rating4.6 (6.4K ratings) — better4.4 (138 ratings)
Positive reviews49.6% of reviews55.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.4K — better138
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size317 MB496 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperLiquidText, Inc.Vital Group Limited

Customer experience

LiquidText

All ratings6,376 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral3.0%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews1,466 reviews
Positive49.6%
Neutral13.6%
Negative36.8%

CRUMB

All ratings138 ratings
Positive85.5%
Neutral2.9%
Negative11.6%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive55.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative44.4%

User reviews

LiquidText

From 6.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful annotation and organization features
  • 📚 Excellent for academic and research work
  • 💡 Innovative concept and workflow
  • 🤖 Responsive and helpful customer support
  • 🖼️ Smooth integration with Apple Pencil

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive, especially for the subscription model
  • 🐛 Buggy and unstable at times
  • 🤯 Steep learning curve and unintuitive interface
  • 🔗 Lack of seamless cross-device sync and integration
  • 🔍 Navigation and file management issues

CRUMB

From 138 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for beginners
  • 💡 Good for learning new skills
  • ✨ Simple to put things together
  • 🎨 Great graphics
  • 🧩 Plenty of components

Room to improve

  • ❌ Very limited components
  • ❌ Lacks modern components
  • 🐛 Crashing frequently
  • 🐛 App crashes when using corners
  • 🐛 Crashing on Mac

Bugs and requests

LiquidText

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Frequent crashes and data loss issues
  • Inconsistent behavior with Apple Pencil
  • Text selection and highlighting problems
  • Sync issues between iPad and Mac versions
  • Unexpected changes to existing annotations

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Improved palm rejection and writing experience
  • Better export and sharing options
  • Thumbnail/outline view for easier navigation
  • Ability to rotate and resize text/image annotations

CRUMB

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • App crashes when using the “corners” option on jumper wires
  • Experienced some crashing on Mac
  • Component images do not rotate
  • Power rails are backwards related to real life breadboards
  • Program counters (74HC161) do not reset to 0 on a reset signal
Show 6 more
  • 74HC245 enable pin should be labeled active low but it’s not
  • EEPROM sometimes corrupts the data saved in the HEX editor
  • Many components, most commonly the transistor, lock their image in place even if deleted
  • Buttons and switches will react to touching the screen even when not touching the component location
  • Rotation is broken on the app version
  • UI can be a little flaky at times

Requested features

31 requests
  • Implement modern components (TI IC, LTC series)
  • Add 12 segment display
  • Add Arduino and other microcontrollers
  • Add a spot to code Arduino/microcontrollers
  • Allow custom wire colors
Show 26 more
  • Create circuit boards with custom colors
  • Add pre-made circuit boards
  • Ability to create custom electronic components from circuits
  • Improve corner-to-corner wire mode for breadboard/power rail connection
  • Add snap rotations and positions
  • Add CD4511 component
  • Add oscilloscope
  • Add signal generator
  • Add BJT transistors
  • Add op amp
  • Add MOSFETs
  • Add transformers
  • Add relays
  • Add AC power supply
  • Add music player for amplifier learning
  • Add more examples of classic circuits
  • Simulation pausing
  • Add hotkeys to desktop version
  • Add resistance monitoring view
  • Allow push buttons to be placed across rails
  • Add 'Show Pins' view to app version
  • Add schematic feature
  • Add manual
  • Add more functions and components
  • Add more examples
  • PC integration

In-app purchases

13 purchases

LiquidText

Subscriptions10
  • LiquidText Live, Monthly, Stu7 Days trial$5.491 Month
  • LiquidText Live, Monthly, StPr7 Days trial$5.491 Month
  • LiquidText Unlimited, Mo, Stu7 Days trial$10.901 Month
Show 7 more
  • LiquidText Live, Monthly7 Days trial$10.901 Month
  • LiquidText Live, Monthly, Upg7 Days trial$10.901 Month
  • LiquidText Unlimited, Yr, Stu7 Days trial$19.001 Month
  • LiquidText Live, Yearly, Stu7 Days trial$54.901 Year
  • LiquidText Live, Yearly7 Days trial$99.991 Year
  • LiquidText Live, Yearly, Upg7 Days trial$99.991 Year
  • LiquidText Unlimited, Yr7 Days trial$189.991 Year
One-time3
  • LT Pro - For Students$19.99
  • LiquidText Pro$29.99
  • LiquidText Pro II$89.99
None

CRUMB

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is LiquidText free?
LiquidText is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CRUMB free?
CRUMB costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, LiquidText or CRUMB?
LiquidText is rated higher. LiquidText averages 4.6 out of 5 from 6.4K ratings, while CRUMB averages 4.4 from 138 ratings.
Do LiquidText or CRUMB have ads?
Neither LiquidText nor CRUMB shows ads.
Which is updated more often, LiquidText or CRUMB?
LiquidText ships an update every 2 weeks, and CRUMB weekly. Most recently, LiquidText was updated on October 15, 2026 and CRUMB on October 14, 2026.

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