LiquidText vs Pocket Pointer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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*** 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
Pocket Pointer
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Your iPhone is already in your hand. Pocket Pointer turns it into a trackpad and keyboard for your Mac — real multi-touch gestures, real typing, no cable and no account. Free, both halves, with nothing to unlock. THE TRACKPAD YOU ALREADY KNOW • Move the pointer with one finger • Tap to click. Two-finger tap to right-click • Two-finger drag to scroll, with natural scrolling if you prefer it • Press, hold, then move to drag and drop • Three-finger swipe up for Mission Control • Three-finger swipe down for App Exposé • Three-finger swipe left or right to move between Spaces A KEYBOARD THAT ACTUALLY TYPES • Use your iPhone's own keyboard — every language you have installed, emoji, and dictation all arrive on the Mac • ⌃ ⌥ ⇧ ⌘ sit above the keys, so ⌘C, ⌘Tab and ⌘Space work the way they do on a Mac • Double-tap a modifier to hold it for several keys, tap again to let go • Esc, Tab and the arrow keys are right there — enough to run a slide deck from the back of the room BUILT FOR THE COUCH AND THE DESK • Pair once with a six-digit code, then never again • Reconnects on its own the next time you open the app • Pointer speed, scroll direction and haptics are yours to set • Tracks at your display's full refresh rate, so the cursor moves when your finger does PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION Your iPhone talks to your Mac directly over your own Wi-Fi. No server sits in the middle, there is no account to create, and there is nothing about you to collect — no analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs of any kind. Sessions are encrypted with AES-128-GCM, keyed by a credential kept in each device's Keychain, and a Mac only pairs when you type the code it is showing you. WHAT YOU NEED Pocket Pointer needs its free companion helper on the Mac — a small menu-bar app you install once from pocketpointer.vercel.app. It asks for Accessibility, which is what macOS requires before anything can move your pointer, and for nothing else. • iPhone running iOS 26 or later • Mac running macOS 26 or later • Both devices on the same local network Setup help and troubleshooting: pocketpointer.vercel.app/support.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pocket Pointer at none against LiquidText's 13. Pocket Pointer also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 weeks). LiquidText's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.0). On price 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
Both are free to download. LiquidText sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $5.49 per month. Pocket Pointer asks for nothing beyond the download.
LiquidText ships an update every 2 weeks, Pocket Pointer daily. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LiquidText | Pocket Pointer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (6.4K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 49.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6.4K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 317 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LiquidText, Inc. | Arnav Roy |
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
Pocket Pointer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
LiquidText
- 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
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- 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
- LT Pro - For Students$19.99
- LiquidText Pro$29.99
- LiquidText Pro II$89.99
Pocket Pointer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LiquidText free?
Is Pocket Pointer free?
Do LiquidText or Pocket Pointer have ads?
Which is updated more often, LiquidText or Pocket Pointer?
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