Comparison

Symbol Keypad for Texting vs Grapheme

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

Head to head
About

Symbol Keypad for Texting

Easily insert a vast array of Unicode symbols and characters into your text messages and other applications. Explore thousands of symbols to express your information uniquely and enhance your communication.

Highlights
  • Access over 50,000 Unicode characters
  • Thousands of unique symbols available
  • Insert symbols into texts and other apps
  • Express information uniquely
  • Enhance communication with special characters
Read full description

Are you interested in Unicode symbols? There are over 50,000 characters and thousands of symbols. They can express your information totally.

About

Grapheme

Features
Read full description

Grapheme is a pocket museum of the characters the world writes with, as Unicode records them. The entire code space is laid out in one grid, grouped by block and ready to wander. A COLLECTION FULL OF SURPRISES • The complete Unicode 16 code space, organized by block • Wander from Egyptian hieroglyphs to alchemical symbols, Byzantine musical notation, mahjong tiles, and emoji • Jump to any block instantly with the block picker, and pin the ones you visit most • Even characters your device has no font for get a meaningful placeholder glyph, so nothing shows up as an empty box CHARACTER DETAILS AT A TAP Tap any cell to see everything about that character: • Official Unicode name and block • Code point in U+ notation • Byte encodings: UTF-8, UTF-16 (BE and LE), UTF-32 (BE and LE) • HTML entity FAST SEARCH • Find characters by name: try “snowman”, “dragon”, or “pile of poo” • Look up a code point directly by its hex value • Paste in any text to see the code points it breaks down into, including the ZWJ sequences inside an emoji FAVORITES • Mark characters you use often and come back to them in one tap WORKS COMPLETELY OFFLINE The full Unicode 16 character database ships inside the app. Browse, search, and inspect encodings anywhere, with no network connection required. MADE FOR DEVELOPERS, DESIGNERS, AND THE CURIOUS Debugging a text-encoding issue? Hunting for the perfect arrow, box-drawing character, or mathematical symbol? Exploring ancient scripts and the far reaches of the astral planes? Grapheme puts the entire Unicode standard at your fingertips.

Screenshots

Symbol Keypad for Texting4 screens
Grapheme4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Grapheme at every 3 days against Symbol Keypad for Texting's fortnightly. Symbol Keypad for Texting's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Symbol Keypad for Texting ships an update fortnightly, Grapheme every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Symbol Keypad for Texting versus Grapheme: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSymbol Keypad for TextingGrapheme
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.6K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews81.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.6K — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 3 days — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.2
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer山 钟Hsingchien Cheng

Bugs and requests

Symbol Keypad for Texting

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Keyboard not showing up properly on iPad
  • Favorites and history not syncing correctly
  • Some symbols not displaying correctly after iOS updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more symbols, especially common fractions and Egyptian hieroglyphics
  • Improve search functionality and navigation
  • Add iPad support and optimize the UI for larger screens
  • Allow customization of favorite symbols and their placement
  • Provide an option to disable the dark mode

Grapheme

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Symbol Keypad for Texting

No in-app purchases

None

Grapheme

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Symbol Keypad for Texting free?
Symbol Keypad for Texting is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Grapheme free?
Grapheme is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Symbol Keypad for Texting or Grapheme have ads?
Both Symbol Keypad for Texting and Grapheme show ads.
Which is updated more often, Symbol Keypad for Texting or Grapheme?
Symbol Keypad for Texting ships an update fortnightly, and Grapheme every 3 days. Most recently, Symbol Keypad for Texting was updated on November 1, 2026 and Grapheme on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons