MessagEase Keyboard vs Pluto Timer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MessagEase Keyboard
An innovative, non-QWERTY keyboard designed for touchscreens based on scientific research. It features large keys with optimized letter placement for faster, more accurate typing. Learning games and customization options are included.
- Non-QWERTY keyboard layout
- Optimized letter assignment
- Tap and drag input
- Learning games included
- Customizable keyboard size, shape, and color
- Supports multiple languages
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MessagEase is an alternative, non-QWERTY keyboard for your iPhone and iPad. Created based on years of scientific research in user interface, MessagEase is designed and optimized for use on a touchscreen device. MessagEase is a patented, innovative design different from the antiquated QWERTY keyboard. If you believe that every keyboard must be QWERTY-like, then MessagEase is not what you are looking for. But if you are open to new ideas and up for experiencing a completely new way of writing you will be pleasantly surprised at how well, how precisely, and how fast you can enter text with MessagEase. Our current champion’s speed is 87 WPM— that's 87 Words Per Minute! Most people don't type nearly that fast with ten fingers! MessagEase essentially has 9 large keys with an optimized letter assignment to maximize your speed, increase your accuracy, and ease your writing. Since MessagEase is very different, you must spend a few minutes to get used to it. We have included several learning games to help you learn the new, innovative pattern of MessagEase—and you’ll save hours by texting and writing faster. With MessagEase you enter letters and characters with either a tap, or a drag (slide): taps for the most common characters and directional drag for the rest. Please watch the video, or see the section Essential MessagEase, to learn more. MessagEase's design is based on sound user-interface principles such as the Fitts' Law; it uses letter frequency and di-gram data to optimally place the characters on a keyboard with fewer, larger keys. That’s why the letter positions are non-QWERTY! If you are interested to learn more about the scientific details behind the design of MessagEase, please see this paper: http://www.exideas.com/ME/ICMI2003Paper.pdf We have lots of videos to help you become familiar with MessagEase quickly. Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3D3f3GWTSg There are many more on our YouTube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/messagease Please also note that you can change the keyboard size by dragging up or down on the Globe Button. You can also reshape and recolor the keyboard in various ways. See Settings for details. MessagEase for iPhone & iPad has specific keyboards designed for the following languages: (These keyboards can also be used to enter text for many other languages) - English - Arabic - Azerbaiani - Danish - Dutch - Esperanto - Finnish - French - German - Greek - Hebrew - Hungarian - Japanese Hiragana - Japanese Katakana - Italian - Norwegian - Polish - Portuguese - Russian - Spanish - Swedish - Turkish - Urdu If you like MessagEase, please tell others about it, and please make sure to rate and comment about it on App Store. Please email us if you encounter any issue. Thank you!
Pluto Timer
This app calculates and notifies you of the daily "Pluto Time," a brief period when Earth's illumination matches noon on Pluto. It offers location-based timing, multi-city tracking, customizable notifications, and the ability to track over 40 other celestial bodies.
- Automatic Pluto Time calculation by location
- Live timing updates with planetary textures
- Track multiple cities simultaneously
- Customizable notifications and reminders
- Track over 40 other planets and moons
- Adjustable clock formats
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Pluto orbits on the fringes of our solar system, billions of miles away. Sunlight is much weaker on Pluto than on Earth, yet it isn't completely dark. For just a moment near dawn and dusk each day, the illumination on Earth matches that of high noon on Pluto. We call this Pluto Time. See when your next Pluto Time occurs! • Automatically calculate the next Pluto Time based on your location. • Receive live timing updates and interact with accurate planetary textures. Track multiple cities around the world! • See when Pluto Time occurs in other cities simultaneously in the Saved Locations tab. • Add, remove, reorder, and swap between locations instantly. Choose when and how to be notified! • Configure notifications, reminders, and clock formats in the Settings tab. • Enabling notifications "Before Midday" will notify you when Pluto Times occur before 12 PM noon. • Enabling notifications "After Midday" will notify you when Pluto Times occur after 12 PM noon. Over 40 other planets and moons to track! • The same irradiance calculations for Pluto can be used for alternative Solar System planets, moons, dwarf planets, and dwarf moons. • Choose from every major body in the Solar System by selecting your active body from the Solar System tab.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: MessagEase Keyboard at Free against Pluto Timer's $0.99. MessagEase Keyboard also leads on ratings volume (95 vs 3) and iOS requirement (10.3 vs 16.4). Pluto Timer's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
MessagEase Keyboard is free to download; Pluto Timer costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Pluto Timer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MessagEase Keyboard has 95 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MessagEase Keyboard | Pluto Timer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 4.0 (95 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 95 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.3 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 110 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Exideas | Shawn Gallagher |
Customer experience
MessagEase Keyboard
Pluto Timer
Bugs and requests
MessagEase Keyboard
Reported bugs
12 issues- Keyboard expands to full screen and cannot be resized
- Keyboard fails to appear in Apple apps (Notes, Safari, Skype)
- Swipe gestures registered as clicks
- Keyboard crashes on iOS 26.x and iOS 16.x versions
- Settings reset or don't persist between sessions
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- Double keyboard instances displaying simultaneously
- Letters not visible after iOS updates
- Keyboard stuck in maximized state after reinstall
- Capitalization mode gets stuck (all caps)
- Keyboard display corrupted or garbled on iPad
- Unresponsive input after certain iOS updates
- Keyboard overlays text field, obstructing view
Requested features
11 requests- Word prediction and autocorrect
- Resizable keyboard with size locking option
- Copy/paste/select-all gesture shortcuts (like Android version)
- Voice dictation support
- Better cursor navigation controls
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- Customizable keyboard layout (JSON-based)
- Emoji integration into keyboard
- Text replacement library support
- Macro functionality
- Trackpad mode for cursor control
- Open-source the application for community maintenance
Pluto Timer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MessagEase Keyboard
No in-app purchases
Pluto Timer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MessagEase Keyboard free?
Is Pluto Timer free?
Which has better reviews, MessagEase Keyboard or Pluto Timer?
Do MessagEase Keyboard or Pluto Timer have ads?
Which is updated more often, MessagEase Keyboard or Pluto Timer?
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