SolarWriter vs Funnel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SolarWriter
Transform your e-reader into a portable typewriter for outdoor writing. This app connects your keyboard to your e-reader's screen, allowing you to type comfortably on e-ink displays in bright sunlight. Save and share your work easily.
- E-reader integration
- External keyboard support
- Outdoor writing on e-ink screens
- Text mirroring to e-reader
- File saving and sharing
- Detailed setup instructions
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Traditional screens are fantastic everywhere but outside, especially on a sunny day. E-ink screens work well, but e-readers like the Kindle are difficult to type on and don't support external keyboards. SolarWriter gives you the best of both worlds. SolarWriter runs on your iOS device and acts as a hub between your keyboard and your e-reader. You type on the keyboard, and the text appears on both on the iOS device and on the e-reader's screen (via its web browser). Take advantage of your Kindle's (or other e-reader's) e-ink screen to put your thoughts on paper even outside, with no need to transcribe later. Write at parks, on beaches, in backyards... anywhere you wanted to but couldn't. Save files on your device, or share through email, SMS, and more. Detailed instructions for setup are included inside the app.
Funnel
Quickly capture thoughts, tasks, notes, photos, sketches, and songs to your favorite apps. Integrates with popular productivity tools and offers convenient widgets for instant access.
- Capture tasks to multiple to-do apps
- Send notes and photos to PKM apps
- Capture sketches and calendar events
- Home Screen and Lock Screen Widgets
- Shortcuts and Share Sheet support
- Built-in document scanner
- Song capture via Shazam integration
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Funnel allows you to effortlessly capture your thoughts and moments to various apps and services. The inspiration to capture something quickly comes from ideas written by David Allen, in his book Getting Things Done. Features: ======= • Capture tasks to Reminders, Todoist, OmniFocus or Things with due dates in natural language. • Capture notes and photos to a variety of popular note taking and personal knowledge management apps. • Capture sketches and calendar events • Beautiful Home Screen and Lock Screen Widgets • Shortcuts Support • A built in document scanner. • Use Shazam to capture your songs directly to your apps. • iCloud Sync for your Destinations • A timeline showing your recent captures • A selection of delightful app icons to pick from. • A lock screen widget to easily access Funnel from your lock screen. • Drag and drop images or text from other apps into Funnel. • Once you capture something with Funnel, Funnel also provides you with a link to easily switch to the newly captured item. • Long press the Funnel icon for quick home screen actions. • Integration with the iOS Share Sheet (currently within the Funnel app only) • Dynamic Island/Live Activities Support • Control Center Widgets Creating Destinations: ================ To link Funnel to your note-taking or task management apps, navigate to the 'Destination' Tab, select 'Add New Destination', and choose an app from the provided list. After adding a Destination, you can click on it for further customization. You can also define templates that get appended or prepended along with your capture. Your Destinations and the order of your Destinations are all synced to your private iCloud account. Funnel offers 30 captures for free, and then requires a subscription or a lifetime purchase. All Yearly Subscriptions come with a 1-week free trial. Enjoy Funneling! Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Funnel at 4.6 against SolarWriter's 3.8. Funnel also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 5 months) and review sentiment (80% vs 64%). SolarWriter's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. SolarWriter sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Funnel sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Funnel holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 43 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of SolarWriter's written reviews are positive against 80% of Funnel's.
SolarWriter ships an update every 5 months, Funnel every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 10, 2026 and July 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SolarWriter | Funnel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (16 ratings) | 4.6 (43 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 64.3% of reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 16 | 43 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 92 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Cool S, LLC | NoteSight Labs ApS |
Customer experience
SolarWriter
Funnel
In-app purchases
SolarWriter
- SolarWriter Pro$9.99
Funnel
- Monthly Pro$1.991 Month
- Yearly Pro7 Days trial$14.991 Year
- Lifetime: Early Discount$39.99
- Lifetime$49.99









