# Arrette Sketch drafting tools — Hand drawn designs at scale

> Freehand drawing app for scaled designs with grid and base image support. (iPhone/iPad app by Arrette, Inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/arrette-sketch-drafting-tools/id866665125 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Arrette, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/730151023)
- Category: Productivity, Utilities
- Price: Free
- Rating: 3.40/5 from 9 App Store ratings · 9 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 12.4 · 53 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2014-05-13
- Data updated: 2026-06-08
- Monetization: ad-supported
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/arrette-sketch-drafting-tools/id866665125/reviews.md

## What is Arrette Sketch drafting tools?

Rated #1 Technical App for Architects by ArchDaily!

Arrette Sketch for iPad is an app for designers who want to draw freehand while maintaining a measurable drawing scale like vector drafting tools. Architects, urban planners, surveyors, home remodelers, field archaeologists and dozens of other kinds of professionals will find this app useful. Unlike other vector drawing tools, Arrette Sketch is simple to learn and use. 

Arrette Sketch is the basic version of Arrette Scale for iPad, available separately in the iTunes App Store.  Compared to our professional version, Arrette Sketch is limited only in three ways: 1) distance and area measurement tools are disabled, 2) Edge drawing tools are disabled, and 3) users cannot export to PDF for sharing.  For those functions, ideally suited for professionals working in business, Arrette Scale is the appropriate tool.

Arrette Philosophy

Arrette provides the platform to begin design work and generate ideas without moving too quickly to rigid straight lines and curves. We want to help you draw much as you would normally draw on paper, but to give you the extra tools and ways to share your work that make your life easier and make the design process simpler and more productive. 

The basic drawing structure is a familiar one - drawing layers which can be overlayed on a base image. The Grid keeps you aware of the size of what you're drawing at any scale. When you're ready, you can easily share drawings by email or save them to your device. 

We've designed Arrette to be extremely easy to learn. In a few minutes, you'll understand how to zoom and scale your canvas, draw lines, and load base images to work on top of. Our tools will seem familiar from other structured drawing applications, but every tool we've built has been simplified and optimized with scale in mind.

Uses for Arrette Sketch for iPad: 

* An urban designer drafts plans for a new sub-division in a small town 
* A real estate agent snaps a photograph of a living space and begins to sketch out ideas for staging 
* A new home owner sketches the plan for an elaborate garden in the back yard 
* A construction manager notes progress on a work site, sending annotated precision-scale documents back to the general contractor live from the work site 

For these uses Arrette Sketch is a great tool for drawing freehand scale sketches, whether at home, on the go, or at work. For professional work, which includes sharing original Arrette documents for review, annotation, and modification, Arrette Scale is better suited for those purposes.

Included drawing tools in Arrette Sketch (free application): 

* Freehand drawing pens that scale like vector lines but are as easy to use as pencil and paper 
* An adjustable grid system that you can easily flip between the metric system and decimal feet 
* The ability to load base images to draw on top of; base images respect their original scale and direction when the document is zoomed or panned
* A lasso tool to select, move, copy and paste previously drawn lines
* Layers, for separating out parts of composite objects or for adding new ideas to an existing document that overlay earlier designs 
* An eraser tool, for revising your designs or removing objects from previous work 
* The ability to adjust the width of all lines globally even after the lines have been drawn 

Additional professional features in Arrette Scale (available separately):

* A tool for drawing perfectly straight lines, arrays of parallel lines, arcs and circles
* Distance and area measurement tools for measuring the lengths, perimeters and areas of arbitrary pathways in your drawing at precise scale 

Document sharing features in Arrette Sketch: 

* Save your work to your Photo Gallery 
* Share raster versions of your work with anyone via email, Twitter, or Facebook 

Additional sharing features in Arrette Scale:

* Send PDFs with scale and direction information to colleagues, clients, and other parties via email

## Key features

- Freehand drawing pens with vector scaling
- Adjustable grid system (metric/decimal feet)
- Load base images to draw on
- Lasso tool for selections
- Easy sharing via email
- Save drawings to device

## Recent user reviews (9 of 9)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/arrette-sketch-drafting-tools/id866665125/reviews.md

### 2/5 — Can’t draw straight lines and all Metric

*2020-05-01*

Can’t draw straight lines. Everything is free hand. Also, can’t change from the metric system to architectural. Not useable

**Developer response:** Hi dfghje,
You can easily change from metric to decimal feet (not architectural) in the Grid menu at the bottom of the screen.
About straight lines, Arrette Sketch is the free version of the app. Because it is free, the functionality is limited; there is no tool in this free version for straight lines. However, if you like the general feel of the app and want additional functions, please consider purchasing Arrette Scale. That version has an "Edge" tool for drawing straight lines and circles.
Thanks!
The Arrette team

### 5/5 — Great free app for field sketches

*2019-05-05*

This is a very handy, easy to use app for simple design sketches. I do a lot of volunteer electrical work for non-profits. I use Arrette SK to make on-site sketches of the existing layout, then take the sketches home to review & determine the best solutions. Between the sketches and the photos I take with the same iPad, all the info is in one convenient place. 

I would prefer more colors in the pen palette to better color-code different types of equipment, but that’s about the only improvement I’d make.

### 5/5 — Good for architecture sketching

*2019-01-11*

This is the free version of their Arrette Scale app. It lacks a few “pro” tools like the Edge for drawing straight lines and circles. Still, the grid is great for keeping things at scale and I found this app very useful until I decided to upgrade to Scale.

### 1/5 — Too little for cost.

*2019-01-06*

I did not get far with this app and options costs begin like straight lines are an additional option.  Refund?

### 4/5 — Productive, until recently

*2018-06-18*

I love the app and use it frequently in my work. Recently though, I started having extreme issues with lagging of my Apple Pencil. Only in this app and not the other drawing apps I have. Although I suspect ibis paint wrote some guerrilla programming into their app to cause this problem.

### 1/5 — You don't have the correct APP that I ordered.

*2015-04-13*

I ordered Sketch(Arrette) and what I got was Remco about getting Videos.  I don't need Videos?

### 1/5 — Not as good as I thought 😥😥😥😥😥

*2014-10-22*

I'm so disappointed with this app. I was really hoping that it would be a great app. Although I certainly appreciate getting it for free, you have to pay for anything else good. Goodnight love you nah jk jk😝😝😥😥😥😥😥😥

### 4/5 — Not bad for a trial

*2014-07-14*

I've found this trial good enough to warrant spending a few days on it to consider whether to implement in the office.

### 5/5 — Great app!

*2014-05-24*

This is a great app for all types of design projects!  Convenient to use and easy to learn.

## Frequently asked questions about Arrette Sketch drafting tools

### What is Arrette Sketch?

Arrette Sketch is a free iPad app designed for creating hand-drawn designs at a measurable scale. It offers simplified tools for designers and professionals to sketch ideas freely while maintaining accuracy.

### What are the limitations of Arrette Sketch compared to Arrette Scale?

Arrette Sketch disables distance and area measurement tools, edge drawing tools, and PDF export. For these professional features, Arrette Scale is the recommended tool.

### What drawing tools are included in Arrette Sketch?

Arrette Sketch includes freehand drawing pens that scale like vector lines, an adjustable grid system, and a lasso tool for selections. You can also load base images to draw on top of.

### Can I export my drawings from Arrette Sketch?

Yes, you can easily share your drawings by email or save them directly to your device. However, PDF export is a feature reserved for the professional version, Arrette Scale.

### Does Arrette Sketch have ads?

Yes, Arrette Sketch contains advertisements. As a free application, it is supported by ads to provide its features to users.

### What devices does Arrette Sketch support?

Arrette Sketch is designed for the iPad and is available on the iTunes App Store. It requires iOS 4.3 or later.

### How often is Arrette Sketch updated?

The latest version of Arrette Sketch is 1.4.39, last updated on November 20, 2023. Updates typically include bug fixes and performance improvements.

### What is the user sentiment for Arrette Sketch?

Arrette Sketch has a rating of 3.4 stars from 9 ratings. While it offers useful features for freehand scaled drawing, user feedback may vary.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.4.39 — 2023-11-20

Adds a menu option to allow you to easily sort by your most recently modified Projects.

### 1.4.38 — 2023-08-31

Removal of legacy unsupported API code

### 1.4.37 — 2021-10-11

Minor UI tweaks to accommodate iPad 9th generation and iPad mini 6th generation models

### 1.4.36 — 2021-05-26

Minor updates for new iPad 12.9" and 11" M1 models.

### 1.4.35 — 2021-04-25

Tapping the drawing or erasing tools with the pencil locks those actions to the pencil.  Tapping any tool with the finger will allow drawing and erasing functions by finger or pencil.

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## More apps by Arrette, Inc.

- [Arrette Scale sketch drafting](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/arrette-scale-sketch-drafting/id730151020)

All apps by Arrette, Inc.: https://appshunter.io/developer/730151023

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-08.*