# iPastels — Paint.Create art.Draw a sketch

> Realistic digital pastel painting and sketching app with advanced blending and textures. (iPhone/iPad app by Norbyte.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ipastels/id489302558 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Norbyte](https://appshunter.io/developer/331310753)
- Category: Graphics & Design, Education
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.70/5 from 2,142 App Store ratings · 229 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 12.0 · 24 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2011-12-17
- Data updated: 2026-09-05
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ipastels/id489302558/reviews.md

## What is iPastels?

A painting app for all artists, whether you’re experienced or just starting out. 
Perfect for creating beautiful works of art or a quick sketch whenever and wherever you have a burst of inspiration.
You can also try out ideas and compositions before starting on a new painting in real life, or practise and refine your skills, all without the added cost of art supplies.

• LIFELIKE PASTEL SIMULATION •
The app features live-calculated brushes and strokes, making a realistic pastel simulation possible.
Painting tools include soft pastels, oil pastels, pastel pencils, smudge tool, and more.

• REALISTIC PAPER/CANVAS TEXTURES •
When creating a new picture, a unique, non-repeating paper texture is generated that will interact in real-time with the live-calculated strokes you paint.
You can change the default-generated texture to, for example, canvas, which goes great with oil pastels!

• PRECISE COLOR BLENDING •
When painting, especially with soft pastels, use Smudge or the Cotton Swab to blend and smoothen the colors right on the paper, as you would in real life.
With oil pastels, in addition to smudging, the blending is often done by the pastel sticks themselves (for best results, reduce the force or use a similar or lighter color).
If you use an Apple Pencil, it will feel incredibly realistic if you use the stylus to draw and use your finger to Smudge (assigned as a 2nd tool)!

• FINGERTIP = STROKE SIZE •
When you paint, the app measures how much of your finger is touching the screen and changes the stroke size accordingly.
Apply just the corner of your fingertip for a thin line, or the whole fingerprint area for a broad stroke.
A 2nd tool assigned to your finger will still use this feature, so don’t ignore it just because you have an Apple Pencil!

• LEFT-HANDED? •
Just swipe the toolbar over to the other side!

• PARAMETERS CAN BE CHANGED LIVE •
Use any buttons or controls to change/adjust color, size, force, simultaneously while painting.

• UNIVERSAL PURCHASE •
If you choose to buy the Pro upgrade, this one-time in-app purchase will unlock all Pro features in the app on all available platforms (iPad-iPhone-Mac)!

• METAL •
The engine is based on Metal, with 128-bit color and floating-point arithmetic.

• SWIFT •
The app was developed entirely using Swift (earlier versions used C++).

• APPLE PENCIL SUPPORT • FULL SCREEN PAINTING • SEAMLESS PATTERN EDITING MODE •
• DARK MODE • LANDSCAPE • PORTRAIT • WIDE COLOR •
• MULTIPLE LAYERS • PHOTO TRACING MODE (Pro feature) •

## Key features

- Lifelike pastel simulation
- Realistic paper/canvas textures
- Precise color blending
- Fingertip stroke size adjustment
- Left-handed toolbar option
- Live parameter changes
- Multiple layers

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pro Upgrade | $7.00 | one-time |
| Tip Jar: Biggest Tip | $25.00 | one-time |
| Tip Jar: Big Tip | $10.00 | one-time |
| Tip Jar: Medium Tip | $5.00 | one-time |
| Tip Jar: Small Tip | $2.00 | one-time |
| Tip Jar: Smallest Tip | $1.00 | one-time |


## What do users think of iPastels?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎨 Realistic pastel simulation
- 💡 Useful for beginners and professionals
- 🌈 Wide range of colors and shades
- 🔍 Good blending and smudging tools
- 🌐 Works on both computer and mobile
- 🤩 Satisfying and relaxing to use

**Cons**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes or glitches
- 🔒 Limited free features, need to pay for more
- 🔍 Lack of zoom or detailed control
- 🎨 Difficulty finding/reusing specific colors
- 🔀 Confusing layer management
- 🖱️ Challenging to use with mouse vs. stylus

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Crashes when importing images
- Layers sometimes disappear or get lost
- Undo button deletes entire drawing sections

**Most requested features**

- Add color picker tool
- Improve layer management and visibility
- Implement pressure-sensitive brush support
- Provide more paper/canvas texture options
- Allow saving and recalling custom palettes
- Add undo/redo functionality for individual strokes

## Recent user reviews (10 of 229)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ipastels/id489302558/reviews.md

### 5/5 — tuff 🥹

*2026-06-27, version 5.6.3*

this app is very good and very nice, I really like this app and it’s super nice and good and super.

### 1/5 — control

*2026-06-14, version 5.6.3*

the typs of colur don't have strait lines just blury  
lines

### 5/5 — 다 리뷰가 안좋던데

*2026-05-29*

이거 보니까 꽤 괜찮은데 리뷰가 거의 안좋더라구여? 이거 저도 처음엔 파스텔밖에 안나와서 진짜 당황했는데 이 앱은 풍경그릴때 진짜좋아여! 
풍경화 좋아하시는분들은 강추합니다

### 4/5 — A lot of fun

*2026-04-22, version 5.6.3*

This is a fntastic app for coloring and blending pastels – but is there an eye dropper tool? Or any way to pick a color from the canvas? Seems odd for that to be missing.

### 5/5 — so fun

*2026-04-01, version 5.6.3*

it is so much fun

### 5/5 — GREAT

*2026-03-01, version 5.6.3*

LOVE IT

### 5/5 — Really good

*2026-02-27, version 5.6.3*

I love it it’s so good and I love my drawing, the only problem is that the paper color is not that good but still 5/5 u should get this game 100

### 5/5 — Excelente

*2026-02-05*

App excelente

### 5/5 — AMAZING

*2026-01-26, version 5.6.3*

Every time i go on a road trip,i go on this app and draw.this app is very amazing beacuse there are sooo many colors and different pens and brushes. this is an exelent drawing app. 100 stars

### 5/5 — Slayyy

*2026-01-18, version 5.6.3*

Okay the oil pastels are amazing and lovely quality just I’m confused on how to blend the coulors I’m 9 years old and I would really appreciate it if the developer could tell me how to blend them overall best art app it’s helped me win lots of art contests at school

## Frequently asked questions about iPastels

### What is iPastels?

iPastels is a digital painting application designed to simulate the experience of using real pastels. It offers realistic brush strokes, blending capabilities, and interactive textures to help artists create digital artwork.

### What are the key features of iPastels?

Key features include a lifelike pastel simulation with various tools like soft pastels and smudge, realistic paper and canvas textures that interact with strokes, precise color blending, and fingertip-controlled stroke size. It also supports multiple layers and has a left-handed mode.

### How is iPastels monetized?

The app is free to download and use, with an optional Pro upgrade available as a one-time in-app purchase. This Pro upgrade unlocks all advanced features across all available platforms.

### What devices is iPastels compatible with?

The app is a universal purchase, meaning a Pro upgrade works on iPad, iPhone, and Mac. It fully supports Apple Pencil for a more realistic drawing experience.

### Who would benefit from using iPastels?

This app is ideal for artists of all skill levels, from beginners exploring digital art to experienced professionals looking for a realistic pastel simulation. It's also useful for trying out ideas before real-life painting or practicing skills without the expense of art supplies.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 5.6.3 — 2023-12-21

[NEW] Added “Reset to Default” button to the Scrollable Palette Area menu (to open that menu, scroll the palette to its beginning and tap the largest of the three buttons that appear).
[FIXED] A couple of rare user interface layout glitches.
[FIXED] Some issues when tapping to add to the selection while dragging the thumbnails in Work in Progress (Gallery).
[FIXED] Pasting multiple files in Work in Progress (Gallery) did not always select all the imported pics.
[IMPROVED] The Apple Pencil menu now has a simplified setting for blocking finger/touch input.
[IMPROVED] Some optimizations.
[IMPROVED] A few minor things.

### 5.6.2 — 2023-12-02

[NEW] Added some selection options (like “Select All”) in Work in Progress (Gallery). Long-press the Multi-Select button or tap “Selected…” next to the buttons.
[IMPROVED] (for devices with attached hardware keyboard) Minor changes/additions to the keyboard shortcuts in Work in Progress (Gallery), and the shortcuts for Copy, Paste, Duplicate now work with layers if the Layers stack is open.
[FIXED] Copy Layer was not always working properly.
[FIXED] Some minor multi-select issues in Work in Progress (Gallery).
[FIXED] A couple of drag & drop issues.
[FIXED] Rotating the device could, in some very rare circumstances, cause the app to crash.
[IMPROVED] Tapping or long-pressing a dial could result in an unintentional adjustment (especially if using Apple Pencil).
[FIXED] A very improbable crash bug.
[IMPROVED] A few minor things.

### 5.6.1 — 2023-11-18

[IMPROVED] Adjusted the spacing between the thumbnails in Work in Progress (Gallery).
[FIXED] Dismissing some types of alerts by tapping outside would sometimes block the painting tools (for both touch and Apple Pencil). 
[FIXED] A minor, rare user interface graphics glitch.

### 5.6 — 2023-11-06

[NEW] Color Modulators that can add a subtle (or not so subtle!), dynamic color variation to the painting tool you’re using.
[NEW] Multi-Select mode in “Work in Progress” (Gallery), for batch operations (e.g. delete) or drag and drop.
[IMPROVED] Long-press outside to close multiple open menus at once.
[IMPROVED] Better user interface for drag & drop in “Work in Progress” (Gallery).
[IMPROVED] Added stabilizer for Apple Pencil and finger touch release coordinates, when using Geometry/Shapes, Eyedropper, or Layer Mover, for better precision.
[NEW] A spinning wheel is now shown for some tasks, to indicate that the app is busy.
[FIXED] When renaming a layer, a tap outside the Layers menu/panel will now end the renaming instead of closing.
[IMPROVED] You are now allowed to delete the last picture in “Work in Progress” (Gallery).
[FIXED] In some rare cases, presenting a menu or message could cause the app to crash.
[FIXED] The cancel button was not working correctly for some picture/layer operations.
[FIXED] Ending a painting stroke outside the picture could cause a crash if the selected layer was in Move Mode.
[FIXED] Some minor issues with sliders in menus.
[FIXED] Copy/paste hex colors wasn’t always working.
[FIXED] A minor cosmetic problem with some menus.
[IMPROVED] Some changes to the manual/help, to reflect recent improvements.
[IMPROVED] Misc. other minor things.
[FIXED] Some other issues.

### 5.5.1 — 2023-05-14

[FIXED] Tracing was sometimes not working.
[NEW] Added new Apple Pencil 2 Double-Tap Action: Open/Close Tool Menu.
[FIXED] A minor, barely noticeable graphics glitch.
[FIXED] A few additional issues.

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## More apps by Norbyte

- [Downfall](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/downfall/id382003659)
- [Daydream Doodler](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/daydream-doodler/id451982316)
- [WowPaint](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wowpaint/id460815354)
- [Crayon Maestro](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crayon-maestro/id471925899)
- [Lux Draw](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lux-draw/id492501837)

All apps by Norbyte: https://appshunter.io/developer/331310753

## Related topics

[ipastels](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ipastels) · [art set 4](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/art-set-4) · [pastel art](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/pastel-art) · [art set](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/art-set) · [art set paint](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/art-set-paint)

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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 2026-09-05.*