# Yard Planner — DIY Landscape Design

> 2D drag-and-drop landscape design app with extensive element library. (iPhone/iPad app by Home Outside, Inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/yard-planner/id440420011 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Home Outside, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1304349118)
- Category: Lifestyle, Education
- Price: $3.99
- Rating: 3.40/5 from 381 App Store ratings · 192 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 14.0 · 762 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2011-06-01
- Data updated: 2026-08-27
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/yard-planner/id440420011/reviews.md

## What is Yard Planner?

YARD PLANNER is a simple drag-and-drop 2D landscape design app with all the tools you need to mock up your property, create new designs, and share them with friends and family.
YARD PLANNER is ideal for homeowners who want to try out fresh ideas for their yard. Useful for landscape professionals to share designs with clients and contractors. Also perfect for children and adults alike to exercise their imagination and creativity!
Use YARD PLANNER to select and place over 800 beautiful hand-drawn elements including trees, gardens, pools, patios, hammocks, driveways, houses and sheds, solar panels, and just about anything you might want for your property–even parties and weddings!
Features include:
•	Sample designs to inspire or get you started
•	Simple drag-and-drop functionality
•	34 palettes (800+ hand-drawn elements) to create your landscape design layout
•	Resize, Rotate, Undo/Redo, Duplicate, Flip, Group
•	Rotate elements with “Snap to 90” or turn off to rotate more precisely
•	Snap to grid (elements stick to a re-sizeable grid of guidelines, turn on/off in Settings)
•	Rulers (visible at edges of design; zoom in to the single unit; user selects feet/meters; can be turned on/off)
•	Choose from 15 different background colors
•	Sketch Tool (allows users to draw garden beds and other free-form shapes with an eraser and brushes of different colors, widths and opacity)
•	Map Tool (This highly accurate mapping tool based on Google Maps allows you to drop pins at the corners of your property and import the map image with measurements into the app as a background.)
•	North arrow (appears with Map Tool)
•	Site Analysis palettes to mark the locations of your site’s utilities and light and moisture conditions
•	Notes (allows users to tag elements in their designs with typed comments or descriptions)
•	Light/Dark mode (changes Note tags and North arrow from white to black for visibility against light backgrounds.)
•	Animated Figures (a palette of animated elements—a person, dog, cat, bird, and car—that move through your design on a looped or repeating path, adjustable speed, play and stop animation)
•	Import a Photo as a background (useful for importing a digital image of your property plan)
•	Create different Layers of elements in your design. Add, delete, rename layers, make each layer visible/invisible, lock/unlock for editing, and reorder layer position.
•	In-app step-by-step guide to creating your Property Plan.
•	Designs automatically save to the app’s Saved Designs gallery
•	Share designs on social media
•	Email an editable design so friends can edit one another’s designs and email them back and forth

***As featured in The New York Times, Fox News, USA Today, Gardenista, and more.

“Home Outside allows you to create intricate and varied landscapes…And when you’re finished designing your yard or indulging in a little dreamscaping, you can email results to friend.” –Kate Murphy, The New York Times

“The app gives you drag and drop tools to create a garden design idiosyncratic to your garden [and] allows you to choose hardscape materials, design paths and patios, and arrange furniture in your outdoor space.” –Dalilah Arja, Gardenista

“I can’t imagine a designer who wouldn’t want to have this on their phone or tablet. I’ve tried this app … it’s a great tool for a ‘quickie’ design that you can show clients … and then refine as you like.” –Jane Berger, Garden Design Online

## Key features

- Drag-and-drop functionality
- 800+ hand-drawn landscape elements
- Sketch Tool for free-form shapes
- Google Maps integration for property mapping
- Layer management for complex designs
- Shareable editable designs

## Chart rankings

- #36 in Top Paid · Lifestyle (US App Store)

## What do users think of Yard Planner?

Overall sentiment: neutral

**Pros**

- 👍 Easy to use
- 💡 Helpful for visualizing designs
- 🚀 Simple and straightforward
- 👍 Great for beginners
- 👍 Useful for planning and sketching

**Cons**

- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 🔧 Limited customization options
- 🔧 Lacks advanced design tools
- 🔧 Restricted to portrait mode on iPad
- 🔧 Outdated and basic graphics

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Layers and objects disappearing
- Inability to undo actions
- Inaccurate grid and scale
- Mapping and photo import issues
- Unexpected crashes and freezes

**Most requested features**

- Ability to change object dimensions independently
- More plant, structure, and hardscape options
- Metric measurement support
- Landscape mode support for iPad
- Export options for high-quality images

## Recent user reviews (10 of 192)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/yard-planner/id440420011/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Waste of Money

*2026-01-16*

Very limited features. Missing super basic options.

### 1/5 — Terrible software

*2025-11-22, version 3.6.2*

You can’t do anything.

### 1/5 — Waste of money

*2025-09-19, version 3.6.2*

This thing is old and antiquated!

### 2/5 — Not worth the small price tag

*2025-06-08*

I spent three hours trying to get something similar to what I wanted. This app lacks so many features that an experienced user would use. $5.69 and I’ll never use it again.

### 2/5 — Disappointing

*2025-04-16*

Essentially this is a fancy yard doodle board, but isn’t accurate enough to use with good project outcome. The main problem is the lack of the ability to correctly scale a drawing. In settings, there is no way to see the adjustments that the slider bar is making, not even the draw line width. But the worst of it is that the grid and the scale don’t match at all, when total zoomed in, there are 6 lines between 0 and 14. Then when you add things there is no size indicators on the objects either. So, have fun, but don’t plan on accuracy being better than a couple of feet this way or that.

### 4/5 — Only missing 1 feature!

*2025-03-24, version 3.6.2*

This app is fantastic. If it had an option to adjust aspect ratios/ size of layout, it would be almost perfect. Everytime i start a new project, it’s locked at 144 x 244

### 4/5 — Missing 1 thing

*2024-10-16, version 3.6.2*

Just custom dimensions for houses, x and y or whatever, height and width, maybe depth, possibly just a isometric view, perhaps a dark mode, maybe even floors.

This app has the ability to map out entire rust bases, 🔥🔥🔥 it is straight fire, I just want my driveway to be gravel

### 1/5 — Janky, low quality

*2024-08-30*

The mapping feature is so poorly done as to be useless. The rest of the app is pretty janky. Deleted.

### 1/5 — Completely unusable

*2024-08-11, version 3.6.1*

App does not function. Made some pretty picture and slapped. Price tag on it. Absolutely worthless. Spent an hour trying to figure out how to use it, then all of the work disappeared. Pencil and graph paper will save you the heartache.

### 1/5 — Can’t do anything worthwhile

*2024-08-05, version 3.6.1*

Can’t change rectangle aspect ratios. Can’t change house aspect ratios. Can’t import photo or use a map image (apply stays greyed out). Can’t change the size of the palette Too dumbed down to do anything useful..

## Frequently asked questions about Yard Planner

### What can I design with Yard Planner?

Yard Planner allows you to design various outdoor spaces, including yards, gardens, patios, and even areas for parties or weddings. You can place elements like trees, pools, houses, sheds, driveways, and more to visualize your ideal property layout.

### What are the key features of Yard Planner?

Key features include a simple drag-and-drop interface, over 800 hand-drawn elements, a Sketch Tool for free-form shapes, a Map Tool integrating Google Maps for property measurement, layer management, and the ability to share editable designs.

### Is Yard Planner free to use?

Yes, Yard Planner is a free application. It does not have in-app purchases or advertisements, allowing users to access all its features without cost.

### Who is Yard Planner designed for?

This app is ideal for homeowners wanting to experiment with yard ideas, landscape professionals needing to share designs with clients, and anyone looking to exercise their creativity in designing outdoor spaces.

### Can I import my property map into the app?

Yes, the highly accurate Map Tool allows you to use Google Maps to drop pins at your property's corners. This imports the map image with measurements directly into the app as a background for your design.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.6.2 — 2024-09-08

Bugs fixes and improves

### 3.6.1 — 2024-05-30

Renamed to Yard Planner–try our new AI-powered 3D app: Home Outside AI
Map Tool fixed
Bug fixes and stabilization

### 3.2.2 — 2019-06-12

Minor bug fixes.

### 3.2.1 — 2019-03-22

Fixes an issue that could cause a crash when saving a design as a photo.

### 3.2 — 2018-12-27

•Lots of bug fixes, including Map Tool location search
•Updated help to get you started
•In-app Design Primer by Julie Moir Messervy
•Retina support: looks better on tablet screens

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## More apps by Home Outside, Inc.

- [Home Outside®](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/home-outside/id6497067524)

All apps by Home Outside, Inc.: https://appshunter.io/developer/1304349118

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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 2026-08-27.*