Zen Brush 2 vs 字习 Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Zen Brush 2
This app offers a drawing experience inspired by East Asian ink brush art. Its intuitive interface and new engine provide a fluid and expressive way to create unique artwork, with options to share and edit your creations.
- East Asian ink brush simulation
- New expressive brush engine
- Gallery for saving work
- Red ink option
- Ink dispersion effect
- 92 background templates
- Pressure sensitive stylus support
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Zen Brush 2 is a drawing app focused on the strong yet beautiful feel of the East Asian ink brush. With a new drawing engine that brings to life a feeling of silky fluent painting and the delicacy of an ink brush, providing a simple and intuitive user interface imbued with the Zen spirit, this app is designed to be optimal for performing Zen art. Simply start the app and you are immediately ready to draw. Anyone can create superb Zen art anywhere and at any time with this app’s uniquely rich expressiveness. You can publish your work to Facebook and Twitter with the "Share" and "Open in" functions. You can also share or edit your images by opening them in other apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp, LINE, Photoshop Mix, etc. - The next step in the evolution of the Zen Brush app which achieved more than 1.5 million downloads on all platforms combined. - Includes a new brush engine providing an even stronger, beautiful expressiveness. - Includes a gallery feature that makes it possible to save your work in progress. - Includes red ink in addition to the black ink (*). - Ink dispersion effect enables a three-dimensional feeling of depth. * Actual colors vary depending on the template. Features: - 92 background style templates. - Simple brush size adjustment with slider. - Simple main tools: Ink brush, red brush, eraser brush. - 3 levels of ink dispersion. - 3 levels of ink tone. - Canvas zoom (zoom in and out with pinch gestures). - Guide lines (9 types). - Undo / redo (5 levels). - Save your work to the photo library. - Open in other apps (Formats: JPEG, PNG, transparent PNG (no background)). - Share artwork (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). - Simulated finger pressure. - Support for pressure sensitive styluses. * Apple Pencil / Wacom Bamboo Stylus / Adonit / Scriba / SonarPen - Support for iPad Pro. - Support for 3D Touch. - Adjustable brush pressure sensitivity (5 levels). - Adjustable tilt sensitivity (5 levels). * Requires a pen that supports tilt. - Supports multitasking (Slide Over / Split View). - Support for iMessage App.
字习 Pro
Experience the art of Chinese calligraphy digitally with realistic brush and rice paper simulation. This tool brings traditional writing to the modern age, allowing you to create and save your own brush calligraphy works anytime, anywhere.
- Realistic brush and rice paper simulation
- Adjustable brush size
- Undo/redo functionality
- Brush flying-white simulation
- Save works to photo library
- Replay writing process
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ZiXi Pro realistically simulated the writing effect of Chinese brush + rice paper, the focus is on bringing the traditional Chinese calligraphy art to the digital age. Chinese calligraphy is an ancient character writing art, which from oracle bone inscriptions to cursive, calligraphy has always exuded artistic charm. Chinese calligraphy is a very unique visual art, and the unique cultural beauty can be experienced and felt by more people with the help of digital technology! The WebGPU-based (wgpu-rs) brush engine uses fluid simulation to achieve the unique expression of the brush. You can use it to experience the splash of Chinese calligraphy anytime, anywhere, and create brush calligraphy works. Features: * A Chinese traditional calligraphy writing tool; * Adjustable brush size; * Undo / redo; * Brush flying-white simulate; * Write Chinese new year "福"; * Appreciation (replaying the writing process); * Save works to Save your work to the photo library; * Support for iPad Pro; For a more enjoyable calligraphy effect, it is recommended to use on iPhone6s & iPad Air2 and above.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: 字习 Pro at 4.2 against Zen Brush 2's 3.9. 字习 Pro also leads on update cadence (weekly vs monthly) and price ($1.99 vs $2.99). Zen Brush 2's advantage is ratings volume (129 vs 6). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
Zen Brush 2 costs $2.99 and 字习 Pro $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
字习 Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zen Brush 2 has 129 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Zen Brush 2's written reviews are positive against 60% of 字习 Pro's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Zen Brush 2 ships an update monthly, 字习 Pro weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Zen Brush 2 | 字习 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.9 (129 ratings) | 4.2 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 67.1% of reviews — better | 60.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 129 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 72 MB | 42 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PSOFT | 金磊 李 |
Customer experience
Zen Brush 2
字习 Pro
Bugs and requests
Zen Brush 2
Reported bugs
9 issues- Background menu freezes
- App crashes during export/save operations
- Blank canvas loads despite recent saves
- Unable to export artworks (ALAssetsLibraryErrorDomain error)
- Brush stroke continues in straight line after stylus lift
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- Performance issues on newer iPad Pro models
- Inconsistent undo button behavior
- File loading issues with previously saved images
- Pressure sensitivity not working with certain styluses
Requested features
19 requests- Expanded color palette beyond black and red
- iCloud synchronization across devices
- Layer support for more complex artwork
- Import background photos for tracing and reference
- Custom guides and grid overlays
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- Zoom functionality
- Ability to adjust canvas/paper size
- Move and scale drawing tools
- Increased undo/redo history (25-30 steps)
- Landscape mode support with adaptive layouts
- Tutorials and user guidance documentation
- Option to disable finger input when using stylus
- Disappearing ink effect option
- Pre-wet paper option for ink interaction
- Numeric brush size adjustment
- Save default brush size settings
- Landscape orientation paper backgrounds
- More brush variety and customization
- EPS, SVG, and PDF export formats
字习 Pro
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Zen Brush 2
No in-app purchases
字习 Pro
No in-app purchases









