Comparison

Doodalive vs ShadowDraw

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Doodalive

Transform sketches into dynamic animations with intuitive tools. Bring drawings to life with animated strokes, create manga, and make notes engaging. Export creations as videos or images for sharing or professional use.

Highlights
  • Dynamic animated brushes
  • Create and animate manga
  • Image and model library
  • Custom sticker creation
  • Animated note-taking
  • Export as video or image
Features
Read full description

DOODALIVE: Reinvent the way to interact with your drawings! Transform your sketches into captivating animations with a simple brushstroke, thanks to dynamic and intuitive tools. Whether you are an amateur artist, a student or a professional looking for new forms of expression, Doodalive offers you a range of innovative tools to unleash your creativity. KEY FEATURES: Dynamic Brushes - Bring your drawings to life with a single gesture! - Various effects: movement, rotation, vibration, motion blur, brush to darken or lighten, scrolling, rain, and much more. - Each stroke is animated in real time, without technical skills required. Create and Animate Your Own Manga - Use Doodalive to draw and animate your manga characters and scenes. - Make your characters move, animate their expressions and create visually captivating stories in a few simple gestures. - Whether you are a manga fan or a budding mangaka, Doodalive makes it easy to create cartoons. Image Library - Access a collection of ready-to-use images to enrich your creations in the blink of an eye. Custom Stickers - Have you created a character or object that you want to reuse in other Doodalive scenes? Transform your drawings into stickers very simply. Your personalized stickers will appear in a single gesture in your library. Inspiring Models - Find inspiration with a selection of varied models, ready to be reproduced or personalized. - Use the tool to desaturate the image in order to draw on a layer over it and learn how to reproduce the drawings and improve your skills. Ultra-Intuitive Interface - Create and animate easily, with tools designed to make animation accessible to all. Animated Note Taking - Transform your traditional notes into interactive and engaging animations. -Perfect for students, teachers or professionals who want to make their notes more lively and memorable. Advanced Organization - Classify your scenes into folders for easy management of your projects. - Simply retrieve your exported creations in a dedicated directory in File Share your creations - Export your animated scenes as videos or images to use them in other projects or on social media. - Export your animations in image or video sequences to import them into professional tools like Adobe© Animate or After Effects Instant Results - Your ideas take shape and come to life immediately, for expressive and dynamic creations. Don't let your ideas be limited to simple sketches! With Doodalive, let your imagination run wild and experience the magic of animation. Only one limit, your imagination!

About

ShadowDraw

Learn to draw with guided, step-by-step lessons designed for beginners. Follow the strokes of professional artists to build confidence and master fundamental techniques. Explore thousands of tutorials across various popular art subjects.

Highlights
  • Step-by-step guided drawing lessons
  • Thousands of tutorials
  • Manga, anime, people, animals, and nature subjects
  • Art Teacher Mode
  • Sketch My Way Mode
  • Builds drawing fundamentals
Features
Read full description

Learn to draw with confidence using your Apple Pencil. Featured by Apple as App of the Day in 2023 and 2025. ShadowDraw® is the easiest way for beginners to learn how to draw on iPad using their Apple Pencil. Our guided lessons teach you step-by-step by showing the real strokes of professional artists, helping you build confidence, accuracy, and real drawing fundamentals from your very first session. LEARN TO DRAW THE SMART, BEGINNER-FRIENDLY WAY
 ShadowDraw breaks every drawing into simple, guided steps. You follow the same strokes as a professional artist, learning: * Line control * Shapes & construction * Proportions * Shading * Final detailing
 Each step unlocks only after you complete the previous one, giving you a structured, supportive learning path—like having a private art teacher with you on your iPad. THOUSANDS OF STEP-BY-STEP LESSONS
 Explore beginner-friendly drawing lessons across the most popular art subjects: * Manga & Anime Characters * People & Portraits * Animals (cats, dogs, horses, birds, dragons, and more) * Architecture & Buildings * Botanical & Nature Drawing * Birds & Butterflies * Coloring & Simple Shading * Holiday & Seasonal Art * Warm-Ups & Foundations * Sketching Basics
 With over 2,000 guided tutorials, there’s always something inspiring to draw. PRACTICE YOUR WAY
 ShadowDraw offers two flexible learning modes: Art Teacher Mode
 We pick brushes and colors so beginners can focus on fundamentals. Sketch My Way
 Choose your own tools and colors for creative freedom. BUILD A DAILY DRAWING HABIT 
Short, approachable lessons help you build confidence and stay consistent. ShadowDraw makes daily practice easy, fun, and motivating—even for busy beginners. RECOGNIZED BY APPLE & TRUSTED WORLDWIDE 
ShadowDraw has been featured in the App Store collections, including: * Incredible iPad Apps * Great with Apple Pencil * Apple Pencil Starter Kit * Better with Apple Pencil * The Best Drawing Apps * The Best Apps for Creatives ShadowDraw has also ranked as the #1 Drawing App in its category. Apple writes: 
“With over 1,500 hand-drawn lessons developed by real artists, ShadowDraw is a drawing app for beginners who want to improve their skills through daily step-by-step exercises.” PRAISED BY THE PRESS
 The New York Times
“ShadowDraw… teaches drawing forms by having you follow along the animated pen strokes of another artist in an updated take on the ‘copying the masters’ approach.” MacBreak Weekly — Pick of the Week
“…the next generation of step-by-step.” Also featured by CNET and Creative Bloq. LEARN TOGETHER WITH SHADOWDRAW+
 A ShadowDraw+ membership unlocks the full library and supports Family Sharing, so everyone in your household can learn to draw at their own pace. WE’RE HERE TO HELP 
Need support or have feedback? Contact us anytime through in-app Chat Support. Email: support@shadowdrawapp.com
 Website: shadowdrawapp.com 
Instagram: @shadowdraw For our EULA agreement, please visit: 
https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ ShadowDraw® and Shadow Draw™ are trademarks of Shadow Draw Inc.

Screenshots

Doodalive4 screens

Verdict

The call

Doodalive and ShadowDraw both sit at 4.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Doodalive's written reviews are positive against 59% of ShadowDraw's. ShadowDraw's advantage is ratings volume (1.8K vs 16). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Doodalive sells 16 one-off in-app purchases and ShadowDraw sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ShadowDraw holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ShadowDraw has 1.8K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Doodalive's written reviews are positive against 59% of ShadowDraw's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Doodalive ships an update every 2 months, ShadowDraw every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Doodalive versus ShadowDraw: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDoodaliveShadowDraw
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (16 ratings)4.2 (1.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better59.4% of reviews
Number of ratings161.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details — not scored
Size104 MB820 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperKiwisAppShadow Draw

Customer experience

Doodalive

All ratings13 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative15.4%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

ShadowDraw

All ratings1,622 ratings
Positive77.0%
Neutral6.4%
Negative16.6%
Written reviews483 reviews
Positive59.4%
Neutral13.0%
Negative27.5%

Bugs and requests

Doodalive

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

ShadowDraw

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Drawings disappearing after completion
  • App crashing on launch for some users
  • Eraser tool not working properly with coloring feature

Requested features

5 requests
  • More free drawing content
  • Canvas rotation and reference image positioning
  • Ability to save progress on drawings
  • Clearer visual indicators for brush/pen changes
  • Side-by-side drawing mode to practice without tracing

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Doodalive

One-time16
  • SnowFree
  • ChristmasFree
  • New Year PackFree
Show 13 more
  • Jack o'lanternFree
  • Paper planeFree
  • No Ads$0.99
  • Magic$0.99
  • Candle$0.99
  • Petals$0.99
  • Halloween Spells$2.99
  • Dia de muertos$2.99
  • In classroom$2.99
  • New year, new challenges$2.99
  • Chalk$2.99
  • Fire$2.99
  • Pixel Art$9.99
2 purchases

ShadowDraw

Subscriptions2
  • ShadowDraw: Monthly Plan7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • ShadowDraw: Yearly Plan7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Doodalive free?
Doodalive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ShadowDraw free?
ShadowDraw is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Doodalive or ShadowDraw?
ShadowDraw is rated higher. Doodalive averages 4.0 out of 5 from 16 ratings, while ShadowDraw averages 4.2 from 1.8K ratings.
Do Doodalive or ShadowDraw have ads?
Both Doodalive and ShadowDraw show ads.
Which is updated more often, Doodalive or ShadowDraw?
Doodalive ships an update every 2 months, and ShadowDraw every 6 weeks. Most recently, Doodalive was updated on October 24, 2026 and ShadowDraw on November 1, 2026.

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