Animation Desk® Ultimate vs YearTree
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Animation Desk® Ultimate
Create frame-by-frame animations from scratch or over existing media. This app offers a robust set of drawing tools, layer support, and various export options for your animated projects. It's designed for both beginners and experienced animators.
- Frame-by-frame animation creation
- Import Photoshop layers (PSD)
- Animate over videos and images
- Advanced drawing tools and brushes
- Onion skinning with color-coding
- Multiple export formats (video, GIF, PDF, PSD)
- Add music to animations
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Dream big with Animation Desk. Draw frame-to-frame animation from scratch, or create animations upon videos, images, Photoshop layers. Animation Desk supports multiple export formats. Create animation on your iPad and iPhone with Animation Desk. AWARDS - Featured in Top100 iPad Entertainment apps in 86 App Stores - Featured by Apple on iTunes Home Page - Featured by Yahoo Tech - Featured by TechCrunch - Recommended by EdTech Impact, Edshelf, EducationalAppStore.com, All about apps in YOUR classroom, iPad Educators CREATE ANIMATION • Import Photoshop layers (PSD) • Make animation over videos and pictures • Create animations with a different aspect ratio, FPS, and duration DRAWING TOOLS • Brushes and Erasers • Custom Brush • Onion skin • Color-coded onion skinning • Selection tools • Layers • Color palettes for developing and managing color schemes • Caption* • Perfect with Apple Pencil 1,2, Wacom and Adonit styli HELPFUL TOOLS • Frame tags • Ruler tools • Frame viewer and timeline • Zoom-in and zoom-out • Canvas rotation EXPORT • Export individual frame into image • Export videos • Export PSD layers, PDF, and GIF (up to 640x480 px), PDF* • Export video with different aspect of ratio • Add music to the animations • Combine multiple animation sequences into an animatic storyboard CAN WE GIVE A HAND? Got a question? Contact us at helpdesk@kdanmobile.com or check out http://support.kdanmobile.com Term of Use: https://www.kdanmobile.com/en/terms_of_service Privacy Policies: https://www.kdanmobile.com/en/privacy_policy
YearTree
Cultivate a unique digital bonsai tree where each day represents a year of growth. Make mindful choices about pruning and light to shape its development. Experience contemplative play focused on patience and restraint, not competition.
- Daily year progression for tree growth
- Interactive pruning and light adjustment
- Unique tree development based on choices
- Contemplative gameplay, no scores or timers
- Collect and share finished bonsai trees
- Offline play
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YearTree is a bonsai garden for your phone. Each day you open the app is one year in the life of your tree. You see what grew overnight. You make one choice... prune a branch, shift the light, or leave the tree alone. Then the year ends. Growth happens in your absence. This is how real bonsai works. The Japanese word for tending bonsai is "seishi"... to restrain life. A bonsai master does not build a tree. They remove what is unnecessary. They wait. They decide when to stop. YearTree puts that practice in your hands. Your tree is unique. No two trees start the same way and no two trees grow the same way. Light compounds over years, bending branches toward the sun. Pruning redirects energy. Doing nothing has consequences. Surface roots emerge with age. Growth slows over centuries. Every decision accumulates. Every absence matters. This is contemplative play... a space between games and meditation where meaning comes from patience, not performance. There is no score. No timer. No way to win. Just the slow unfolding of something shaped by your attention and your restraint. When your tree feels finished... not when the game tells you, but when you feel it... place it on the shelf. A collection of trees you chose to stop touching. Share a snapshot of what you have grown. Start another. One pot. One tree. Many years. Free: one year per day, full mechanics. Pro: unlimited years per session. $4.99, one time, forever. No ads. No subscriptions. No accounts. No data.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: YearTree at 100% against Animation Desk® Ultimate's 39%. YearTree also leads on price (Free vs $9.99) and rating (5.0 vs 4.0). Animation Desk® Ultimate's advantage is ratings volume (300 vs 4) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
YearTree is free to download; Animation Desk® Ultimate costs $9.99 up front. Animation Desk® Ultimate sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and YearTree sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
YearTree holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Animation Desk® Ultimate has 300 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of Animation Desk® Ultimate's written reviews are positive against 100% of YearTree's.
Animation Desk® Ultimate ships an update monthly, YearTree every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Animation Desk® Ultimate | YearTree |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.0 (300 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 39.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 300 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 374 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Kdan Mobile Software LTD | Justin Neuman |
Customer experience
Animation Desk® Ultimate
YearTree
Bugs and requests
Animation Desk® Ultimate
Reported bugs
4 issues- Frames randomly disappearing or getting corrupted
- Layers merging unexpectedly or not behaving as expected
- Crashes when trying to import certain media files
- Onion skin and playback issues causing problems
Requested features
5 requests- Add more brush customization options
- Improve the timeline and layer management tools
- Implement a better undo/redo system
- Allow importing and syncing of audio for lip-syncing
- Provide more export options beyond just video
YearTree
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Animation Desk® Ultimate
- Kdan Cloud$2.991 Month
- All Access Pack-1 Month3 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Kdan Cloud$9.991 Year
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- All Access Pack-3 Months3 Days trial$19.993 Months
- All Access Pack - 1 Year7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- 10 Kdan Credits$0.99
- 100 Kdan Credits$7.99
- 200 Kdan Credits$15.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- 500 Kdan Credits$37.99
- 1000 Kdan Credits$59.99
YearTree
- YearTree Pro$4.99
Questions
Is Animation Desk® Ultimate free?
Is YearTree free?
Which has better reviews, Animation Desk® Ultimate or YearTree?
Do Animation Desk® Ultimate or YearTree have ads?
Which is updated more often, Animation Desk® Ultimate or YearTree?
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