Comparison

Drawing Pad vs Art Set 4

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

Head to head
About

Drawing Pad

This app allows users to draw, sketch, and doodle with a variety of tools and brushes. It offers features for photo editing, a coloring book, and the ability to record and share creations. Users can enhance their artwork with stickers, stamps, and frames.

Highlights
  • Drawing, sketching, and doodling tools
  • Photo editing with magic brush effects
  • Coloring book with multiple categories
  • Record and share drawings as video
  • Stickers, stamps, and frames
  • Apple Pencil support
Features
Read full description

Drawings is a cool doodling app that allows you to draw, sketch, doodle while you are traveling or just relaxing a home! **Kids Doodle** (NEW) - Creative Kids Doodle brings to life your unique designing experience - 10+ unique canvas backgrounds that you can change while drawing. - You can record your drawing on canvas as a video and share it with your friends - Beautiful preset color palettes: choose one that fits best and fill a picture with colors from soft and muted to bold and lively - Apple Pencil support: enjoy an easy and intuitive process of coloring on the crisp screen of iPad Pro. 1. Doodle Desk! Are you a Doodle Lover? - Yes! Unleash your creativity and create amazing Doodles with getting Drawing Pad. Create beautiful Doodles with different tools like 3D brushes, stickers, stamps and so on. Want to show you doodling skills to your friends/family? Share it on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. No happy with your Doodle? Want to give a perfect finishing touch? Drawing Pad comes with smooth erasing, undo, redo & specific brushes for a perfect Doodle. 2. Sketch Desk! You love sketching, but cannot carry your sketchbook, everywhere? Don’t worry install Drawing Pad in your iPhone/iPad and sketch while on a go! You can create beautiful sketches with various brush tools like as pen, pencil, highlighter & so on. Also, you can pick up your favorite colors from the quick colors tool. With options like Undo, Redo and flexible eraser, you can create that perfect sketch. 3. Photo Desk for Creative Editors Are you an artist who also creates beautiful effects for your photos? Drawing Pad comes with Magic brush stroke effects. This allows you to add more liveliness to your photos. Moreover, beautify your photos with a collection of attractive stamps & stickers, vibrant frames, & a cropping tool. You can import photos from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, & other networks. Export your ArtWork :- You can export your sketches, drawings, & doodles to other physical products like Phone cases, Posters, Cushions, Frames, & many more. 4. Coloring Book - Creative coloring book brings to life your unique designing experience - 10+ categories of unique coloring pages from talented illustrators - with frequent collection updates you’ll always have something new to color - Custom palettes: combine any colors you like to create a matchless work of art Drawing Pad app is always easy to use, but you can enjoy even more powerful drawing features with the auto-renewed subscription. Subscription Terms for Drawing Premium • Length of subscription: Month • Introductory Trial: 3 Days free trial • Price of subscription: 3 Day Free Trial then $8.99 / month • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase • The account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, & identify the cost of the renewal • Subscriptions may be managed by the user & auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. • Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of your current subscription, & you can cancel a subscription during the active period. You can manage your subscription at any time, either by viewing your account in iTunes from your Mac or PC or Account Settings on your device after purchase. Privacy Policy: https://drawingsdesk.com/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://drawingsdesk.com/terms-of-use/

About

Art Set 4

Experience hyper-realistic digital art creation with advanced tools for painting and drawing. Explore a vast array of brushes, fluid simulations, and 3D paint effects. This app offers a customizable workspace and professional features for artists of all levels.

Highlights
  • Hyper-realistic art tools
  • Fluid watercolor simulation
  • 3D paint effects
  • Customizable workspace
  • Time-lapse video recording
  • PSD export
  • Layer masks
Features
Read full description

Art Set has been No.1 iPad app in over 30 countries around the world. Now completely re-written with some of the most advanced artistic digital painting and drawing tools ever created! An 'App of Day', this giant new version has tools with incredible levels of realism and many professional features. Exclusive artistically created brushes, from real world art mediums through to the purely digital for all styles of artwork. Watch fluid Watercolor flow and run as you paint. Express your strokes in 3D giving thick gloopy paint you can even etch back into. It's also a must for any Apple Pencil owner! Art Set brushes have many additional expressions that come into play, some deeply integrated, with new levels of sensitivity you may have never experienced before! It's now free to download for the first time ever! INCLUDED FOR FREE : HYPER-REAL TOOLS - Oil Paint, Watercolors, Oil Pastel, Pencil, Biro Pen, Marker, Wax Crayon, Blenders and more! - Fluid dynamic simulation for Watercolor - 3D Paint - Custom blending achieving rich deep color - Art Set keeps track of where the canvas is wet, dry when needed - Turn on Slow Draw for drawing to lag your stroke. Create smooth curves and lines; great for calligraphy! - Blur Filter with localised quick masking - Color Wheel - User Editable Palette - Metallic Colors - Time-lapse Video Recording; share how you made your artwork stroke by stroke. - PSD Export UI - Fully customizable workspace; have just a single brush or tools on every side of your screen. - Zoom, Pan and Rotate the canvas for fine detail - Light low contrast or Dark high contrast mode - Minimalist UI for less interference with your artwork WORKFLOW - Latest graphics technology written entirely in METAL 2 - Supports the iOS Files app to manage or or transfer documents - iTunes File Sharing - Auto save - Split Screen Multitasking - use a reference image whilst you draw side by side - Export to your photo album, email, AirDrop or social networks etc. - In-depth User Guide in the app complete with video - Import photos and images at screen resolution PREMIUM PRO FEATURES - Single Upgrade Unlocks everything : 200 ADVANCED BRUSHES - Wide variety of extra hyper-real Paints, Pens, Pencils, Inks, Chalks, Pastels, Charcoal, Wet media, Stamps, Splatters, Form, Graphics, Patterns, Fabric, 3D Texture, Neon to basic Pixel and Flat Digital - You can try out all premium brushes on a test area before upgrading! DRAWING - Flood fill - Symmetry - Pixel Art - Shape primitives for Ellipse, Circle, Square, Rectangle and Line in any brush - Echo shapes for special FX - Erase mode - use any brush as an eraser - Adjust brush Size, Opacity, Flow, Grain, Loading and Dynamics LAYERS - Layer Masks - Transform, move, rotate and scale - Flip - Adjust Opacity - Layer maintains resolution whilst transformed - Blend Modes - Alpha lock - Cut, Copy and Paste, to and from other documents or other Apps - Drag and drop layers from other apps - Import from your photos CUSTOM HIGH-RESOLUTION CANVASES - Choose any resolution canvas size, the highest being dependent on your device capabilities - Set DPI and canvas dimensions in millimeters, inches or Points and Pixels - Great for pixel art or tens of millions of pixels - if device allows - Papers and Canvases from old cardboard, raw canvas, graph, squared and isometric paper COLOR - Display P3 WideColor on supported devices - Auto Color Sample, allows you to easily turn photos into paintings - Color picker - Toolbar placable HSB and RGB sliders ADJUSTMENTS - Localized adjustments, allow you to tweak all or just part of your image via quick masking - Change Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Recolor, Invert, Contrast and Blur WORKFLOW - Auto backup, saves snapshots - iOS Pasteboard or Drag and Drop to or from other apps - Import photos and images and high resolution Art Set is a wonderful creative addition to any iPad!

Screenshots

Drawing Pad4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Art Set 4 at 4.6 against Drawing Pad's 4.3. Art Set 4 also leads on review sentiment (63% vs 44%) and iOS requirement (12.4 vs 17.0). Drawing Pad's advantage is ratings volume (99K vs 29K). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Drawing Pad sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Art Set 4 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Art Set 4 holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 99K and 29K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of Drawing Pad's written reviews are positive against 63% of Art Set 4's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drawing Pad ships an update weekly, Art Set 4 every 6 days. Both last shipped on November 9, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Drawing Pad versus Art Set 4: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrawing PadArt Set 4
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (99K ratings)4.6 (29K ratings) — better
Positive reviews43.6% of reviews63.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings99K — better29K
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS17.012.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size413 MB158 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSunny Side Hurricane LLCLOFOPI

Customer experience

Drawing Pad

All ratings99,270 ratings
Positive82.2%
Neutral5.4%
Negative12.4%
Written reviews932 reviews
Positive43.6%
Neutral4.8%
Negative51.6%

Art Set 4

All ratings25,885 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral4.3%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews1,716 reviews
Positive63.1%
Neutral11.0%
Negative25.9%

User reviews

Drawing Pad

From 99K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Simple and easy to use
  • 🎨 Good for basic drawing and doodling
  • 👍 Helpful for improving drawing skills
  • 🎨 Provides a variety of brushes and tools

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Requires subscription to access full features
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🐛 Frequent pop-ups and ads
  • 🐛 Laggy performance and glitches
  • 🔒 Limited functionality without subscription

Art Set 4

From 29K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Realistic paint and brush simulation
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🎨 Excellent oil paint and watercolor tools
  • 🎨 Wide variety of art tools and materials
  • 👍 Responsive and smooth performance

Room to improve

  • 💰 Many features locked behind paywall
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔒 Lack of layer management and export options
  • 🔒 Limited brush size and customization options in free version
  • 🔒 Confusing UI and hidden features

Bugs and requests

Drawing Pad

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Drawings not saving properly
  • Frequent crashes and freezes
  • Unresponsive touch controls

Requested features

4 requests
  • More drawing tools and customization options
  • Ability to save and export drawings
  • Smoother performance and fewer bugs
  • More affordable pricing model

Art Set 4

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when opening color palette or blending
  • Unexpected loss of work and canvas resets
  • Inability to resize canvas or change aspect ratio
  • Brush size and settings not preserved when switching tools

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more free brushes and tools
  • Improve layer management and export options
  • Allow more brush size and customization options in free version
  • Provide better documentation and tutorials
  • Add undo/redo gesture support
Show 1 more
  • Improve color management and palette tools

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Drawing Pad

Subscriptions10
  • Weekly Subscription3 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • Weekly Subscription3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Lite Weekly Trial3 Days trial$4.997 Days
Show 7 more
  • Pro Weekly Offer3 Days trial$6.997 Days
  • Drawing Pad Subscriptions3 Days trial$8.991 Month
  • Pro Weekly Trial3 Days trial$9.997 Days
  • Pro Weekly3 Days trial$9.997 Days
  • Lite Weekly3 Days trial$9.997 Days
  • Yearly subscription3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Lite Yearly3 Days trial$49.991 Year
1 purchases

Art Set 4

One-time1
  • Unlock All$12.99

Questions

Is Drawing Pad free?
Drawing Pad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Art Set 4 free?
Art Set 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Drawing Pad or Art Set 4?
Art Set 4 is rated higher. Drawing Pad averages 4.3 out of 5 from 99K ratings, while Art Set 4 averages 4.6 from 29K ratings.
Do Drawing Pad or Art Set 4 have ads?
Neither Drawing Pad nor Art Set 4 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drawing Pad or Art Set 4?
Drawing Pad ships an update weekly, and Art Set 4 every 6 days. Most recently, Drawing Pad was updated on November 9, 2026 and Art Set 4 on November 9, 2026.

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