Comparison

Mandala Maker vs Looom

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

Head to head
About

Mandala Maker

Easily create beautiful, symmetric geometric art and patterns. This app offers a relaxing way to doodle, color, and explore fractal designs, mosaics, and sacred geometry with customizable tools and a variety of stickers and brushes.

Highlights
  • Symmetric pattern art creation
  • Color therapy and relaxation
  • Customizable settings
  • Free-form zooming and panning
  • Stickers, shapes, and brushes
  • Mandala coloring feature
  • Image export
Features
Read full description

Make Mandalas the easy way! Great way to relax. Doodle, and enjoy making beautiful symmetric kaleidoscope patterns, mosaics, fractals, sacred geometry and other geometric works of art. Easy symmetry pattern art is great form of color therapy. Lots of customizable settings so you can make something truly unique. Free-form zooming and tons of stickers, shapes and brushes. You'll surprise yourself with what you can doodle in just a few minutes. Onetime unlock will guarantee you access to everything forever. No ads for anyone so everybody gets to enjoy their creative escape. Features: - Awesome fun interactive drawing :D - Great Apple Pencil support - Smooth zooming and panning allows you to get very detailed - Add Layers and Custom Images - Paint Bucket fill - Includes: Henna, paisley, tattoo, sacred geometry, spiral, ornament stickers and much more. - Kaleidoscope friendly patterns - Image export - Tons of sweet vector stickers - Lot's of brushes. Now with rainbow mode for extra fun. Mandala is the Sanskrit word meaning circle and completion. It is a visual aid for concentration, creating a sacred space for introspective meditation and art therapy. By strategically combining circles, triangles, and other geometric forms they represent the cosmos metaphysically and symbolically. Make Mandalas the easy way! Great way to relax. Doodle, draw, and color beautiful symmetric kaleidoscope patterns, mosaics, fractals, sacred geometry and other geometric works of art. Easy symmetry pattern art is a great form of color therapy. Lots of customizable settings so you can make something truly unique. Free-form zooming and tons of stickers, shapes and brushes. You'll surprise yourself with what you can create in just a few minutes. NEW — Mandala Coloring Generate unique mandala designs and bring them to life with color. A relaxing coloring experience built right into Mandala Maker — no separate app needed. Choose your experience: Classic — Free-form mandala drawing with full creative control Kids — A simplified, playful drawing experience Mandala Coloring — Generate beautiful mandalas and color them in Onetime unlock will guarantee you access to everything forever. No ads for anyone so everybody gets to enjoy their creative escape. Features: Awesome fun interactive drawing :D Great Apple Pencil support Smooth zooming and panning allows you to get very detailed Add Layers and Custom Images Paint Bucket fill Generative mandala coloring with endless unique designs Includes: Henna, paisley, tattoo, sacred geometry, spiral, ornament stickers and much more. Kaleidoscope friendly patterns Image export Tons of sweet vector stickers Lot's of brushes. Now with rainbow mode for extra fun. Mandala is the Sanskrit word meaning circle and completion. It is a visual aid for concentration, creating a sacred space for introspective meditation and art therapy. By strategically combining circles, triangles, and other geometric forms they represent the cosmos metaphysically and symbolically. A Mandala is a microcosm of the universe from a human perspective. Have fun :D End User License Agreement can be found here: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Looom

Create hand-drawn animations with a playful, instrument-like interface. This robust app focuses on loopable animation, offering a dynamic, non-destructive workflow for both beginners and professionals. Explore lines, shapes, and colors in a delightful environment designed for learning and experimentation.

Highlights
  • Hand-drawn animation creation
  • Loopable animation focus
  • Musical interface inspiration
  • Dynamic non-destructive workflow
  • Fluid time control
  • Infinite canvas
  • SVG native file format
Features
Read full description

A new way to create hand-drawn animation. So playful you’ll think it’s a toy, but it's secretly a robust app with a reimagined UI for animators and creators. Taking inspiration from music creation tools, using Looom feels more like playing an instrument than operating software - exploring lines, shapes and colors through loopable time and rhythm. Looom is all about looping animation with a smile. It was designed for professionals and beginners of any age and is already being used by some influential indie animators. A delightful environment to learn, experiment, practice and create drawn animation. Wonderfully musical, Next-gen dynamic non-destructive workflow. FLUID TIME No first frame or last. Looom’s threads are independent in length and speed, always tweak-able. INFINITE CANVAS Lets you go as deep or as far as you want thanks to a completely resolution-independent vector engine. OPEN-ENDED Looom uses SVG as it’s native file format. Your work can be viewed in browsers and opened in desktop animation software.

Screenshots

Mandala Maker4 screens
Looom4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Mandala Maker at Free against Looom's $9.99. Mandala Maker also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.9) and update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months). Looom's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Mandala Maker is free to download; Looom costs $9.99 up front. Mandala Maker sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Looom asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mandala Maker holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mandala Maker has 9.6K ratings behind it against 121, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Mandala Maker's written reviews are positive against 62% of Looom's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mandala Maker ships an update weekly, Looom every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard10 real differences · 1 level
Mandala Maker versus Looom: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMandala MakerLooom
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating4.6 (9.6K ratings) — better3.9 (121 ratings)
Positive reviews73.8% of reviews — better61.9% of reviews
Number of ratings9.6K — better121
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#24 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size71 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDamien BellIORAMA AB

Customer experience

Mandala Maker

All ratings9,553 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral5.0%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews347 reviews
Positive73.8%
Neutral9.2%
Negative17.0%

Looom

All ratings122 ratings
Positive68.9%
Neutral9.8%
Negative21.3%
Written reviews181 reviews
Positive61.9%
Neutral12.7%
Negative25.4%

User reviews

Mandala Maker

From 9.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Beautiful and creative mandalas
  • 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
  • 💡 Relaxing and therapeutic
  • 🎨 Wide range of colors and tools
  • 🎨 Ability to save and share creations

Room to improve

  • 💰 Many features locked behind paywall
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Limited undo/redo functionality in free version
  • 🔍 Difficulty with precise controls and brush sizes

Looom

From 121 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Innovative and unique animation interface
  • 🎨 Intuitive drawing experience once learned
  • 🎬 Real-time animation playback while drawing
  • 📱 Works seamlessly on iPad and iPhone
  • 🎯 Simple and minimalist design approach

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes losing user work
  • 😕 Non-intuitive UI despite minimalist design
  • 🎨 Limited to single color per layer/thread
  • 🖌️ Only one basic brush option available
  • 📤 Extremely cumbersome export process

Bugs and requests

Mandala Maker

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Mandalas disappearing after crashes
  • Inconsistent behavior when zooming and panning
  • Inability to save or export creations in free version

Requested features

4 requests
  • Allow importing/exporting of designs
  • Add more brush types and customization options
  • Improve layer management and symmetry controls
  • Provide more default color palettes and templates

Looom

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • App crashes mid-animation causing work loss
  • Grey screen on launch preventing app opening
  • Drawing not registering properly
  • Frame navigation swiping goes wrong direction
  • Accidental marks appearing from sensitive touch controls
Show 7 more
  • Eraser functionality not working on some devices
  • Zoom controls triggering timeline instead
  • Disappearing artwork when switching frames
  • Export controls not grabbable on iPad Pro
  • Accidental deletion of projects with no recovery option
  • Non-Apple Pencil input not recognized without settings change
  • Performance issues and stuttering

Requested features

23 requests
  • Better export options (GIF, video, SVG with proper formatting)
  • Increase frame limit beyond 24 frames
  • More than 5 layers/threads
  • Multiple colors and brush sizes per layer
  • Frame duplication and copy-paste functionality
Show 18 more
  • Undo/redo gesture support (two-finger tap)
  • Shape tools (circles, rectangles, lines)
  • Background image import for reference tracing
  • Hex color input and color picker tool
  • Partial eraser (erase parts of lines, not entire lines)
  • Double-tap Apple Pencil to toggle eraser
  • Layer naming and hiding capabilities
  • Adjustable frame rate and FPS control
  • Sound/audio support
  • Ability to rearrange frame order
  • Onion skin customization (forward and backward)
  • Static/pinned layers
  • Higher resolution export options
  • Video import for rotoscoping
  • Pressure sensitivity support
  • Animation scene management
  • Seamless looping export
  • Left-hand mode accessibility

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Mandala Maker

Subscriptions6
  • Weekly Plan$2.997 Days
  • Monthly Pro$3.991 Month
  • Weekly Pro$4.997 Days
Show 3 more
  • Yearly Plan3 Days trial$9.991 Year
  • Yearly Pro3 Days trial$9.991 Year
  • Yearly Plan$12.991 Year
One-time4
  • Unlock Everything$5.99
  • Full Unlock$6.99
  • Lifetime Unlock$29.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Pro Unlock$34.99
None

Looom

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mandala Maker free?
Mandala Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Looom free?
Looom costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mandala Maker or Looom?
Mandala Maker is rated higher. Mandala Maker averages 4.6 out of 5 from 9.6K ratings, while Looom averages 3.9 from 121 ratings.
Do Mandala Maker or Looom have ads?
Mandala Maker shows ads; Looom does not.
Which is updated more often, Mandala Maker or Looom?
Mandala Maker ships an update weekly, and Looom every 4 months. Most recently, Mandala Maker was updated on November 10, 2026 and Looom on November 6, 2026.

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