NailBuff vs Nail Picker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NailBuff
Discover new nail polish colors using your camera or saved images. Keep track of your collection and create wish lists to avoid duplicate purchases. Instantly find perfect matches from various brands.
- Color discovery via camera or images
- Nail polish collection management
- Wish list creation
- Instant shade matching
- Brand search
- Social media sharing
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NailBuff allows you to find new colours by using their unique touch screen technology, your phone's camera or any saved pictures. ..... and it gets better! You can also create an online record of your current nail polish collection ensuring that you'll never buy the same polish twice - as well as a Wish List for colours you can’t wait to buy. How does it work? Once you've selected the colour you're obsessed with, NailBuff will instantly find you the perfect nail polish match by searching all your favourite brands as well as some newly discovered upcoming producers that may not be on your radar yet. When you've decided on the perfect polish you can then add it to your wish list or collection and share it with your friends via social media.
Nail Picker
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See the colour on your own nails. Most try-on apps hand you a palette someone else invented. You pick a colour you like, but when you find it in real life, it can turn out to be nothing like you expected. Nail Picker works the other way round. Every shade comes from a swatch you photographed yourself — real painted lacquer, with its own shimmer and depth carried across. You can also explore nail designs from your own reference photos, mix styles, and change your nail shape and length. So the question stops being which of these colours do I like and becomes which of my own shades and designs can I see on my nails before the next appointment. HOW IT WORKS 1. Photograph your hand. One photo, in daylight if you can. Nail Picker finds each nail on its own — no tracing, no stickers, no holding still. 2. Photograph the swatch. Real painted lacquer, not a name from a catalogue. Tap the colour in the photo and Nail Picker reads the shade off it, sparkle included. You can also use your own reference photos to explore nail designs. 3. See it on your nails. Paint every nail or just one. Try a French tip or a half-moon, mix shades and styles, change your nail shape and length, then save the result to your camera roll. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Pick exact shades from your own swatch photos - Explore nail designs from your own reference photos - Paint one nail, or all of them - Add French tips, half-moons, dots, stripes, outlines and more - Mix as many shades and styles as you like across your nails - Change nail shape and length - Keep your shades in a library and mark your favourites A swatch is honest about the colour and nothing else. It is a tip, not ten nails — your nail length, your shape and your skin tone all change how that colour reads. That is the part the swatch cannot tell you, and the part Nail Picker can. NAIL PICKER+ One free scan to start. Nail Picker+ gives you 15 hand scans a month, and as many colours and styles as you like on each one. ABOUT YOUR PHOTOS Your hand photo is sent to our server to find your nails, and on to the external services that run the detection. Photos of your swatches stay on your phone. Nothing is used to train a model, sold, or shared with advertisers. Privacy policy: https://nailpicker.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: NailBuff at none against Nail Picker's 2. Nail Picker's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Nail Picker sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. NailBuff asks for nothing beyond the download.
NailBuff ships an update every 2 months, Nail Picker every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NailBuff | Nail Picker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (72 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 79.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 72 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nail Buff Limited | Kristina Malinovskaya |
In-app purchases
NailBuff
No in-app purchases
Nail Picker
- Nail Picker+$5.991 Month
- Nail Picker+3 Days trial$29.991 Year









