Comparison

Art Set 4 vs Simple Handwritten Note

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

Head to head
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!

About

Simple Handwritten Note

This app allows users to jot down notes and sketches using a black pen. It functions as a simple memo pad or notebook for quickly capturing ideas or communicating through writing. The core features include writing, erasing, and saving.

Highlights
  • Handwritten note-taking
  • Drawing and sketching
  • Memo pad functionality
  • Quick idea capture
  • Writing, erasing, and saving
Features
Read full description

A handwritten note app that lets you write with a black pen Can be used as a memo pad, notebook, quickly write down ideas, draw, sketch, written communicate, etc. It is a simple function of writing, erasing, and saving, please try it.

Screenshots

Simple Handwritten Note3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Simple Handwritten Note at none against Art Set 4's 1. Simple Handwritten Note also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and device support (3 vs 1). Art Set 4's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 months). On price 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. Art Set 4 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Simple Handwritten Note asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Simple Handwritten Note holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Art Set 4 has 29K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 63% of Art Set 4's written reviews are positive against 50% of Simple Handwritten Note's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Art Set 4 ships an update every 6 days, Simple Handwritten Note every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 1 level
Art Set 4 versus Simple Handwritten Note: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArt Set 4Simple Handwritten Note
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (29K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews63.1% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings29K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS12.4 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size158 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLOFOPIRyouhei Azuma

Customer experience

Art Set 4

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

Simple Handwritten Note

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

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

Simple Handwritten Note

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Art Set 4

One-time1
  • Unlock All$12.99
None

Simple Handwritten Note

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Art Set 4 free?
Art Set 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Simple Handwritten Note free?
Simple Handwritten Note is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Art Set 4 or Simple Handwritten Note?
Simple Handwritten Note is rated higher. Art Set 4 averages 4.6 out of 5 from 29K ratings, while Simple Handwritten Note averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Art Set 4 or Simple Handwritten Note have ads?
Simple Handwritten Note shows ads; Art Set 4 does not.
Which is updated more often, Art Set 4 or Simple Handwritten Note?
Art Set 4 ships an update every 6 days, and Simple Handwritten Note every 3 months. Most recently, Art Set 4 was updated on November 9, 2026 and Simple Handwritten Note on November 3, 2026.

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