Comparison

How to Draw vs DrawRef

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

Head to head
About

How to Draw

Learn to draw and trace with step-by-step tutorials. This app acts as your drawing teacher, offering endless ideas and easy-to-follow illustrations to help you create amazing art. Practice designs with various tools and explore a vast collection of drawings.

Highlights
  • Step-by-step drawing tutorials
  • Tracing functionality
  • Drawing tools (pencil, color, eraser)
  • Zoom and move features
  • Browse and search art collections
  • Bookmark favorite designs
  • Share creations
Features
Read full description

Now learning drawing is easier than ever. With the drawing app, explore endless ideas to make drawing. This drawing app is your drawing teacher, which can tell you “How to draw" in a fun and easy way. Learn how to draw step by step with our app. Download our drawing app and learn drawing perfectly. "How to draw" is a learning app that teaches you drawing with step-by-step tutorials. You can easily learn to draw amazing art. This app is one of a kind where you can learn drawing through the self-learning feature. Drawing something is a fun and calming activity. Learn amazing sketches and become a drawing master in no time. Easily practice designs using tools like pencil, color, erasers, move, zoom in/out, and more features. Drawing is a hobby only a few people know how to do. But with our drawing app, it is easier than ever. Let your creativity bounce when you learn to draw with our app. Get step by step drawing tutorial to design an amazing app and amaze everyone. Whether you're a newbie in drawing or a professional, our app teaches making designs easily. Just tap on the phone to explore the amazing art collection wherever you are. Select the one you like and follow step-by-step instructions to draw. Main Features: • This app includes lots of drawings things. • Browse designs with our category feature • Draw art using step by step illustrations help • Search for trending and popular art app designs • Bookmark your favourite designs and collection • Complete the leftover sketch when you log in again • Share your designs with your friends and family • Each drawing is divided into a number of steps which are easy to follow. • Starting from a few lines, you’ll end up with a complete picture. • You can create your own drawing and draw right on the screen. • Parents can use it to give drawing lessons to their kids. • You don't need any special skills, just start drawing • Try different interesting styles of drawings • Self-teaching and self-learning (educational) Why this app? If you love to draw but don't know how to, you've come to the right place. Download our art collection app and get started easily. Learn how to sketch and draw easily with our guide app. With this drawing making app, drawing is fun. Explore vast categories of collection and select the one that catches your eye. Save your designs and share them with your friend. Become a artist with our drawing maker app today! Download now..!!! Don't forget to rate this app if you love it. Privacy Policy : https://sites.google.com/view/howtodraw-terms/privacy-policy Terms of Use (EULA) : https://sites.google.com/view/howtodraw-terms/terms-of-use

About

DrawRef

This utility app helps artists by displaying drawing references in a picture-in-picture mode. It allows you to easily access your gallery, select an image, and overlay it on your screen while using your preferred drawing application. You can resize, reposition, and even hide the reference image to optimize your workspace.

Highlights
  • Picture-in-picture reference display
  • Instant gallery access
  • Selectable reference image parts
  • Adjustable reference image position
  • Scalable reference image
Features
Read full description

DrawRef suits your needs perfectly if you use references while drawing. The app is designed to save your time and effort by focusing on what really matters in your art process. With DrawRef you can finally stop using a split screen mode and enjoy a picture-in-picture view of your drawing references. DrawRef allows you to save screen real estate for reference images while drawing. You can access the gallery instantly from the app, choose an image for the reference and put it into picture-in-picture mode. Then open your favorite drawing app and enjoy the process. Move the image to any corner, scale it and temporarily hide it by swiping it to the side of the screen. You can also select a part of the image to use it as a reference in the pic-in-pic mode. This utility app will help you in your daily art routine. DrawRef is rather minimalistic, so you don’t need tutorials to start using it and benefit from saving screen real estate. In case you have any questions or app related offers, please, write us on drawrefapp@gmail.com. Features: - instant gallery access; - picture-in-picture image view; - using a part of the image as a reference in pic-in-pic mode; - moving an image by dragging it to other corners of your screen; - pinching/unpinching the image to scale it.

Screenshots

How to Draw4 screens
DrawRef3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: DrawRef at 92% against How to Draw's 46%. DrawRef also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). How to Draw's advantage is ratings volume (4.5K vs 70) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads and 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

Both are free to download. How to Draw sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. DrawRef asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DrawRef holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: How to Draw has 4.5K ratings behind it against 70, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of How to Draw's written reviews are positive against 92% of DrawRef's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

How to Draw ships an update every 6 months, DrawRef every 9 months. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
How to Draw versus DrawRef: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHow to DrawDrawRef
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (4.5K ratings)4.7 (70 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.2% of reviews91.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.5K — better70
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size106 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGorasiya Vishal NanjibhaiVasilii Sverchkov

Customer experience

How to Draw

All ratings4,469 ratings
Positive84.3%
Neutral7.6%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews145 reviews
Positive46.2%
Neutral9.0%
Negative44.8%

DrawRef

All ratings70 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral2.9%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive91.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

How to Draw

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Blank screens and loading issues
  • Incorrect or mismatched drawing titles
  • Drawings not loading properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more realistic human drawing options
  • Improve translation accuracy of drawing titles
  • Implement video tutorials for better guidance
  • Reduce frequency of ads and provide ad-free option

DrawRef

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

How to Draw

Subscriptions4
  • Weekly$4.997 Days
  • Monthly Unlock$9.991 Month
  • Yearly Unlock$14.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yearly Unlock3 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlock$44.99
None

DrawRef

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is How to Draw free?
How to Draw is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DrawRef free?
DrawRef is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, How to Draw or DrawRef?
DrawRef is rated higher. How to Draw averages 4.4 out of 5 from 4.5K ratings, while DrawRef averages 4.7 from 70 ratings.
Do How to Draw or DrawRef have ads?
Neither How to Draw nor DrawRef shows ads.
Which is updated more often, How to Draw or DrawRef?
How to Draw ships an update every 6 months, and DrawRef every 9 months. Most recently, How to Draw was updated on November 2, 2026 and DrawRef on November 2, 2026.

Other comparisons