Comparison

Looom vs Pixel Edit Lite

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

Head to head
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.

About

Pixel Edit Lite

Create detailed pixel art on a 16x16 canvas with a minimalist interface. This tool focuses on a clean design to help you craft beautiful retro sprites and artwork.

Highlights
  • 16x16 canvas
  • Minimalist interface
  • Retro sprite creation
  • Pixel art design
  • Clean editor
Features
Read full description

The pocket sprite editor for PICO-8. Copy a sprite on your Mac, edit it on your iPhone, paste it straight back. Pixel Edit Lite is a small, touch-first pixel art and sprite editor for iPhone. Draw with your finger, work offline, and create retro sprites whenever inspiration strikes. Work on a single sprite or build out a full sprite sheet — navigate between sprites, duplicate them, and copy and paste between sprites. Choose 8×8, 16×16, 32×32, or 64×64 canvases for sprites, game art, icons, and other pixel art projects. Built with PICO-8 and TIC-80 style sprite workflows in mind, with real PICO-8 clipboard format support: copy a sprite in PICO-8 on your Mac, paste it here, edit, and paste it back. Features • Clean, minimal interface • Always-on sprite sheet with navigation, duplication, and copy/paste • 8×8, 16×16, 32×32, and 64×64 canvases • Precision pixel drawing with pencil, eraser, and fill • Shape tools: line, rectangle, and circle, outlined or filled • Undo and redo • PICO-8 and TIC-80 color palettes • Grid-based editing • Rotate, flip, and shift tools • Fast, responsive touch controls • Automatic local saving • Recent Projects — reopen past sheets in one tap • Import and export through Files, including iCloud Drive • Share via the native Share Sheet — AirDrop, Messages, save to Photos, and more • Real PICO-8 sprite clipboard format support • Works offline Pixel Edit Lite is intentionally simple. No complicated desktop-style workflow — just a small pixel editor you can keep with you when you're away from your computer.

Screenshots

Looom4 screens
Pixel Edit Lite4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Pixel Edit Lite at 5.0 against Looom's 3.9. Pixel Edit Lite also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 62%) and price ($2.99 vs $9.99). Looom's advantage is ratings volume (121 vs 6) and chart position (#15 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Looom costs $9.99 and Pixel Edit Lite $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pixel Edit Lite holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Looom has 121 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of Looom's written reviews are positive against 100% of Pixel Edit Lite's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Looom ships an update every 4 months, Pixel Edit Lite every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Looom versus Pixel Edit Lite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLooomPixel Edit Lite
Price$9.99$2.99 — better
Rating3.9 (121 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings121 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#15 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIORAMA ABApurva Mehta

Customer experience

Looom

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

Pixel Edit Lite

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

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

Pixel Edit Lite

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Looom

No in-app purchases

None

Pixel Edit Lite

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Looom free?
Looom costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pixel Edit Lite free?
Pixel Edit Lite costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Looom or Pixel Edit Lite?
Pixel Edit Lite is rated higher. Looom averages 3.9 out of 5 from 121 ratings, while Pixel Edit Lite averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Looom or Pixel Edit Lite have ads?
Neither Looom nor Pixel Edit Lite shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Looom or Pixel Edit Lite?
Looom ships an update every 4 months, and Pixel Edit Lite every 5 days. Most recently, Looom was updated on November 6, 2026 and Pixel Edit Lite on November 7, 2026.

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