Comparison

Looom vs Valence 3D

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

Valence 3D

This app is a powerful yet user-friendly 3D modeling and design tool for iPad and iPhone. It offers a comprehensive set of tools for creating, importing, editing, and exporting 3D models, suitable for both beginners and professionals across various industries.

Highlights
  • Extensive primitive shapes library
  • Import and export various 3D file formats
  • Advanced modeling and mesh operations
  • Non-destructive mesh modifiers
  • Intuitive navigation and context-aware tools
  • Automatic saving and iCloud syncing
Features
Read full description

Valence 3D is a powerful, beautiful, minimal, and easy-to-use 3D Polygon & SubD modeling app for iPad & iPhone. No matter whether you're learning 3D modeling for the first time or a professional working in design, construction, gaming, web dev, digital fabrication, architecture, or spatial computing, Valence 3D has what you need to get started! CREATE, IMPORT, EDIT & EXPORT 3D MODELS • 25 primitive shapes are built-in & ready to help you start modeling: plane, box, sphere, squircle, rounded box, arc, circle, cylinder, tube, cone, capsule, torus, icosphere, pipe, revolve, helix, voronoi, text, super shape, noise surfaces, torus knot, faceted gem & tube. • Import existing models, reference images, lidar scans and room plans • Imports: OBJ, STL, USD, USDZ • Exports: PNG, SVG, OBJ, STL, USD, USDZ, GLTF, GLB • Knife tool to create complex and detailed geometry • Move, Rotate, & Scale gizmos make it easy to transform nodes, faces, edges & vertices • Powerful modeling gizmos for extruding, insetting, beveling, poking, creasing & cutting • Multiple selection & automatic loop selection help accelerate your modeling • Tap on one of the gizmo handles to bring up an input field for precise transformations & mesh operations • Robust snapping & alignment commands • Selection operations: grow, shrink, select shell & deselect • Mesh operations: duplicate, instance, set / center pivot, trim by plane, boolean, apply transform & subdivide • Face operations: separate, combine, bridge, extract, poke, collapse, delete, dissolve, harden & soften • Edge operations: extrude, insert vertex, collapse, dissolve, bridge, harden & soften • Vertex operations: insert edge, dissolve, delete & merge • Non-destructive & configurable mesh modifiers: mirror & subdivision • Apply complex transformations using different gizmo pivot points & orientations EASILY NAVIGATE & STAY IN FLOW WHILE DESIGNING • Carefully crafted & fully optimized for iPhone & iPad • Designed to minimize cognitive overload by only showing tools & commands that are contextually relevant • Easily navigate to any part of your model by dragging and pinching: two finger pinch to zoom and roll, and one finger drag to rotate • Pop into the standard orthographic views by tapping one of the handles of the orientation gizmo • Use two & three finger tap gestures to undo & redo • Select components by dragging or using the rectangular selection mode • Your work is saved automatically every two minutes and every time you go back to the gallery • Get an overview of your scene’s structure from the Outliner • Long press on a node in the Outliner to easily rename, duplicate, instance, delete, parent & reorder any object in your scene • Precisely adjust any node’s position, rotation & scale with the Inspector • Adjust material properties, display & modifier options with the Inspector STAY ORGANIZED ACROSS ALL YOUR DEVICES • Preview, share, duplicate, delete & rename your models from the gallery • iCloud syncing keeps all your models up to date, private & accessible across all your devices PREVIEW, MEASURE, & RENDER YOUR CREATIONS • 6 powerful rendering modes: Matcap, Modeling, Wireframe, Physically Based, X-Ray & Path Traced • Export renders in any aspect ratio & scale • Preview your model in AR in two taps • Export your scene as a USDZ & be confident it’ll look consistent on all Apple devices • Tweak your model’s material & see changes in real-time • Tweak-able scene settings: camera field of view, background type, blurriness, intensity & rotation • Get model measurements in one click • Add persistent dimensions between any two surfaces in your scene PURCHASE & COMPATIBILITY • One time purchase unlocks both iPhone & iPad versions • Apple Pencil supported on select iPads • 120 FPS supported on devices with ProMotion displays • Path Tracing is supported on iPads with M series chips & iPhones with A15 Bionic & later • Lidar Scan & Room Plan is supported on devices with a lidar sensor

Screenshots

Looom4 screens
Valence 3D4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Looom at $9.99 against Valence 3D's $19.99. Looom also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). Valence 3D's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 4 months) and rating (4.2 vs 3.8). On review sentiment, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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 Valence 3D $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Valence 3D holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 122 and 121 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 62% of Looom's written reviews are positive against 61% of Valence 3D's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Looom ships an update every 4 months, Valence 3D every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Looom versus Valence 3D: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLooomValence 3D
Price$9.99 — better$19.99
Rating3.8 (122 ratings)4.2 (121 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.7% of reviews — better60.6% of reviews
Number of ratings122 — better121
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#94#85 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB196 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIORAMA ABHi-Rez, LLC

Customer experience

Looom

All ratings122 ratings
Positive68.9%
Neutral9.8%
Negative21.3%
Written reviews180 reviews
Positive61.7%
Neutral12.8%
Negative25.6%

Valence 3D

All ratings121 ratings
Positive76.0%
Neutral13.2%
Negative10.7%
Written reviews155 reviews
Positive60.6%
Neutral16.1%
Negative23.2%

User reviews

Looom

From 122 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

Valence 3D

From 121 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great start
  • 👍 Intuitive UI
  • 💡 Powerful features
  • 🚀 Frequent updates
  • 👍 Clean and easy to use

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🐛 File loading/saving problems
  • 🐛 Unreliable selection and navigation
  • 🐛 Mesh corruption and data loss
  • 🐛 Lack of key modeling tools (boolean, curve, etc.)

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

Valence 3D

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on launch
  • Saved files not loading properly
  • Unreliable vertex/edge/face selection
  • Mesh corruption and data loss
  • Gizmo and navigation issues

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add boolean operations
  • Improve selection and navigation tools
  • Implement curve/spline primitives
  • Add more modeling modifiers (bevel, subdivision, etc.)
  • Provide more detailed documentation and tutorials
Show 3 more
  • Improve performance and stability
  • Add UV editing and texture support
  • Implement keyboard shortcuts and power user features

In-app purchases

None

Looom

No in-app purchases

None

Valence 3D

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Looom free?
Looom costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Valence 3D free?
Valence 3D costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Looom or Valence 3D?
Valence 3D is rated higher. Looom averages 3.8 out of 5 from 122 ratings, while Valence 3D averages 4.2 from 121 ratings.
Do Looom or Valence 3D have ads?
Neither Looom nor Valence 3D shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Looom or Valence 3D?
Looom ships an update every 4 months, and Valence 3D every 9 days. Most recently, Looom was updated on October 2, 2026 and Valence 3D on October 3, 2026.
Which is more popular, Looom or Valence 3D?
Looom currently peaks at #94 in the App Store charts, and Valence 3D at #85. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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