Looom vs Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Hand-drawn animation creation
- Loopable animation focus
- Musical interface inspiration
- Dynamic non-destructive workflow
- Fluid time control
- Infinite canvas
- SVG native file format
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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.
Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography
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Discover, inspect, and collect free fonts with Ampersand. Ampersand is a beautiful typography browser, designed to make it easy (and delightful) to explore fonts. DISCOVER ∙ Browse thousands of fonts in an infinite, omnidirectional grid. ∙ Filter by category, popularity, style count, italics support, variable axes, language support, and script support. ∙ Hide font names so you can focus on the type. ∙ Customize the sample text to see fonts in your own words. ∙ Search fonts by name or designer. INSPECT ∙ Try every available style, weight, and italic variant. ∙ Fine-tune each variable axis individually. ∙ See typographic metrics, glyph counts, supported languages, and scripts. ∙ Explore every glyph in the typeface. ∙ Learn about each font’s designer, category, date added, and license. COLLECT ∙ Save fonts to your collections. ∙ Create as many collections as you want, each with a name and description. ∙ Share fonts. All fonts in Ampersand are open-source and come from the Google Fonts catalog. Google Fonts is a trademark of Google LLC. Ampersand is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google. Terms & Conditions: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography at Free against Looom's $9.99. Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 months). Looom's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and chart position (#107 vs unranked). On ads 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
Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography is free to download; Looom costs $9.99 up front. Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Looom asks for nothing beyond the download.
Looom ships an update every 4 months, Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Looom | Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (122 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 61.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 122 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Best chart rank | #107 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 43 MB | 68 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | IORAMA AB | Rafael Guimarães |
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
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- 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
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- 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
Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Looom
No in-app purchases
Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography
- Ampersand Deluxe$8.00
Questions
Is Looom free?
Is Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography free?
Do Looom or Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography have ads?
Which is updated more often, Looom or Ampersand ∙ Explore Typography?
Other comparisons
