Comparison

Interactful vs Icelus

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

Head to head
About

Interactful

This app offers an interactive learning experience for SwiftUI, providing code snippets and examples for various components and foundational elements. It also grants quick access to official Apple developer and design documentation.

Highlights
  • Interactive SwiftUI examples
  • Code snippets for components
  • Foundational element explanations
  • Access to Apple documentation
  • macOS version available
Read full description

An interactive guide for SwiftUI to help designers and developers build better apps. – Code snippets and interactive examples for components like Sliders, Toggles, Lists, and Grids – Foundational elements like Colors, Fonts, Haptics, Gestures, Animation, SF Symbols, and Accessibility – Quick access to Apple's official developer and design documentation – Also available on macOS

About

Icelus

Features
Read full description

Icelus is a design tool for screens. Design on a real canvas; underneath, every screen is text. Pick a part, tap the canvas, and it lands there as a real button, field, switch or table. One switch in Settings shows the same screen as box-drawing characters. Buttons, inputs, tables, date pickers, tab bars, charts, 38 parts in all. Draw arrows between them, add a big title, and move things around until the screen looks right. Or type the whole screen in a few lines and let Icelus draw it. Then copy it. A Icelus screen is text underneath, so it pastes into a pull request, an issue, a README, a chat or a code comment, and it stays editable wherever it lands. No image to attach, no design file to open. What you get: - A real canvas: parts draw as real controls on artboards, with a Settings switch for the text look - Brush, eraser, selections, gradients, 16 terminal colors, adjustment layers and masks - 38 parts, each its own object you can move, resize, duplicate and reorder - Several screens on one canvas, linked by arrows, copied as one document - Screen templates: sign in, settings, list, detail, empty state - Highlights, your own saved parts, and iOS, Material, terminal and email packs - Copy HTML: the layout as real elements for a developer - Paste any text wireframe and edit it - Shortcuts: Draw a screen, Make plain ASCII - 27 languages and full VoiceOver support - Arrows that stay attached when parts move - Type a screen in a few lines, and copy any sketch back as those lines - Turn a photo into block art, or trace over one - Text boxes, banners and five box styles - Tables you edit as typed rows, with columns that grow - Bar charts, sparklines and progress rows drawn from numbers - Flowcharts from a line like a -> b -> c - Sequence diagrams from lines like User -> App: Sign in - Trees from an indented list - Groups that move as one - A layer list: hide, lock, reorder - Symbols: edit one copy, every copy follows - Pressed, disabled and error states - Snap and alignment guides - Copy as text, Markdown or plain ASCII, or share an image - Autosave and 50 steps of undo - Keyboard control on the Mac - The same project file on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and the web Everything stays on your device. An account is optional, and nothing you draw is uploaded. No tracking. One price, no subscription. The web version at icelus.jaybulb.com is free.

Screenshots

Interactful4 screens
Icelus3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Interactful at Free against Icelus's $0.99. Interactful also leads on device support (4 vs 2). Icelus's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (daily vs every 5 weeks). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Interactful is free to download; Icelus costs $0.99 up front. Interactful sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Icelus asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Interactful ships an update every 5 weeks, Icelus daily. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Interactful versus Icelus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInteractfulIcelus
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.9 (403 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews98.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings403 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size158 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHarley ThomasJoshua Trommel

Bugs and requests

Interactful

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Navigation issues in certain examples
  • Inconsistent behavior with some UI elements

Requested features

5 requests
  • Support for newer iOS versions and components
  • Dynamic Type size adjustments
  • Code generation for more complex examples
  • Audio/sound effects support
  • Ability to save/export custom configurations

Icelus

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Interactful

One-time3
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
None

Icelus

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Interactful free?
Interactful is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Icelus free?
Icelus costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Interactful or Icelus have ads?
Neither Interactful nor Icelus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Interactful or Icelus?
Interactful ships an update every 5 weeks, and Icelus daily. Most recently, Interactful was updated on October 25, 2026 and Icelus on October 25, 2026.

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