Comparison

Widget Art Gallery vs Active Art App

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

Head to head
About

Widget Art Gallery

Display over 10,000 beautiful artworks on your home screen or today view. Customize widgets with art from world-renowned galleries and NASA, with optional overlays like time and date. Enjoy slideshows and favorite pieces for easy access.

Highlights
  • Display art on home screen
  • Browse 10,000+ artworks
  • Widgets from top galleries
  • Customizable widget overlays
  • Slideshows and favorites
  • Searchable art collection
Features
Read full description

Widget Art Gallery allow you to view over 10,000 beautiful works of art on your home screen or today view. Add an Art Gallery widget to your home screen and then choose to view pieces from a gallery, collections, favorites, or specific artwork. Add helpful overlays like time, date, battery, or add your own text. In the app you can browse or search all of the included artwork from several of the world's best art galleries. Tap the play button to view a slide show containing pieces from the current gallery or collection. You can add any piece to your favorites list for easy viewing later in the favorites gallery or in a widget. Featuring artwork from world famous galleries, such as the National Gallery of Art, Getty Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Rijksmuseum, and Mauritshuis, as well as spectacular photos from NASA. Widget Art Gallery is free to download and contains no ads. The free version allows the use of one widget. There is a one-time in-app-purchase that unlocks an unlimited number of widgets and helps support further development of the app. Please upgrade to Art Gallery Premium today. Widget Art Gallery is available on iOS and macOS and its sister app TV Art Gallery is available for tvOS. Widgets are only available on iOS 14 and macOS 11 Big Sur and higher.

About

Active Art App

Engage with art through interactive stories and a digital collection. Scan physical artworks to see them come alive within the app, and collect unique digital pieces with their own narratives. Experience moments of connection, wellness, and joy through art.

Highlights
  • Scan physical art to unlock digital experiences
  • Follow an Art Feed for artist updates
  • Collect free pocket-size digital art
  • Unlock daily joy and build a collection
  • Share art collections with loved ones
  • Experience art-driven emotional connection
Features
Read full description

Simple, guided, and designed to create meaningful emotional connection through Art. Art is about participation. It's connective — it reaches into a person emotionally and socially, and connects them to the wider world. It crosses language, socioeconomic background, and geography, restoring a connection that reminds people they are not disconnected. Welcome to Active Art, where art, stories, and connection come to life. Every piece — whether hanging on a wall or living in the app — carries its own story, waiting to unlock a moment of connection, wellness, and joy. Currently Jonathan, our founder, is the resident artist at Mass General Brigham (MGB) Cancer Institute, where 30 to 40 of his paintings hang across oncology spaces, corridors, and waiting rooms. A mural he created with the Boston Bruins Foundation transformed a pediatric chemotherapy room into somewhere children actually want to walk into. "The bad news room became the good news room." — Mass General Brigham (MGB) Cancer Institute In the App: Scan physical paintings for the art to come to life; follow the Art Feed for a running look at what ActiveArt and Jonathan the Painter are working on; and Vendi, our digital vending machine for art. Vend pocket-size art for free: each artwork is the size of a baseball card, each with its own story. Unlock daily joy, save your pieces to build your collection and share it with the people you love. A moment of joy, wherever you are and a measurable lift in patient experience for the institutions that host it. Note: Active Art is an artistic and storytelling experience. It is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition. Active Art LLC · Boston, MA · activeart.xyz

Screenshots

Widget Art Gallery4 screens
Active Art App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Active Art App at none against Widget Art Gallery's 2. Active Art App also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Widget Art Gallery's advantage is ratings volume (90 vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Widget Art Gallery sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Active Art App asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Active Art App holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Widget Art Gallery has 90 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Widget Art Gallery versus Active Art App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWidget Art GalleryActive Art App
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (90 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings90 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB160 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperCromulent Labs23 Bulbs

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Widget Art Gallery

One-time2
  • Art Gallery Premium$2.99
  • Art Gallery Premium Retail$4.99
None

Active Art App

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Widget Art Gallery free?
Widget Art Gallery is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Active Art App free?
Active Art App is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Widget Art Gallery or Active Art App?
Active Art App is rated higher. Widget Art Gallery averages 4.6 out of 5 from 90 ratings, while Active Art App averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Widget Art Gallery or Active Art App have ads?
Neither Widget Art Gallery nor Active Art App shows ads.

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