Comparison

PicoN! The Creative Info App vs Mapling

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

Head to head
About

PicoN! The Creative Info App

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PicoN! is operated by the Go Educational Foundation. PicoN! aims to deliver information on the creative industries in order to facilitate higher sensitivity and knowledge surrounding the arts, thus becoming a catalyst for new ideas and insights among creators. Enjoy a wide breadth of in-depth and captivating articles on Design, Illustration, Manga, Photography and Art through the PicoN! app. Search for relevant articles easily through tags and receive alerts for new articles in your fields of interest. Key Features: ▼Home- See new, recommended and popular articles. Switch between categories to see related articles in Design, Illustration, Manga, Photography and Art. ▼Alerts- Change your setting to receive push notifications for new info and recommended articles. ▼Search- Search for more articles through a Keywords search or tags, such as Interior Design, Logo Design, Architecture, Film and Video, Designer and more! ▼Other- Learn more about Picon!, Nippon Designers School (Tokyo), Nippon Photography Institute, Nippon Designers School Kyushu and Nippon Designers School Malaysia College. ■Picon! is recommended for the following readers. *The application may not function smoothly in poor network environments. ・I want easy access to articles catering to creators. ・I want to learn more about Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator etc. ・I’m looking for an app where I can check news on modern art or international art. ・I want an app with a search function for various subgenres. ・I’m interested in logo design or character design. ・I like anime, animation or manga. ・I’m looking for an app with articles about photographers, photo publications, artists and art works. Regarding Push Notifications: Information on new articles etc. will be send through push notifications. Please allow push notifications upon opening the app for the first time or through your settings in order to receive alerts. You can change the settings/permissions for notifications at any time. Regarding Copyright Regulations: Go Educational Foundation maintains rights to all content posted on the PicoN! app. It is strictly forbidden to copy, cite, forward, distribute, edit, modify, or append etc. to content for any reason without permission.

About

Mapling

Features
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Never wonder "where was I yesterday?" again. Mapling quietly records the places you visit and the journeys between them, turning everyday life into a private map and timeline. It is free to start. Coming from Google Maps Timeline? Import your exported file and keep years of history. AUTOMATIC, NO BUTTONS Cafés, stations, the office, a day trip. Mapling records each stop and the walk or train ride between them in the background. There is nothing to start or stop. A MAP THAT GROWS WITH YOU The places you return to grow on your map, shaped by how often you go and how long you stay. RELIVE ANY DAY See where you were, when, and how you got there, with the path you actually walked drawn on the map. Scroll from one day into the next on a single timeline. FIND ANY PLACE BY GENRE The Places tab lists everywhere you've been. Filter by food, culture, sports and more, and sort by recent, frequent, visited once or longest stay. SHARE A DAY WITH FRIENDS ONLY Invite friends who use Mapling and show them a day, and no one else. Choose who sees each share, and find the shares you receive in the app whenever you like. TRAVEL JOURNAL, WRITTEN FOR YOU Every stop on a trip is kept in order, without typing a thing. MOVE OVER FROM GOOGLE MAPS TIMELINE Works with exports from your phone and from Google Takeout, old format or new. ALSO • Open a day's history from a photo taken there • Personal rankings saved with your own conditions • Commute alerts with the train you can still catch and how fast to walk • Place search using names, categories and official website information • Correct, add or delete a recorded visit • Confirm uncertain visits from Apple Watch • The weather where you spent each day (in Japan, from Japan Meteorological Agency AMeDAS observations) • Support for iPhone Duo HEALTH INTEGRATION When you turn it on in Settings, step counts recorded in the Health app, by Apple Watch above all, are read to tell stays and travel apart more accurately. Only step records are read; nothing is written to Health, and no other data such as heart rate is read. OPTIONAL AI ASSIST Only if you turn it on in Settings, an external AI service helps judge where you stayed and how you travelled. It receives clues such as times and travel speed, never coordinates, place names or anything that identifies your account. PRIVACY AND CONTROL Your history is private by default. When sharing, you choose who sees it (friends only, or anyone with the link) and the day, places and photos. Location data is never used for advertising or tracking across other companies' apps or websites. Settings let you delete individual records, choose a retention period, export data, erase all recorded data or delete the account. Only if you turn on usage sharing, app openings, which tabs are used, and technical information about the device, app and OS are sent to TelemetryDeck. It is off unless you turn it on, and can be changed in Settings at any time. No location, place names, history or account information is sent. Automatic recording requires Always and Precise Location access. To determine travel mode and draw the route you took, movement locations are kept on the device for up to seven days and route coordinates are synced to your account.

Screenshots

PicoN! The Creative Info App4 screens
Mapling4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Mapling at every 2 days against PicoN! The Creative Info App's every 14 months. PicoN! The Creative Info App's advantage is iOS requirement (15.3.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PicoN! The Creative Info App ships an update every 14 months, Mapling every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
PicoN! The Creative Info App versus Mapling: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPicoN! The Creative Info AppMapling
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 14 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.3.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPROFESSIONAL SCHOOL NIHON DESIGNER GAKUINMaterialchain

In-app purchases

None

PicoN! The Creative Info App

No in-app purchases

None

Mapling

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PicoN! The Creative Info App free?
PicoN! The Creative Info App is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mapling free?
Mapling is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PicoN! The Creative Info App or Mapling have ads?
Neither PicoN! The Creative Info App nor Mapling shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PicoN! The Creative Info App or Mapling?
PicoN! The Creative Info App ships an update every 14 months, and Mapling every 2 days. Most recently, PicoN! The Creative Info App was updated on November 3, 2026 and Mapling on November 10, 2026.

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